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This week on Uprising — War on the Arab/Muslim World

* Afghanistan: Democrats Urge Troop Increase
* Empire Notes on Ignorance of Muslims
* Iraq: The Logic of Withdrawal
* Black Agenda Report on Iran
* Palestine: Conversation with Historian and Children’s Author, Sonia Nimr

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Democrats Urge Troop Increase in Afghanistan

GUEST: J. Alexander Thier, senior advisor in the Rule of Law program at the US Institute of Peace, former legal advisor to Afghanistan’s Constitutional and Judicial Reform Commissions in Kabul

While there has been opposition to any increase in US troops in Iraq, there is a near political consensus on any such move in Afghanistan. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and a Congressional delegation recently returned from Afghanistan, calling for increased attention to the war-torn nation. Pelosi asserted that the US’s European allies must do more to help defeat the continuing Taliban resurgence. In 2005 Nancy Pelosi made statements claiming that the war in Afghanistan was over. She now calls it “the forgotten war in Afghanistan.” The Bush administration has proposed a $10.6 billion aid package for Afghanistan which the Congressional delegation has promised they would “expeditiously consider.” About $8.6 billion would be for training and equipping Afghan police and soldiers; $2 billion would go toward reconstruction. There are currently 31,000 troops under NATO command in Afghanistan, of which 11,000 are American. An additional 10,000 US troops operate independently of NATO. According to Marvin Weinbaum, a scholar at the Middle East Institute, “‘It makes a lot of sense [for Democrats] to highlight Afghanistan as where the real source of terrorism began and where it still has to be dealt with so that the Democrats come out of this not looking like they’re weak-kneed when it comes to battling terrorism.”

Empire Notes on Ignorance of Muslims

GUEST: Rahul Mahajan, author of Full Spectrum Dominance and The New Crusade

Empire Notes are weekly commentaries filed by Rahul Mahajan, author of Full Spectrum Dominance and The New Crusade. Today’s commentary is on our ignorance of Muslims.

Empire Notes is online at www.empirenotes.org.

Iraq: The Logic of Withdrawal

GUEST: Anthony Arnove, author of “Iraq: The Logic of Withdrawal,” co-author of “Voices of a People’s History of the United States” with Howard Zinn

Congress is getting ready to tackle a number of resolutions on Iraq, most of them non-binding, in the coming weeks. Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), co-chairwoman of the Progressive Caucus, is vowing to use the appropriations process to force lawmakers to vote on separate parts of a resolution calling for the immediate withdrawal of U.S. soldiers from Iraq. The resolution would pay Iraqis reparations of up to $10,000 for damages caused by the war if they made claims; ban American firms from pumping oil in Iraq; cut off funds to build long-term bases in Iraq; pay for the destruction of landmines; and create a House-Senate select committee to study the origins of the war in Iraq. House Resolution 508 currently has 28 sponsors. Senator Russ Feingold, D-Wis., is drafting legislation to cut off some war funding, while Senator Barack Obama wants to cap troop levels and have soldiers returning home by next May. Meanwhile, there are at least five Republican resolutions circulating. Republican party leaders are trying to decide on a resolution that can support Bush. One opposes troop buildup and another demands benchmarks for progress.

Black Agenda Report on Iran

GUEST: Glen Ford is a writer and radio commentator and the Executive Editor of The Black Agenda Report

This week’s commentary is about Iran. Visit www.blackagendareport.com for more information.

Conversation with Palestinian Historian and Children’s Author

GUEST: Dr. Sonia Nimr is a historian; she teaches at Birzeit University in Palestine, and has been active in Palestinian’s politics for over 40 years, co-author with Elizabeth Laird of “A Little Piece of Ground”

Armed men loyal to Hamas and Fatah have been battling each other for over a month now. Dozens of people have been killed and infrastructure destroyed despite ceasefires. The fighting arises from serious differences between the two parties. Meanwhile, Israeli forces last week bombed a tunnel near Gaza’s Karni crossing claiming that Palestinian militants were planning to use it to carry out attacks inside Israel. The bombing came a day after a Palestinian suicide bomber killed three people in the Israeli Red Sea resort of Eilat.

Sonali’s Subversive Thought for the Day

“Look at situations as contingent, not as inevitable, look at them as the result of a series of historical choices made by men and women, as facts of society made by human beings, and not as natural or god-given, therefore unchangeable, permanent, irreversible.” – Edward Said.