New report details widespread torture of female Iraqi prisoners
Submitted by Soapy on Feb 7 2014 18:10
A look at the extent of widespread torture of men and women in the Iraqi prison system. Trigger warning for torture and sexual violence.
Just as in the time of Saddam, Iraq’s judicial system continues to rely mainly on confessions to determine the guilt of prisoners. Last year there were 1,200 men and women on Iraq’s death row, and most of them had confessed to their crimes after undergoing torture.
Hopes and prospects - Noam Chomsky
In this urgent new book, Noam Chomsky surveys the dangers and prospects of our early twenty-first century.
Exploring challenges such as the growing gap between North and South, American exceptionalism (including under President Barack Obama), the fiascos of Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S.-Israeli assault on Gaza, and the recent financial bailouts, he also sees hope for the future and a way to move forward—in the democratic wave in Latin America and in the global solidarity movements that suggest "real p
Blackwater: The rise of the world's most powerful mercenary army - Jeremy Scahill
Meet Blackwater USA, the powerful private army that the U.S. government has quietly hired to operate in international war zones and on American soil.
With its own military base, a fleet of twenty aircraft, and twenty-thousand troops at the ready, Blackwater is the elite Praetorian Guard for the "global war on terror"-- yet most people have never heard of it. It was the moment the war turned: On March 31, 2004, four Americans were ambushed and burned near their jeeps by an angry mob in the Sunni stronghold of Falluja.
Washington rules: America's path to permanent war - Andrew Bacevich
For the last half century, as administrations have come and gone, the fundamental assumptions about America's military policy have remained unchanged.
In a vivid, incisive analysis, Andrew J. Bacevich succinctly presents the origins of this consensus, forged at a moment when American power was at its height.
The world as it is: Dispatches on the myth of human progress - Chris Hedges
Drawing on two decades of experience as a war correspondent and based on his numerous columns for Truthdig, Chris Hedges presents The World As It Is, a panorama of the American empire at home and abroad.
Underlying his reportage is a constant struggle with the nature of war and its impact on human civilization. "War is always about betrayal," Hedges notes. "It is about betrayal of the young by the old, of cynics by idealists, and of soldiers and Marines by politicians. Society's institutions, including our religious institutions, which mold us into compliant citizens, are unmasked."
Making the future: Occupations, interventions, empire and resistance - Noam Chomsky
Taken together, Chomsky's essays present a powerful counter-narrative to official accounts of the major political events of the past four years.
Laced throughout his critiques are expressions of commitment to democracy and the power of popular struggles. "Progressive legislation and social welfare," writes Chomsky, "have been won by popular struggles, not gifts from above. Those struggles follow a cycle of success and setback.
The great war for civilisation: The conquest of the Middle East - Robert Fisk
A sweeping and dramatic history of the last half century of conflict in the Middle East from an award-winning journalist who has covered the region for over thirty years, The Great War for Civilisation unflinchingly chronicles the tragedy of the region from the Algerian Civil War to the Iranian Revolution; from the American hostage crisis in Beirut to the Iran-Iraq War; from the 1991 Gulf War to the American invasion of Iraq in 2003.
A book of searing drama as well as lucid, incisive analysis, The Great War for Civilisation is a work of major importance for today's world.
Empire's workshop: Latin America, the United States, and the rise of the new imperialism - Greg Grandin
The British and Roman empires are often invoked as precedents to the Bush administration’s aggressive foreign policy.
But America’s imperial identity was actually shaped much closer to home. In a brilliant excavation of long-obscured history, Empire’s Workshop shows how Latin America has functioned as a proving ground for American strategies and tactics overseas.
The untold history of the United States - Peter Kuznick and Oliver Stone
The companion to the Showtime documentary series, director Oliver Stone and historian Peter Kuznick challenge the prevailing orthodoxies of traditional history books in this thoroughly researched and rigorously analyzed look at the dark side of American history.
The notion of American exceptionalism, dating back to John Winthrop’s 1630 sermon aboard the Arbella, still warps Americans’ understanding of their nation’s role in the world. Most are loathe to admit that the United States has any imperial pretensions.
‘Smooth operator’: The propaganda model and moments of crisis - Des Freedman
An article by Des Freedman on Herman and Chomsky's propaganda model for the mass media and moments of crisis (disagreements within the ruling class), focusing particularly on the Daily Mirror and its anti-war coverage in the build up to the Iraq war.
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