Many have called on President Bush to offer an explanation for his false claims about Iraq possessing weapons of mass destruction. Yet, several Democratic presidential candidates made similar claims. Here are candidate statements made before the US occupation of Iraq.

Arundhati Roy discusses the ramifications of US foreign policy, and the need for popular resistance.

A report on the World Social Forum held January 16-21 in Mumbai, India. Marwaan Macon-Markar notes critical questions for the future of the WSF which were raised in India.

The reality of "free markets" is they are dominated by multinational corporations. The philosophy of allowing this much corporate dominance of the world economy is destroying the US.

A. Jay Cristol mocked the American people. He said, “We love conspiracy.” He added, “UNFORTUNATELY, IT’S A FREE COUNTRY.” Keep in mind, he has taken an oath to uphold our Constitution and Bill of Rights. Cristol insisted that he isn’t an “apologist for Israel,” but he sure writes, acts, talks, dissembles and whines, like he is one. The Israelis put 821 shell holes in the USS Liberty. I suggest that Cristol’s defense of their monstrous, criminal deeds of June 8, 1967, has 821 holes in it, too.

Michael Klare, author of "Resource Wars: The New Landscape of Global Conflict", analyzes the energy policy of the Bush administration. Klare looks at the US's goal to procure the rest of the world’s oil discussing the Caspian Sea Basin, Latin America, the Persian Gulf, and West Africa.

The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace's exhaustive study of the evidence on weapons of mass destruction in Saddam Hussein's Iraq found that it "was not an immediate threat," exactly the opposite of what the Bush administration had claimed. The International Monetary Fund has issued a Staff Report on US fiscal policies which details the "deterioration" of US finances saying that the "hard-won gains of the previous decade have been lost and, instead of budget surpluses, deficits are again projected as far as the eye can see." Immnauel Wallerstein comments.

For decades, as union membership declined as a share of the workforce, union leaders refused to acknowledge the problem. Now, every labor leader, from AFL-CIO President John Sweeney down, agrees that rebuilding labor’s numbers will require unions to devote more resources to organizing. But they also agree that increasing membership alone isn't enough. The central issue is how to organize to increase the power of workers. David Moberg reports.