Month: January 2007

Antiwar.com is pleased to announce the winners of its first-ever Student Essay Contest, held summer 2006. We had numerous entrants, and we congratulate all who took the time and energy to give us their views. In particular we are happy to report participation from around the world – although as Antiwar.com’s readership is quite international, this really should be no surprise. All participants will receive a Certificate of Participation; winners will receive a check and Certificate of Award.

Senior division (10th/11th/12th/just graduated)
1st: Michael Long, USA
2nd: Jamie Stern-Weiner, UK
3rd: Hilary Worden, USA
Honorable Mention: Masumba David, Uganda
Honorable Mention: Khadija Hassam, Dubai UAE

Junior division (9th grade or younger)
1st: Madeline Reese, USA
2nd: Ayn Codina, Costa Rica
3rd: Stephanie Augustine, USA

We will be running the winning entries over the course of the next two weeks. First up is Stephanie Augustine of the United States, 3rd-place winner in the junior division.

At least this time he does. The former Secretary of State recently said on CBS’s “Face the Nation”: “I am not persuaded that another surge of troops into Baghdad for the purposes of suppressing this communitarian violence, this civil war, will work.”

In the Tuesday interview for PBS Newshour, host Jim Lehrer asked Bush why he has not asked more Americans.. to sacrifice something” for the war in Iraq.

The President replied: “I think a lot of people are in this fight. I mean, they sacrifice peace of mind when they see the terrible images of violence on TV every night.”

Bush did not specify whether he believes people who become afflicted with carpal tunnel syndrome as a result of channel surfing should be eligible for military disability pensions.

I have been amazed at the last few interviews Bush has given.  His doggerel seems to be surpassing all previous bounds, and yet…  many Americans continue to believe, and most of the Washington media continues to grovel.   

Comments & cavils on this topic welcome at my blog here.

Antiwar Radio: Chris Floyd

The guest on Antiwar Radio for January 17, 2007 is Chris Floyd, author of Empire Burlesque: High Crimes and Low Comedy in the Bush Imperium, on the subject of the tension between the Cheney-neocon cabal and the traditional American Establishment.

Mp3 here.

Bush’s order for 20,000 more troops to be sent into the Iraq quagmire has resulted in some additional calls to end this evil war. But who can stop it? Can anyone stop it? Because there is only serious opposition from a few members of Congress, the war will continue to be funded. The public continues to post “support the troops” signs. Evangelical Christian “leaders” continue to make excuses for Bush and his war. The only ones who can stop this war now are the troops themselves. After all, it is the troops who are bringing death and destruction to Iraq, not Bush and the writers at National Review. If they stop, the war will stop. To begin with, all 20,000 bodies of fresh meat should refuse to go to Iraq. Next, every soldier home on leave should refuse to go back. Then–and this will be the most difficult–every soldier in Iraq should try to come home. All this may sound simplistic, but I see no other way of ending the war now, instead of in four more years. If the troops don’t stop it now, the war will eventually end, but how many more American soldiers will needlessly die before it does? And even then, after the U.S. government officially ends the war–what happens next? Will it end like Vietnam with a complete withdrawal of U.S. forces or will it end like Japan and Korea with the permanent deployment of U.S. troops? The billion-dollar embassy in Baghdad leads me to believe that it will be the latter.

Antiwar Radio: Gareth Porter

My guest on Antiwar Radio for January 16, 2007 is historian and analyst Gareth Porter from IPS News on why America’s policy toward Iran has not really changed despite the Bush administration’s recent seemingly more aggressive pronouncements and actions, their policy of backing the Iran parties in Iraq and Iran’s spurned attempts to make peace with the U.S.

Mp3 here.

Comments welcome at Stress.