By Bob Fertik and David Swanson

As George Bush prepares to leave office, he and his aides are trying desperately to rewrite history, especially on Iraq. Nearly six years after invading Iraq on the basis of lies that were manufactured inside the White House, the Bush Administration adamantly insists the lies were all innocent mistakes. Were they?

Originally, the invasion of Iraq was justified primarily on grounds that Iraq had substantial quantities of chemical and biological weapons and had “reconstituted” read more

By David Swanson

Given the fates of the other two members of Bush’s axis of evil, some would argue that the best defense Iran could have would be a nuclear bomb. They would, however, be wildly wrong. The best defense Iran could have would be awareness in the minds of Americans of who the Iranian people are, a people with great love and affection for the American people, great generosity toward others, and great commitment to peace. The best way I know that this defense could be created read more

By David Swanson, PDA
December 15, 2008, Chicago, IL

Saturday night in Chicago, national and state leaders of Progressive Democrats of America met to strategize and discuss the progress of the Healthcare Not Warfare campaign. The meeting was held at the same hotel where PDA members were participating in a three-day United for Peace and Justice national assembly.

The UFPJ assembly and the PDA meeting were both extremely encouraging, and harmonized well. UFPJ not only endorsed PDA’s Healthcare read more

By David Swanson

This is the question now raised in Iraq: If they throw shoes at your face are you a combat troop or a noncombat troop? The answer may be important in helping to guide President Elect Obama’s strategy of reducing but continuing the genocidal occupation that has made a shoeless journalist one of the most beloved, if little known, people in the world overnight.

A related dilemma is this: If shoes become weapons, were the metal detectors, searches, and bribes to phony journalists read more

By David Swanson

United for Peace and Justice (UFPJ), the largest coalition of peace organizations (over 1,400 of them) in the United States, held a national assembly in Chicago December 12-14, and drafted documents establishing the movement’s agenda for the coming year.

Proposals to work for the prosecution of high officials guilty of war crimes, including the crime of launching an aggressive war, were approved and written into all three of UFPJ’s key documents, which are revised from read more