By guest author Dr. Ian Hansen

Al-Qa'ida Training Manual

As a supporter of human rights and locally-controlled democracy in Iraq, I am dismayed to see Fallujah fall to Al Qaeda.

Some may see poetic justice for the U.S. in this development: the U.S. war of aggression has clearly backfired in Fallujah. But there's no justice in it for the people of that historic city. I would have been happy to see Fallujah residents lead a nonviolent civil disobedience movement to regain control over their communities, but the ascendance of Al Qaeda there is a tragedy.

By Dr. Kathie Malley-Morrison   

Little Sister says, "Now is the time to read or reread George Orwell's 1984." It is available online.

1984 is a disturbing portrayal of perpetual war, massive propaganda, government control of the media, and ubiquitous surveillance. Published in 1949, it is a chilling nightmare of a novel foretelling a future wherein people live in constant fear of Big Brother, who can monitor their every behavior from their own televisions.  

Consider this information and decide for yourself whether that future is now.

By guest author Sunanda Sharma 

Malala Yousafzai is known as "the girl who stood up for education and was shot by the Taliban," and she casually includes that on the title page of her incredible book, I Am Malala.  

Before she was shot, Malala anonymously chronicled her life under the pen name Gul Makai for BBC in 2009.