There’s an excellent piece by Andy Newman on Socialist Unity about why Afghanistan could prove to be a bigger defeat for America than Vietnam.
The key point is his identification of Iraq and Afghanistan as being part of the same conflict. It’s easy to forget about Iraq with the media’s eye so focussed on Afghanistan. Remember [...]
Confirmation bias – the tendency for people to be more receptive to evidence that favours their pre-existing beliefs – is a well-known problem in evidence-based argument. But I think there’s a converse difficulty which is far less discussed. Call it ‘confirmation blindness’ – the tendency not to pay attention to evidence that confirms our deeply-held [...]
Ok, perhaps he’s not wrong about everything, but Reuben wrote an article yesterday with which I have several significant disagreements. My main problem with his assertions stem from this cringe-worthy little paragraph:
In places like Cambridge – where they grabbed a seat last time – they seemed to get the vote of those who treated voting [...]
I will always remember where I was when I heard that Britain and America had invaded Iraq. I was eighteen years old, sitting in the car, on my way to school. And I will always remember how I felt that day. I felt betrayed, disillusioned, disheartened that all the might we had mobilised in the [...]
“You’ll never guess who I had in the back of my cab the other day…”
It was revealed today in The Daily Mail that the claim that Saddam Hussein could unleash weapons of mass destruction within 45 minutes came from an Iraqi cab driver. So now we know why they call it ‘the knowledge’…
The man [...]
The long-awaited umpteenth inquiry into the war in Iraq got underway last week. This one, we are assured by Sir John Chilcot, will be different, this one will be completely independent – which is presumably why there is a one-minute delay between what’s said and what’s actually broadcast – they’re checking for bias towards the [...]
Earlier this month, Reuben wrote an article examining the media’s newfound war-weariness and how, owing to the fact that almost every major newspaper backed the invasion of Afghanistan, it can only express itself in impotent calls for better equipment.
Now of course, the Iraq war was much more divisive. Many journalists were critical of the plans [...]
Walking through security at Portcullis House, the fabulously expensive building standing adjacent to the Houses of Parliament, is a bit like going through any airport anywhere in the world. But making your way through the spacious courtyard, past green trees and sun-dappled water features under the enormous sparkling glass dome towering overhead, you could be [...]
Yesterday’s Iraq war memorial service can’t have been much fun for Tony Blair. Not only did he get called a war criminal by the father of a soldier who was killed in the conflict, he also had to sit quietly through the Rowan Williams’ polite denouncing of those who ‘look for short cuts in the [...]
Last week, I reported on the case of Dana Ali, an Iraqi immigrant being held in Oakington detention centre because of an apparent Home Office mix-up in his paperwork. Tonight, Dana has been released and has been allowed to return home while his case is considered. He has not yet been granted leave to remain [...]
