DNC: Democrats refuse to take anti-war stance

This week the Democratic National Convention took place in Boston and the Democrat party refused to take an anti-war stance. Not a single Democrat speaker at the convention mentioned the fact that Iraqis have suffered under the occupation. Nor did Kerry offer anything drastically different than Bush as far as policy in Iraq. The strongest criticism Kerry had for Bush's Iraq policy is that it was too "unilateral." This is keeping in line with the Democratic Party 2004 Platform which fails to condemn the invasion of Iraq, stating rather that "People of good will disagree about whether America should have gone to war in Iraq."

Update on Saddam Hussein's Trial and Status

One of Saddam Hussein's lawyers recently stated that the former dictator has suffered a mild stroke and may not live long enough to be tried. The prospect of Saddam dying would probably please some US policy makers who are afraid that Saddam might reveal embarrassing information in a trial.

Al-Jazeera is reporting that Saddam was captured not by US troops as the mainstream press had originally stated, but by Kurds. According to the article, Saddam was betrayed to Kurdish fighters who captured and drugged him and then turned him over to U.S. forces in exchange for political gain. The U.S. military then staged the capture for the benefit of the western media.

Labor Rights Threatened in Iraq

Foreign Policy in Focus has a new article available about the Bush administration's hostility to labor rights in Iraq and U.S. Labors increasing opposition to the Iraq occupation. The article is available at FPIF Commentary: Iraq's Labor Upsurge Wins Support from U.S. Unions

Violence in Iraq on the Rise

Violence continues to escalate to new levels in Iraq. A suicide bombing on Wednesday near Baghdad killed sixty-eight people. Robert Fisk, reporter for the Independent, claims in a recent article that much of the violence in Iraq is going unreported.