Imperialism Follow

Tens of thousands more US soldiers are set to land in Iraq. George Bush promises a "surge" in troops to secure a "final victory".

George Bush’s decision to send more US troops to Iraq means still more death, devastation and misery for its people.

The imperial project in the Middle East is damaged but not destroyed. It is damaged in part because of the successive blows that have rained down on it from the Iraqi, Afghan, Palestinian and Lebanese resistance since 2002.

Last week saw the release of a long awaited report by the Iraq Survey Group (ISG) – a panel of senior US ruling class politicians – into the future of US imperialism in Iraq.

Demonstrators against the Iraq war, who were detained during a protest in 2003, have won a legal victory against the police's action.

On 19 March 2003, a week before the start of the invasion of Iraq, Tony Blair wrote a furious letter to BBC director-general Greg Dyke and BBC chairman Gavyn Davies. He accused the BBC’s coverage of being biased against the war.

Media coverage overwhelmingly reflected the Blair government’s spin about a "moral" case for war. Over 80 percent of press and TV stories about the war’s justification reflected the official line, with less than 12 percent challenging it.

The rise of imperialism in the 19th century was reflected in the literature of the period. Gareth Jenkins examines the contradictions of empire's novelists.

The arguments for maintaining the occupation of Iraq crumbled a little further this week.

The high command of the British Army officially sanctioned the hooding and mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners, a court martial has been told.

The US engineering company Bechtel is leading the corporate withdrawal from Iraq. Despite much of the country’s infrastructure still being in ruins, US government funding for reconstruction is coming to an end.

Suddenly, debate on both sides of the Atlantic centres on what was once seen as impossible – withdrawal of US and British forces from Iraq.