Q&A: “A Long and Disturbing History of Human Testing”

In early March, the Pentagon's Force Protection Agency released a colourless, odorless gas in Crystal City, Maryland as part of a simulated terror attack intended to track air flows and test an array of chemical sensors.

POLITICS-US: McCain’s Gaffes Reflect Bush’s Iran-Qaeda Myth

Sen. John McCain's confusion in recent allegations of Iranian training of al Qaeda fighters in Iraq is the result of a drumbeat of official propaganda about close Iran-al Qaeda ties that the George W. Bush administration and neoconservatives have promoted ever since early 2002.

POLITICS-US: Winter Soldiers Move Toward GI Resistance

Hundreds of veterans who gathered outside Washington last weekend to testify about their experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan are returning to their communities across the country with the goal of stoking resistance to the Iraq war from inside the U.S. military.

CANADA: Pro-U.S. Panel Was Key in Extending Afghan Mission

Buoyed by the recommendations of a government-appointed blue-ribbon panel, Canada's parliament last week approved a motion to extend its combat mission in Afghanistan until the end of 2011.

POLITICS: Why Did the U.S. Invade Iraq?

So why, exactly, did the U.S. invade Iraq five years ago this week?

POLITICS-US: Reforms Failed to Curb FBI Spying

One of the nation's most respected counterterrorism experts is predicting that Congress will take action to rein in the "unchecked power" of the Federal Bureau of Investigation to spy on U.S. citizens without court approval - and then forbid them from publicly protesting the violation of their civil liberties.

US/IRAQ: "I Saw the Interrogator Waterboarding Him"

"I would like to share with you how one goes about becoming a concentration camp guard without having made many decisions," 24-year-old former Guantanamo prison guard Christopher Arent told a crowd of hundreds at last weekend's Winter Soldier gathering outside Washington, DC.

POLITICS-US: Anti-War Grannies Arrested Trying to Enlist

As part of actions across the United States to mark the fifth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, 10 "Grandmothers for Peace", ranging in age from 57 to 80, were arrested Monday while trying to enlist in the United States Army. Acts of civil disobedience are planned this week in at least 17 other U.S. cities.

US/IRAQ: Rules of Engagement "Thrown Out the Window"

Garret Reppenhagen received integral training about the Geneva Conventions and the Rules of Engagement during his deployment in Kosovo. But in Iraq, "Much of this was thrown out the window," he says.

POLITICS-MIDEAST: Opening the Door to Hamas

Undermined by recent violence, the U.S.-brokered Palestinian-Israeli peace process laid out in Annapolis, Maryland is in critical condition. And bringing the militant Islamic group Hamas into the fold could be the only way to save the faltering plan - an idea that even the George W. Bush administration may be reluctantly conceding is a necessary step.

US/IRAQ: "We Reacted Out of Fear, and With Total Destruction"

Hart Viges joined the U.S. Army the day after Sep. 11, 2001, in the belief that he could help make the world a safer place.

POLITICS-US: Dissenting Views Made Fallon’s Fall Inevitable

Admiral William Fallon's request to quit his position as head of the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) and to retire from the military was apparently the result of a George W. Bush administration decision to pressure him to resign.

RIGHTS: U.S. State Department Found Little to Cheer in 2007

The global human rights panorama offered a decidedly mixed - if not mostly negative - picture in 2007, according to the latest edition of the State Department's annual human rights "Country Reports" released here Tuesday.

RIGHTS-US: Former Gitmo Prosecutor to Testify for Defence

At a pretrial hearing at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba next month, the Pentagon will take its first public step toward a Military Commission trial for Osama bin Laden's alleged driver and bodyguard. And one of the witnesses for the defence will be the military's former chief prosecutor.

POLITICS-US: Swan Song of “Stand By Your Pakistan”?

Late last month, when Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf's party was vanquished in parliamentary elections, the administration of U.S. president George W. Bush declared that it would be sticking with its man.

POLITICS-US: We Don&#39t Do Torture – Especially in Debates

Media critics, foreign policy experts and human rights advocates are charging that questions asked by the moderators of the televised debates among U.S. presidential hopefuls have frequently been trivial and designed to produce conflict to boost ratings, while ignoring many of the most pressing issues facing the United States.

US/IRAN: Blowback of War Likely to Be "Terrible"

Since the release of the U.S. National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iran's nuclear capabilities last December, the prevailing conventional wisdom has been that the report's finding that Iran is not currently pursuing nuclear weapons had derailed the possibility of the George W. Bush administration launching a military strike before leaving office.

POLITICS-US: Just Waterboarding Under the Bridge

U.S. President George W. Bush appeared headed toward another train wreck with Congress as he carried out his threat to veto an intelligence bill that would have banned the Central Intelligence Agency from using waterboarding and other "enhanced interrogation techniques" in questioning terrorism suspects.

POLITICS-US: Fallon’s “No Iran War” Line Angered White House

A new article on CENTCOM commander Adm. William Fallon confirms that his public statements last fall ruling out war against Iran last fall were not coordinated with the White House and landed him in trouble more than once with President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.

POLITICS-US: Foreign Policy Increasingly Flows Through Pentagon

U.S. foreign policy is becoming increasingly dominated by the Pentagon rather than the State Department, and Congress is doing virtually nothing about it, according to a new report released here Thursday by several human rights organisations.

POLITICS-US: U.S. Diplomacy Sidelined by Loyalty to Uribe

Washington's strong backing for President Alvaro Uribe has all but removed it from playing any significant diplomatic role in defusing the crisis sparked by Saturday's attack by Colombia on anti-government guerrillas on Ecuador's territory, according to analysts here.