Once the bustling heart of Christian pilgrimage, Bethlehem now faces shuttered hotels, empty streets and a shrinking Christian community, while Israel’s assault on Gaza and the tightening grip of occupation destroy hopes of peace at the birthplace of Christ, writes Father GEOFF BOTTOMS
September 11: an opportunity or a crime?
The US saw the attacks as an act of war — so instead of simply setting out to catch the perpetrators, decided to 'go massive' with a disastrous display of military might that has now laid bare the declining status of the US empire, writes SOLOMON HUGHES
After years hidden away, Oldham’s memorial to six local volunteers who died fighting fascism in the Spanish civil war has been restored to public view, marking both a victory for campaigners and a renewed tribute to the town’s proud International Brigade heritage, says ROB HARGREAVES
The June 2025 attacks on Iran have heightened the risk of a wider war, exposed the fiction of a rules-based international order and left ordinary Iranians trapped between external aggression and internal repression, says the Committee for Defence of Iranian People’s Rights
While pretending to seek peace, Europe is heading toward a collision course with Russia – using security guarantees, troop deployments, expropriation and censorship as tools, writes SEVIM DAGDELEN
A WWI hero, renowned ornithologist, medical doctor, trade union organiser and founder member of the Communist Party of Great Britain all rolled in one. MAT COWARD tells the story of a life so improbable it was once dismissed as fiction
The long-term effects of chemical weapons such as Agent Orange mean that the impact of war lasts well beyond a ceasefire
TOMORROW is the 20th anniversary of the September 11 attack on the Twin Towers. We will be hearing a lot about the horrors of that day, when 2,977 people were killed because 19 terrorists flew planes into buildings.
It’s also 20 years since the US government decided to respond to the attacks by lashing out with a series of wild military adventures: US Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld planned to “go massive” and attack targets he knew were completely unrelated to the terrorists — including Iraq — on the day the Twin Towers fell. Hundreds of thousands of people have died because the US government — with British support — decided to use the event to demonstrate Western military might, instead of seeking justice.
We know how Rumsfeld reacted to the fall of the Twin Towers because we have access to the handwritten notes of his orders on September 11 2001. The notes were kept by Rumsfeld’s aide Stephen Cambone, who wrote down his orders to his various officials. According to these notes, on the afternoon of September 11, about five hours after the first plane hit the Twin Towers, Rumsfeld said, “Near term target needs — go massive — sweep it all up, things related and not.”
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