Posts tagged: Obama

Guantanamo prisoner may face torture if U.S. returns him to Algeria

A British nonprofit group working to help prisoners – from death row to Guantanamo – sent out the following press release. It speaks for itself. Reprieve April 6, 2010 Reprieve launches emergency legal action for Guantánamo prisoner Ahmed Belbacha as US government makes worrying deal with Algeria Lawyers for former British resident Ahmed Belbacha yesterday [...]

Wednesday April 7th, 2010 in , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Bombings continue in Iraq despite surge policy

Today, as the first of President Obama’s 30,000 additional “surge” troops begin to arrive in Afghanistan, it might be useful to take a look at the Bush surge in Iraq. On Tuesday, a string of bombings killed nine people in two of Iraq’s largest cities, Baghdad and Mosul. Examiner.com posted a slide show from these [...]

Wednesday December 16th, 2009 in , , , | No Comments »

McDermott says he will vote against more U.S. troops in Afghanistan

Seattle Congressman Jim McDermott said today that he is against expanding the war in Afghanistan. This afternoon he sent out a fundraising email that made his position clear. In the email, McDermott said, “Last week the President outlined the administration’s policy about the war in Afghanistan. “I appreciate the time he took to carefully study [...]

Thursday December 10th, 2009 in , , , , | 2 Comments »

Ohio congressman to introduce bills calling for withdrawal from Afghanistan, Pakistan

Despite mounting public protests across the United States against sending more troops to Afghanistan, there has been little reaction from Congress. Now, there seems to be some rumblings of opposition. Yesterday, Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), following a speech on the floor of the House of Representatives released this statement: “Today, I will begin circulating two [...]

Thursday December 10th, 2009 in , , , , | No Comments »

Seattle anti-war protest planned as opposition to Afghanistan surge continues

Across the United States, there have been more than 100 demonstrations against sending more troops to Afghanistan since president Obama announced his “surge” plans. The demonstrations are in response to a national day of action called by Veterans for Peace, Iraq Veterans Against the War, Military Families Speak Out, The ANSWER Coalition, National Assembly, National [...]

Friday December 4th, 2009 in , , , , , | No Comments »

Protests greet Obama’s troop buildup plan for Afghanistan

The protests against President Obama’s “surge” in Afghanistan were building even before he announced he would send 30,000 more troops to the war. Now, according to an Institute for Public Accuracy news release, they are in high gear. World March organized a number of events for today in the United States and elsewhere. Ed Asner [...]

Wednesday December 2nd, 2009 in , , , | No Comments »

U.S. endorses conservative victor in Honduran presidential election

Christmas came early for the conservative victor in Sunday’s presidential election in Honduras. And, unfortunately, it’s the United States who is playing Santa. The Associated Press reported that Porfiro Lobo, a wealthy and very conservative cattle rancher known affectionately as Pepe, called the race “the cleanest in the history of the country.” Pepe asked nations [...]

Tuesday December 1st, 2009 in , , | No Comments »

Afghan politician visits West to call for withdrawal of troops

Malalai Joya, an Afghan politician who the BBC has called “the bravest woman in Afghanistan” for denouncing the warlords in the parliament, was in Western Washington recently. You wouldn’t know it from reading any of our struggling online or print news media. The only coverage was an interview Wednesday on KUOW’s Weekday program with Steve [...]

Friday November 13th, 2009 in , , , , | 2 Comments »

Obama talks of Hiroshima, Nagasaki visit, a guest blog by Joe Copeland

(This is a guest blog by Joe Copeland, a former Seattle Post-Intelligencer editorial writer. Joe was a visiting researcher at Hiroshima City University’s Hiroshima Peace Institute earlier this year as a Fulbright Scholar. Visit his blog here.) Barack Obama would like to go where no sitting U.S. president has gone before: to Hiroshima and Nagasaki. [...]

Tuesday November 10th, 2009 in , , , , | 1 Comment »

New Jewish-American lobby pro-Israel and pro-peace

A reader comment about my blog on American Israel Public Affairs Committee, AIPAC, pointed out that there is new Jewish-American lobby called J Street that “seeks to present a different viewpoint on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that is more cognizant of the rights of the Palestinians.” He’s right. It is very different from AIPAC. Here is [...]

Monday November 9th, 2009 in , , , , | No Comments »