Category Archives: Iraq Invasion

Who’s Anti-War Now?

I am. Principles aren’t principles unless they’re consistent. Now that the White House and Congress have changed hands since 2006, it’s interesting to see politicians and pundits on both sides of the ledger flipping and flopping. Still, the world is not two-dimensional and those who pretend it is do an injustice to reality. I’m willing […]

The Value of an Anniversary

Thirty years ago today was a Monday. After track practice, Dan O’ Hara and I went to Al Oliver’s house to help kill what was left of a keg of Molson’s Golden Ale from Al’s St. Patrick’s Day party the previous Saturday. It was warm, flat and skunky, but we pushed through, as returning a […]

A View from the Cave

Just over 29 years ago, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan and a number of Muslims decided they’d had enough interference by western nations in the affairs of Islamic nations and launched what they considered holy war against the invaders. The US, via the CIA helped with money, weapons and training. If you watched “Charlie Wilson’s […]

Does Not a Tibetan Bleed?

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has accomplished a difficult task since taking office 18 months ago: he’s made me miss Tony Blair. Mr. Blair was George W. Bush’s lapdog on foreign policy and when he left office, I thought anyone had to be better. Mr. Brown had a promising start, putting some distance between the […]

The Watershed

Come gather ‘round people wherever you roam As we prepare to bury the life we have known And accept that from now there’ll be no going home Your money’s no longer worth saving The meat is all gone, we’re left nothing but bones For the times, they are a changin’ Apologies to Bob Dylan, but […]

Follow-Up Questions

Before the New Hampshire primary, John McCain had his now-famous colloquy with a voter in which he said he doesn’t care if American troops are in Iraq for 100 years, provided those troops are not getting killed or wounded. There are a number of Republicans running around now, saying Mr. McCain never said that, but […]

Blood and Treasure

Less than a week later, Adrienne and I headed back out for the vigil. The half-dozen senior citizens and nuns who have been there every day for nearly seven years were happy to have us back, even if it meant one of our infrequent thresholds – in this case, the 4,000th American death in Iraq […]