Nèdeem Elmahjoub's blog

Surprise! Surprise! All but one war crimes claim against British soldiers dropped . "We the experienced army with a long experience in running the biggest empire behind us and experienced ruling class, commit war crimes? We went to mesopotamia, we liberated their people, we stabilised the country with our ally the US and Iraqis are now living happier than ever, even adopting our way of life. Iraq today is better than under Saddam Hussein after all. And didn't the war happen long time ago? 

Have we all forgotten about the Iraq war? Related Blackwater's Erik Prince: Iraq, privatising wars, and Trump

The End of Fukuyama and the Last Book

"Throughout the book — whether on privatisation, “modernisation” of public services, university tuition fees, de-industrialisation and financialisation, Scottish independence, the British Labour Party or “enduring British values” — Brown’s efforts to portray himself as an opponent of neoliberalism are as unconvincing as his attempt to exonerate himself over Iraq. He’s too clumsy not to reveal his true colours. Benjamin Netanyahu is “an old friend and colleague”. British business magnate and billionaire Alan Sugar is “brilliant and inspirational”. The Malvinas/Falklands conflict was a “triumph” worth celebrating. And in the closing pages he approvingly quotes not Thomas Paine or Mary Wollstonecraft, but Edmund Burke, the conservative critic of the French Revolution whose writings spurred Paine and Wollstonecraft to produce their greatest works in reply." Review of Gordon Brown's autobiography

Ineffective "Mass marches in the UK"

Lessons from the History of America's Defeats

No one knows for certain how many Iraqis have died as a result of the invasion 15 years ago. Some credible estimates put the number at more than one million. You can read that sentence again. The invasion of Iraq is often spoken of in the United States as a “blunder,” or even a “colossal mistake.” It was a crime. Those who perpetrated it are still at large. Some of them have even been rehabilitated thanks to the horrors of Trumpism and a mostly amnesiac citizenry. (A year ago, I watched Mr. Bush on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” dancing and talking about his paintings.) The pundits and “experts” who sold us the war still go on doing what they do. I never thought that Iraq could ever be worse than it was during Saddam’s reign, but that is what America’s war achieved and bequeathed to Iraqis. "Fifteen Year Ago, America Destroyed My Country" Sinaan Antoon in The New York Times

The American way of war is a budget-breaker