Both law-enforcement and intelligence agencies fundamentally depend on informants. Informants in foreign intelligence are at best traitors to their respective countries. Informants in domestic crime issues are often paid, either in cash or in deals cut on crimes they...
When Two Worlds Collide
The president passed through his State of the Union address – ill-digested chunks of so many other speeches he's given ("We're writing a new chapter in the story of self-government – with women lining up to vote in Afghanistan, and millions of Iraqis marking...
Backtalk, February 4, 2006
He's Not Your Commander in ChiefMr. Eddlem,Sir, thank you for an excellent article and lesson on the American Constitution. When I joined the Marines in 1968 (OK, I was young and dumb) I swore an oath to defend the Constitution, NOT to any person or office. By the...
A Treasonous Camarilla
"Phase two" of the investigation by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence into how we got it wrong on Iraq has been delayed for quite some time, initially because of Sen. Pat Roberts' outright blocking tactics, and now, apparently, due to a Pentagon...
Iraq’s Shias Head for Uncertain Govt
DOHA, Qatar - Six weeks after parliamentary elections, occupied Iraq is still struggling for a viable government, as violence and instability worsen. The results of the Dec. 15 elections have yet to be finalized, but it is clear that the United Iraqi Alliance (UIA), a...
The Next Act
Wars, most wars at least, run not evenly but in fits and starts, settling down into sputtering Sitzkrieg for long intervals, then suddenly shooting out wildly in wholly unpredicted directions. The war in Iraq has fallen into a set pattern for long enough that we...
Hamas Ascendance Was Years in the Making
The reaction in the United States to the surprise victory by Hamas in last week's Palestinian elections appears to have ignored the role that Washington played in bringing the radical Islamist group to power. Both Congress and the George W. Bush administration are on...
Going Old School on al-Qaeda
Most of the controversy surrounding the White House policy of warrantless telephone and e-mail eavesdropping has centered on whether President Bush has overstepped his authority under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, which was created in 1978. The...
Why We Fight
The theme of Eugene Jarecki's thoughtful yet hard-hitting documentary, Why We Fight, is inspired by President Dwight Eisenhower's famous farewell speech, in which he warns against the rising danger of militarism as an economic system and a mindset: "This conjunction...
Most Iraqis Doubt US Will Ever Leave
WASHINGTON - Large majorities of Iraqis believe that the United States has no intention of ever withdrawing all its military forces from their country and that Washington's reconstruction efforts have been incompetent at best, according to a new survey [.pdf] released...