Tag Archives: iraq

Has Torture Killed More Americans Than it Saved?

Posted on December 10, 2014 by Martin Hellman

The release yesterday of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s report on the use of what the CIA has called “enhanced interrogation techniques” drew predictable partisan responses, with many Democrats condemning the use of torture and Republicans saying that extraordinary times necessitated … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Colin Powell, enhanced interrogation, iraq, Lawrence Wilkerson, martin hellman, senate intelligence committee, stanford, torture, UN speech | 3 Comments

Is Our Media Responsible for Millions of Deaths?

Posted on July 31, 2014 by Martin Hellman

The Huffington Post picked this one up too, so please read it on their website. The only additions needed were that they changed the title from this one, and deleted the following, amazing (but very true) quote from convicted Nazi war criminal Hermann Göring: “Of course the people don’t want war. … But … it is always a simple matter to drag the people along whether it is a democracy, a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. … All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism, and exposing the country to greater danger. It works the same way in any country.” Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged afghanistan, critical thinking, iraq, lyndon johnson, martin hellman, media bias, nuclear risk, reagan, stanford, Tonkin Gulf incidents, tonkin gulf resolution, Vietnam, war and peace | 3 Comments

Avoiding Needless Wars, Part 9: Iraq

Posted on October 12, 2013 by Martin Hellman

The two reasons given for invading Iraq in 2003 were wrong: Saddam Hussein’s WMDs were illusory, as were his connections to al Qaeda. While this needless war is often attributed to an intelligence failure, we all are really at fault. Our elected officials failed to ask the questions they should have before going to war. So did our media. And so did we, the citizens who hold the ultimate power of the ballot box. The drumbeat to war hypnotized the nation, overcame rationality, and led to disaster. Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Bill Moyers, Colin Powell, critical thinking, George W. Bush, iraq, Lukyanov, martin hellman, needless wars, nuclear risk, Phil Donahue, russia, stanford, Wilkerson | Leave a comment

Why Do the Terrorists Hate Us?

Posted on July 10, 2011 by Martin Hellman

Speaking before a Joint Session of Congress nine days the 9/11 attacks, President Bush asked, “Why do they hate us?” and answered that “They hate our freedoms – our freedom of religion, our freedom of speech, our freedom to vote … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged afghanistan, Hellman, iran, iraq, Lebanon, nuclear risk, pakistan, stanford, terrorism, terrorist motivation | Leave a comment

British Duplicity on Iraq’s WMDs

Posted on June 27, 2011 by Martin Hellman

Yesterday’s edition of the British newspaper, The Guardian, cited documents obtained under a Freedom of Information Act to write:

The senior intelligence official responsible for Tony Blair’s notorious dossier on Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction proposed using the document to mislead the public about the significance of Iraq’s banned weapons. Sir John Scarlett, who as head of the Joint Intelligence Committee was placed “in charge” of writing the September 2002 dossier, sent a memo to Blair’s foreign affairs adviser referring to “the benefit of obscuring the fact that in terms of WMD Iraq is not that exceptional”. Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged britain, deception, iraq, nuclear, nuclear proliferation, nuclear risk, nuclear weapons, wmds | Leave a comment