Month: June 2006

I recently wrote about Karl Rove’s gamble that Americans would prefer a Green-Zone version of our world to grim political reality and that, in the process of telling “Green-Zone stories” to the public, it was useful if you could also “Green Zone” history – enclosing small parts of the past (like the president’s version of … Continue reading “The Misuse of American History”

The looming conflict between Iran and the United States has a nightmarish quality about it: it is like one of those dreams in which a horrific series of events is endlessly reenacted, while the dreamer is powerless to stop it. You scream and nothing comes out. It is a rerun of the run-up to war … Continue reading “The Cabal, Outed”

Soccer Disaster Causes Political Epiphany It may seem incongruous that the disaster that befell the Serbia-Montenegro soccer squad at the 2006 FIFA World Cup has caused more irritation than an ongoing string of political humiliations Serbia has suffered, but one has to keep in mind that football (U.S.: soccer) is a game taken very seriously … Continue reading “End of Delusions”

The United Nations Security Council recently sent Iran a package of incentives to encourage that nation to halt its nuclear program. The proposals included selling Iran light-water nuclear technology, civilian aircraft, and spare parts. Although the United States participated in this initiative and has agreed to directly meet with the Iranians on the nuclear issue … Continue reading “Give Iran Positive Incentives to Halt Its Nuclear Program”

Iran’s announcement that it will not respond to the formal negotiating offer from the six powers until late August was both an expression of confidence and a bit of payback for European stalling in responding to Iran in 2005. By refusing to comply with a June 29 deadline, Tehran was communicating to Washington and the … Continue reading “Defying US Deadline, Iran Recalls an EU Stall”

As new reports detail further abuse by the U.S. military of its prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan, a behind-the-scenes battle is being fought between the U.S. Departments of State and Defense about whether a key section of the Geneva Conventions should be included in new rules governing Army interrogation techniques. The Pentagon is pushing to … Continue reading “Pentagon Resists Ban on ‘Degrading Treatment’”

With Omar Abdullah BAGHDAD – The trial of Iraq’s former president Saddam Hussein has been wracked with controversy and spectacle. Now entering its final phase, the question for all Iraqis and the world is whether he will be executed for the deaths of 148 Shi’ites, killed in Dujail in 1982, as requested by prosecutors. Perhaps … Continue reading “Saddam’s Execution Likely, Fair Trial Less So”

According to numerous reports, President Bush – while at a meeting with leaders of the European Union last week – gave the mullahs an ultimatum: last week. "If Iran’s leaders want peace and prosperity and a more hopeful future for their people, they should (1) accept our offer, (2) abandon any ambitions to obtain nuclear … Continue reading “Paris Accord, the Sequel”

As every political junkie in the country now knows, just before finding himself not indicted by Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, Karl Rove went to a fundraiser in New Hampshire and launched the Republican campaign for the 2006 midterm elections. Its simple goal was to keep a Democratic majority (and so the power to investigate) out … Continue reading “Running With the Barbarians”

The truth will out. If you fabricate, or acquiesce in the fabrication of, evidence used to "justify" launching a war of choice, you will have to live with that for the rest of your life. Call me quaint, but having spent 27 years in intelligence on both the analysis and operations ends of the business, … Continue reading “Intelligence Officers, Learn From History”