Related Posts

The Real Lesson of 9-11

By Gary Kamiya. Sept. 11 is a totemic date for the Bush administration. It justifies everything, explains everything, ends all argument. It is the crime that must be eternally punished, the wound that can never heal, the moral high ground that can never be taken. Bush’s reaction to 9/11 was to declare a “war on terror,” of which the Iraq adventure was said to be the “front line.” The American establishment signed off on this war because of 9/11. To oppose Bush’s “war on terror” was to risk another terror attack and dishonor our dead. The establishment has now turned…

Reading Iran

Via MoorishGirl (have you bought her book yet?) I found this wonderful list from Azar Nafisi (of Reading Lolita in Tehran fame) on books on Iran. Her list: (asterisks are ones I’ve read) Encyclopedia Iranica (*as much as one reads an encyclopedia) The Blindfold Horse: Memories of a Persian Childhood Iran Awakening: A Memoir of Revolution and Hope www.TehranAvenue.com www.fis-iran.org www.abfiran.org My Uncle Napoleon (*I just saw the new edition of the English translation. I’ve read the original Persian, and it’s a hoot.) Persepolis [vol. 1 and vol. 2] (*love it) Strange Times My Dear The Secret of Laughter Rubaiyat…

Torturing America

Via Juan Cole, it seems that we’ve been holding innocent people and torturing them for fun. CNN is reporting from a different source that torture is being carried out by us. I say “we” because we are all complicit in this act. As Americans we should be holding ourselves to a higher standard, and demand that our representatives hold themselves to an even higher standard than that. Everywhere we turn we see how deep the wrong-doing done in our name has spread. We deny the truth, just as our representatives do. Every time one of these people is flogged, our…