In the end, there was no Casus Belli for our invasion of Iraq. Saddam Hussein’s defiance of the UN was against the UN Resolutions, and even at the time of our invasion, the UN was unwilling to sanction military action. In fact, the UN doubted our Casus Belli – declaring the evidence for WMDs inconclusive, […]
I know that my last four posts cover well traveled ground and are kind of boring. I did them because I wanted the pieces to the puzzle all together in one box. I know that there are a number of other documents that speak to this topic, but I thought these twelve were a good […]
Before considering the Casus Belli for our Invasion of Iraq in 2003, there’s another thread that plays into the mix – our Gulf War in 1991 [now known as The First Gulf War]. After the revolution in Iran, our Middle Eastern policy was pretty easy – Iraq invaded Iran, and they fought a bitter war […]
Four documents in the immediate post-9/11 days set the tone for what was to follow – two public and two private. KEY DOCUMENT 5: Lest one questions that the Bush Administration had its eyes on invading Iraq, Donald Rumsfeld’s notes on the afternoon of 9/11 make things abundantly clear. "Hit SH [Saddam Hussein] @ same […]
Four public documents in the pre-9/11 period make it perfectly clear what was coming, though those of us not in the thick of things had no idea of what was going on: KEY DOCUMENT 1: Not long after the Project for the New American Century was founded in 1997, they sent a letter to President […]
Justifiable Homicide: … justifiable homicide in criminal law stands on the dividing line between an excuse, justification and an exculpation. In other words, it takes a case that would otherwise have been a murder or another crime representing intentional killing, and either excuses or justifies the individual accused from all criminal liability or treats the […]
Hope Builds for the Economy As Positive Reports Pile Up By Neil Irwin Washington Post July 24, 2009 Companies that a few months ago were too fearful even to project their future earnings are now seeing glimmers of hope in the year ahead. The rate of home sales has risen for three straight months. And […]
It’s almost impossible to imagine this last year – history just feels strange when you’re living it. All my conscious life, I wondered what it would feel like to have "lived through" the Great Depression like my parents, or World War II. I kind of think living through history is lost on the young. Being […]
I didn’t like "cringing" last night when Obama started talking about the Gates’ arrest. Gates was a bit too righteously indignant for me. I’d have preferred him making the same point with a touch of humility, a slight show of empathy for the officer, a thin acknowlegement of the crime statistics. But then I had […]
C Street’s Waterloo By emptywheel July 22, 2009 If we’re able to stop Obama on this, it will be his Waterloo. It will break him. And we will show that we can–along with the American people–begin to push those freedom solutions at work in every area of our society. About a million people have commented […]