Common Dreams

"Pentagon investigators charge that KBR charged for nearly four million meals that were never served. There is also the question of whether KBR paid as much as $61 million too much for fuel last year by buying it from a Kuwaiti source rather than from cheaper sources in Turkey. The billings now under review bring the total cost to the U.S. taxpayer to more than $176 million." [more]

"As he claims the qualities of leadership to be the next president of the United States, Senator Kerry should be held accountable for the failure to honor the commitment he made when he voted for the October Resolution." [more]

"The order was to close down the television station in Mosul, because it sometimes broadcasts Al-Jazeera. The TV station was the only means of public communication for a very large city. Major Means said she could not in good conscience close it down, just to suppress free speech. Her superiors could not ignore that. They relieved her of duty and flew her out of Mosul, right away." [more]

"Although only a handful of them have gone public, at least several hundred U.S. soldiers have applied for conscientious objector status since January. " [more]

"If the U.S. issues the expected warning, [Annan] can and should announce that the U.S. has no authority to evict the inspectors, who are United Nations employees. Furthermore, Annan can say that he will not withdraw the inspectors from Iraq unless he is ordered to do so by the U.N. Security Council or the inspectors report that they are not being allowed to do their job." [more]

"This is not an America we recognize. When we recited the pledge of allegiance in our long-ago scout meetings, it was to a different America, one with different principles. It was an America that lived by the rule of law. An America that was a land of compassion and brotherly love. An America that took seriously a promise to be a good neighbor, both across the street and around the globe." [more]

"The organizers of the recent Washington and San Francisco marches refuse to say anything critical of Saddam Hussein ... Whatever their views on Iraq, no one in the current peace movement has put forth a moral vision that might unite and sustain it beyond the precipice of war." [more]

"This was to have been the first Jewish-Muslim co-sponsored Congressional delegation to Palestine and Israel. The bi-partisan delegation planned to meet with Israeli and Palestinian peace activists, American and international humanitarian organizations, and U.S. government officials." [more]

"Most glaring is that Donald Rumsfeld was in Iraq as the 1984 UN report was issued and said nothing about the allegations of chemical weapons use, despite State Department ìevidence.î On the contrary, The New York Times reported from Baghdad on March 29, 1984, ìAmerican diplomats pronounce themselves satisfied with relations between Iraq and the United States and suggest that normal diplomatic ties have been restored in all but name.î" [more]

"Then it occurred to me: What if all those Americans who declare their support for Bush's 'war on terrorism' could see, instead of those elusive symbols—Osama bin Laden, Al Qaeda—the real human beings who have died under our bombs? I do believe they would have second thoughts. There are those on the left, normally compassionate people whose instincts go against war, who were, surprisingly, seduced by early Administration assurances and consoled themselves with words like 'limited' military action and 'measured' response. I think they, too, if confronted with the magnitude of the human suffering caused by the war in Afghanistan, would have second thoughts." [more]

Human Rights Watch, a privately funded human-rights advocacy group, plans to send a team of researchers to Afghanistan next month to try to estimate the number of civilians killed during the course of the campaign. Amnesty International may do the same after trying unsuccessfully to get the Pentagon to disclose details about a number of bombings that reportedly killed civilians. [more]