The fundamental rule of civilised warfare is that civilians are not targetted in a war.. The logic of "collateral damage" leads to large scale violations of the rules of combat. I agree that the fact of terrorism has made some, not all, rules iirrelevant. In Iraq, the USA has been using baits to kill Iraqis. By planting "baits" and killing all those who bite the bait, USA has made a major tactical mistake, because this kind of unethical warfare will not discourage but only encourage counter t...

The US invasion of Iraq has had one major consequence on the population of Iraq: It has splintered the population of that country along sectarian lines and the rift seems to be getting wider than ever. The previous regime has ensured stability in the region through a mixture of quile, strong-arm tactics and plain old fashioned terror. Whatever may have been the faults, real or imagined, of Saddam Hussein, no one can accuse the regime of playing hookey with the task of governance of the coun...

The Maliki regime was not known for prudence even in the best of times. The indecent haste with which the former president was hanged and the sordisd manner in which he was killed, no doubt, goes to show the uncivilised and barbaric face of the Maliki regime. It is well known that Blackwater was operating in Iraq in a brazen and cocky manner. The killing of 8 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad was just one of several such episodes in which this private security service was involved in. In fact the en...

In politics more harm is done by well intentioned do gooders than the cynical, power plays of the manipulative demagogue. Pakistan is now caught is the crosshairs of rising Islamic Terrorism and domestic instability engendered by the upsurge of democratic forces. USA in its policy of using Pakistan to fight insurgency in Afghanistan is tryint to run with the hare and hunt with the hound: as ususal US policy will only work against the long term goals USA has set for itself in the region. Now ...

The Islamic world is once again in turmoil. After the Danish Cartoons, the offensive and illiterate rantings of the pope, after the genocide unfolding in Iraq and the state of political unease in the Palestenian territories, yet another wound has been hurled against the Islamic world. The argument that who speaks for Islam does not hold water for the sime reason that from Turkey to Indonesia civil society groups have started agitaing against Salman Rushdie. Even USA,an allay in the so called ...

Ever since George Bush talked about American "addiction to oil" there has been a flurry of policy statements about alternative fuels, particularly plant or cereal based organic extracts that can be blended with petrol to make alternate fuels. Like many of Bush's policy steaments and policies this quest for alternate fuel has been launched with cynical indifference to the dislocation this shift would cause to the world's food supply. The price of American corn has already begun to rise in the ...

It is a true sign of statesmanship to know when his policies are failing and take corrective steps. George Bush and his ally Tony Blair took their countries into a disastrous war in Iraq after having fudged the data to make a case for the war, ruined a fairly peaceful and stable country and inflicted death on at least 650,000 Iraqis and to top it all stand by idly when a sectarian civil war is tearing the country apart. George Bush would now understand how difficult it must have been to gove...

First my most sincere sorrow to the families of the 33 victims of the cruel gunman who has pitilessly snuffed out the lives of promising young men, women and teachers of Virginia Tech. Like the rest of the world, I too am outraged at the incident and am trying to make sense of it all. This is not the time to even ask whether the University Administration headed by Professor Charles Stegar should have closed the University after the first shootinf at Jonhnston Hall at 7:15 in the morning. No ...

The CBS talk show host Mr Don Imus is known to outrage public sentiments and he has been doing so for the past 25 years and except for a couple of close encounters with the easily outrage kind, Don Imus did not end up as chicken meat. The remarks he made about the Rutgers Basket Ball Team were in keeping with his character or at least his public persona of one who is not afraid to outrage the sensibilities of his listeners. If we believe, as I do that freedom of expression includes the right ...

There is a strong feeling among Republican faithfuls that George W Bush took them on a merry goose chase all over the wilds without even once gracefully accepting the core values and beliefs of the conservative sections of society. The Republicans might even in the Presidency in November 2008 because as things stand there is no White Male candidate in sight and it is therefore unlikely that Hilary Clinton will get the kind of support that a strong white male candidate can get. And if her runn...

While the US military is taking unsustainable levels of loss in Iraq and the civilian population has been laid low by the death squads sponsored by the Iraqi Government, the sectarian militias and criminal gangs of every hue and color, the Administration of HGeorge W Bush quietly and away from the glare of international publicity won a major victory:for the first time since 1972 foreign oil companies will be permitted to have 80% stake in the oil wealth of Iraq. The new law will ofcourse be a...

Walter Reed (1851-1902) was a remarkable researcher in the field of medicine and deserves to have his name memorialised in a fitting manner. As an army doctor he woeked with great alacrity in the relentless wars of extermination that the US military waged against the native first peoples of the North American continent. He worked in Cuba after the Spanish American war. He was the first to discover that Yellow Fever was caused by vectors and this discovery enabled the US troops to operate wit...

I am not sentimental about animals, but I do strongly believe that like humans they too have rights and the right to life is preminent amongst them. A few weeks back in a city reputed to be the software capital of the emerging markets, a pack of street dogs or ferral animals attacked a child and mauled him so badly that he died. I admit that this is a horrific tragedy and my heart goes out to the parents whose only child died in this unspeakable manner. The reaction of the civic authorities ...

The US army is learning the bitter lesson that in Iraq it is fighting a highly trained and motivated insurgency whose capacity to learn from its mistakes and innovate fresh counter measures is far more than that of the US military. The reason for this is simple: miliaries everywhere are slow to change and are weighed down by training and tradition, both of which favor the brash new forces of insurgents. The US military now admits that both in Iraq and Afghanistan they face a "smart, cunning a...

There seems to be an emergining consensus amongst the US military establishment: there is every danger of the US occupation of Iraq collapsing in a medley of confusion a la Vietnam. One factor that nobody talks about is the fact that the leadership has lost the conviction that the Iraq War can be won and to ask the military to carry on a failing mission is only counterproductive. The surge of 21,000 more troops has not eased the security situation in Ieaq and the Baghdad security,plan has all...