Current Events: Historical Perspectives

Current History:
Iraq's Chemical Ali executed for four death sentences. This closes the book one more page on Saddam's atrocities. The Iraqi courts sentenced Saddam-era enforcer Ali Hassan al-Masjid to four separate death sentences for crimes against humanity and genocide. He had commissioned chemical attacks against the Kurdish residents of Halabja using mustard gas and nerve agents. Five thousand people died in what would have ordinarily been classed an unlawful use of weapons of mass destruction. More here...

Slightly Older History: The Invasion of Italy
Jan. 22, 1944: Allied forces, including the U.S. VI Corps under the command of Maj. Gen. John P. Lucas (of Lt. Gen. Mark Clark’s Fifth Army), begin a series of landings along a stretch of western Italian coastline in the Anzio-Nettuno area. Codenamed Operation Shingle, the Allies achieve complete surprise against -- and encounter little initial resistance from -- the Germans. But the landings kick off what will become one of the most grueling campaigns of World War II. More here...