Month: April 2006

Why We Cannot Talk With Hamas It always amuses me to hear the phrase “the Palestinians don’t recognize Israel’s right to exist.” As if Israel ever seriously considered an independent Palestine as having a right to exist. Allowing the Israelis to divide the historic Palestine between themselves and the Palestinians would be like allowing a … Continue reading “Backtalk, April 26, 2006”

KARACHI – As the crisis around Iran over its alleged nuclear ambitions assumes an ugly shape, Pakistan finds itself once again under enormous political pressure because of aggressive United States policy toward a Muslim country in its immediate neighborhood. Already, the Pakistan government is under fire from powerful Islamist groups and political parties for supporting … Continue reading “Pakistan Stressed by US Designs on Iran”

The search is finally over. Sen. John Kerry is believed to have found his heroic voice. He apparently misplaced it back in the early ’70s after standing up to the U.S. war in Vietnam upon his saluted return from battle. Now many antiwar liberals believe Kerry is dissenting yet again. "I have come here today … Continue reading “Kerry’s Halfhearted Reversal”

Chinese President Hu Jintao’s visit to the nation’s capital last week was an especially noteworthy disaster. A summit that should have dealt with the vital issue of how the United States can peacefully acknowledge China’s rise as a great power focused instead on narrow trade and proliferation issues and became a farce of administrative snafus. … Continue reading “Bush-Hu Meeting
a Blown Opportunity”

President Bush has been under pressure to fire Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, whom many view as the architect of a failed approach in Iraq. Even many ardent war hawks are unhappy with the secretary for not having more troops on the ground in Iraq, and for conducting the war less aggressively than they would like. … Continue reading “Policy Is More Important
Than Personnel”

Just before Christmas, a few days after President Bill Clinton had been impeached by the House of Representatives, Clinton received intelligence from Iraqi exiles that Saddam Hussein and his entourage would be spending a specific night in an underground bunker beneath one of his palaces. Facing possible removal from office for “high crimes and misdemeanors,” … Continue reading “Why Bush Is Going Nuclear”

Judge T.S. Ellis III has offered a rare second opportunity to the Rosen and Weissman defense team. They again made their case that the indictment of the two former AIPAC lobbyists was “trampling on their 1st Amendment rights." Although Judge Ellis established an August 2006 trial date, he continues to consider a motion to dismiss … Continue reading “Let the AIPAC Spy Trial Begin”

I did not support the Iraq War. I disagreed with it from the very beginning and never felt that the Bush administration was telling the truth when it came to the imminent threat of a “mushroom cloud." That said, we are stuck in Iraq, and now the Bush administration has turned its attention to Iran. … Continue reading “At the Very Least, Let’s Not Repeat Iraq”

What about this and this is the same? What is different? These sorts of questions sound like some you might encounter on one of those annoying tests they made you take in school, which are supposed to gauge intelligence but probably wind up measuring only one’s aptitude for test-taking. The exercise, at any rate, may … Continue reading “Two Trials”

Just a week back, I suggested that there was no reason to believe the president’s approval ratings had bottomed out. In fact, I wrote, “There is no reason to believe that a polling bottom exists for this president, not even perhaps the Nixonian Age of Watergate nadir in the lower 20 percent range.” Now, the … Continue reading “A Wake-Up Call
for the President”