June 30 marks first step in U.S. Iraq pullout
Tomorrow the U.S. and Iraq will officially mark the pullout of U.S. troops from Iraq’s cities and towns. Coming six years after the massive U.S. invasion, it is the first step in a withdrawal timetable agreed on by the two countries in December, with all U.S. troops to be out of Iraq by the end of 2011. Only time will tell whether this first pullout phase will turn out to be real, and what kind of Iraqi nation will emerge.
EDITORIAL: A welcome move
In calling for a stricter use of air strikes, Lt. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the new commander of forces in Afghanistan, took a step back from the abyss. In coming to grips with the harsh reality that too many civilians were being killed, McChrystal decided to limit air strikes only to prevent American and coalition troops from being “overrun.” This is a long-delayed, yet welcome step.
Irans Tudeh Party: Unity, struggle and solidarity can overcome repression
The following is a June 21 statement from the Central Committee of the Tudeh Party of Iran. Following the speech of Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader and the commander of the coup d’état, in the Friday prayers in Tehran – which Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called “authoritative and unravelling” – the armed thugs of the regime, including the forces of the Basij militia, Intelligence Ministry and units of the Revolutionary Corps brutally attacked peaceful and righteous-seeking demonstrations of the people.
Afghans need peace, not war
WASHINGTON – “The people don’t want 30,000 more troops, but instead 30,000 engineers, teachers and scientists,” said Dr. Roshanak Wardak, a member of the parliament in Afghanistan.
Picking up the pieces after catastrophe in Iraq, the 'cradle of civilization'
Iraqi scientists join forces with Americans to save antiquities CHICAGO — The world cried in the spring of 2003, during the U.S. invasion of Iraq. But perhaps archaeologists cried the hardest.
Charting the path to a nuke-free world
Just days after Barack Obama pledged, during his first international trip as president, that the U.S. will “seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons,” six U.S. environmental and nuclear policy organizations issued far-reaching and detailed recommendations to carry out that promise.
Letter from a soldiers mother: The war is not over
I was standing in line at the bank when I heard a customer ask the teller if her son was home from Iraq. The teller responded that he was not home in her house, but he was back and stationed in Texas. The customer said she was glad to hear that. I thought to myself: But the war is not over, my son is on his way to replace someone else’s son, and how I wish I was that bank teller.
Ive Always Paid My Taxes
Lyrics by Santa Cruz WILPF Raging Grannies; adapted by Sunny Armer of the NYC Metro RGs Tune: The Yellow Rose of Texas
Veterans react to Iraq pullout plan: A war that should never have been fought
While they see President Obama’s 18-month timetable to remove U.S. troops from Iraq as a necessary first step to change, veterans’ organizations say Iraq and Afghanistan urgently need diplomacy and development, not lingering deployments or troop surges.
Editorial: Time to give peace a chance
As President Obama opens a new chapter in our history, the world looks to him with hope that now, finally, we can give peace a chance.
