Iraq Topics

Democracy Now! has closely followed the U.S.-led attacks and occupation of Iraq over the years.

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  • Cheney_button

    Ex-Bush Official Col. Lawrence Wilkerson: "I am Willing to Testify" If Dick Cheney is Put on Trial

    As former Vice President Dick Cheney publishes his long-awaited memoir, we speak to Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, former chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell. "This is a book written out of fear, fear that one day someone will 'Pinochet' Dick Cheney," says Wilkerson, alluding to the former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, who was arrested for war crimes. Wilkerson also calls for George W. Bush and Cheney to be held...
    Aug 30, 2011 | Story
  • Hagemann_button

    Army Ranger Widow Confronts Rumsfeld over His Lies that Convinced Her Husband to Join the Military

    We speak with the widow of a U.S. Army Ranger who confronted former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld about her husband’s suicide on Saturday. Ashley Joppa-Hagemann introduced herself to Rumsfeld during a book signing by handing him a copy of her husband’s funeral program at a base south of Tacoma, Washington. She says Rumsfeld inspired her husband to join the Army after 9/11, but he later became disillusioned with the reasons for the...
    Aug 30, 2011 | Story
  • Iraq_troops_button

    Violence Spikes in Iraq as U.S. Considers Ways to Extend Occupation Past December Deadline

    It was one year ago today that the Obama administration officially announced it was pulling the last full U.S. combat brigade from Iraq. Today, roughly 46,000 U.S. troops remain in the country, along with more than 64,000 private contractors. This week, as Iraq suffers its deadliest violence of the year, there is increasing speculation that the Obama administration will extend its occupation of the war-ravaged nation. Earlier this month, the Iraqi...
    Aug 19, 2011 | Story
  • Rumsfeld_suit_button

    U.S. Navy Vet Sues Donald Rumsfeld for Torture in Iraq, Court Allows Case to Move Forward

    On Monday, a federal appeals court refused to dismiss a lawsuit filed by two U.S. citizens against former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and unnamed others for developing, authorizing and using harsh interrogation techniques against detainees in Iraq. Donald Vance and Nathan Ertel were working for a private U.S. government contractor, Shield Group Security, in 2006 when they witnessed the sale of U.S. government weapons to Iraqi rebel groups...
    Aug 11, 2011 | Story
  • Play_rep_edwards

    Rep. Donna Edwards on Why She Voted Against Debt Deal: “A Bad Framework for the Future”

    President Obama has signed legislation to increase the U.S. debt ceiling in time to avoid a national default. The $2.1 trillion deficit-reduction plan cleared its final hurdle in the Senate yesterday, passing with a 74-to-26 vote. Six Democrats and 19 Republicans opposed the measure. Members of the Progressive Caucus and the Congressional Black Caucus rejected the deal because of its massive cuts to domestic spending and a lack of tax increases...
    Aug 03, 2011 | Story
  • Play_jobs-economy

    Economist Dean Baker Predicts A "Really Bad Deal or No Deal" from Deficit "Super Committee"

    President Barack Obama welcomed the deficit deal as "an important first step" and urged both parties to work together on a larger plan to cut the deficit. The deal includes no new tax revenue from wealthy Americans and no additional stimulus for the lagging economy. It has a provision to create a joint committee of 12 legislators charged with finding $1.5 trillion in deficit cuts. The committee must hold its first meeting in 45 days...
    Aug 03, 2011 | Story

  • "War Is a Racket" By Amy Goodman

    Military contract whistleblower Bunny Greenhouse’s legal win is welcome, but U.S. taxpayers are out $5 trillion for the wars of Bush and Obama. Why isn’t war a central issue in the U.S. debt talks?
    Jul 27, 2011 | Columns & Articles
  • Halliburton_button

    EXCLUSIVE: Fired Army Whistleblower Receives $970K for Exposing Halliburton No-Bid Contract in Iraq

    Bunnatine "Bunny" Greenhouse, the former chief oversight official of contracts at the Army Corps of Engineers, has reached a $970,000 settlement six years after she was demoted for publicly criticizing a multi-billion-dollar, no-bid contract to Halliburton—the company formerly headed by then-Vice President Dick Cheney. Greenhouse had accused the Pentagon of unfairly awarding the contract to Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown &...
    Jul 26, 2011 | Story

  • "Soldier Suicides and the Politics of Presidential Condolences." By Amy Goodman

    President Barack Obama just announced a reversal of a long-standing policy that denied presidential condolence letters to the family members of soldiers who commit suicide. Official silence, however, has long stigmatized those who die of self-inflicted wounds. The change marks a long-overdue shift in the recognition of the epidemic of soldier and veteran suicides in this country and the toll of the hidden wounds of war.
    Jul 13, 2011 | Columns & Articles
  • Bush_torture_button

    A Debate on Human Rights Watch's Call for Bush Administration Officials to be Tried for Torture

    Human Rights Watch has released a new report calling on the U.S. government to launch a broad criminal investigation into alleged crimes of torture committed by former President George W. Bush and other top officials under his administration. It comes on the heels of a Department of Justice investigation into alleged torture, abuse and murder during the interrogation of detainees in CIA custody. Earlier this month, the DOJ announced it would launch...
    Jul 12, 2011 | Story