Portside

Most pundits are careful about not advocating for direct U.S. military intervention in Syria (that is left to the Republican politicians who appear on the Sunday shows). But their message boils down to a concern over the credibility of the president's threats of violence more important than the credibility of his evidence. The White House has been saying their reticence is informed by the Iraq debacle; many pundits don't seem to have learned a similar lesson.

We spend $32 million per hour on wars started during the Bush administration. The economic costs of the war on terror has cost Americans a staggering $5.6 trillion since 2001, when the U.S. invaded Afghanistan.

This draws on articles about the 1991 Gulf War the author wrote which drew on the writer's extensive research for her 2008 novel, "When You Come Home" (Curbstone)-- which chronicles the lives of young veterans returning home from Desert Storm.

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There is a new ménage-à-quatre in the region, bringing Israel, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and the United States ever closer. And...an unexpected fifth player lurking in the shadows: Russia.

The recent electoral victory of Iraq’s Sairoon alliance is a shock to the US imposed system of governance that divided political positions and support along sectarian lines, and a major blow for political independence from both the U.S. and Iran.

The way to war, which will surely prove to be the road to hell, seems open with a Third Gulf War looming on humanity’s horizon. Once again, Iran is the enemy. Again, as in 2003, a president is surrounded by bellicose advisers intent on just such a war and looking for the right excuse to launch it.

Mosul residents are left asking: Who will pay for the reconstruction? The answer isn’t clear, except for one part, which is that America will not be involved, even though its bombs were responsible for the lion’s share of destruction.

Reader Comments: Iraq War - 15 Years Later; Labor, Industrial Policy, Tariffs, Teachers(West Virginia, Florida, Arizona); Prisons; Iran War?; Readers Debate Churchill, Stalin; Capitalism and Racism; Puerto Rico; Resource-Social Movements; Announcements; Remembering Sharpeville; and more....

As Iraq prepares for its first post-Islamic State elections, the Iraqi Communist Party has formed a singular alliance with the movement led by activist Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. And it is a move that is not as bizarre as it may first appear.