Month: December 2006

One of Aesop’s fables recounts how once upon a time Mount Ida, the birthplace of Zeus, experienced a huge earthquake. "The earth commenced to tremble and shake – and huge boulders flew off the mountain top into the sky," the fable goes. "It seemed as if the mountain was about to give birth." Then the … Continue reading “The Baker-Hamilton Recommendations: Too Little, Too Late?”

Updated at 10:00 p.m. EST, Dec. 12, 2006 Several explosions rocked the capital today, including one that killed 70 people and wounded 236 others. Another bomb damaged the Golden Mosque in Samarra. Overall, at least 158 Iraqis were killed or found dead today and 287 were injured in various incidents. Also, the U.S. Military announced … Continue reading “Tuesday: 158 Iraqis Killed, 5 GIs Killed; 287 Iraqis Injured”

This holiday travel season, Santa Claus is not the only one who is checking to see whether you’ve been naughty or nice. For the last four years, the U.S. government has been snooping by computer into people’s travel records and assigning them a risk score for being terrorists or criminals. Of all the government’s violations … Continue reading “More Cheer for the
Holiday Travel Season”

“I believe this is a recipe that will lead to our defeat … in Iraq,” said John McCain. He has a point. For what does the Iraq Study Group say? We are not winning this war. Our situation is “grave and deteriorating.” Yet we may succeed if only we will withdraw all U.S. combat brigades … Continue reading “Beware the Next
Bipartisan War”

Last week, the Iraq Study Group report [.pdf] burst upon a breathless world, and proved to be an empty piñata. None of its recommendations has the slightest chance of reversing the course of the war in Iraq. Only those who just got into town on the last truckload of turnips expected anything more. All Washington … Continue reading “Knocking Opportunity”

Right now, we have on the table a “possible exit strategy” from Iraq – James A. Baker’s Iraq Study Group report [.pdf] – that, once you do the figures, doesn’t get the U.S. even close to halfway out the door by sometime in 2008; and that report is already being rejected by the Republican and … Continue reading “‘Today Is Better Than Tomorrow’”

The Iraq Study Group released its report [.pdf] last week, giving the president several recommendations to consider in prosecuting the war. Similarly, the incoming Democratic leaders in Congress promise to urge the president to take a new course in Iraq. Meanwhile, one newly elected member of Congress was asked on national television about the Iraq … Continue reading “Who Makes Foreign Policy?”

Updated at 11:25 p.m. EST, Dec. 11, 2006 Today the violence was marked by a number of smaller incidents and several kidnappings. At least 111 Iraqis were killed or found dead, 86 injured and 12 kidnapped. Also, a U.S. helicopter experienced a hard landing during a routine flight that did not involve combat. Eighteen aboard … Continue reading “Monday: 111 Iraqis Killed; 86 Iraqis, 18 U.S. Soldiers Injured”

NEW DELHI – One and a half years after it was signed, the nuclear cooperation agreement between the United States and India has received highly qualified approval from U.S. Congress. As passed by Congress Friday, the Henry J. Hyde United States-India Peaceful Atomic Energy Cooperation Act of 2006 (PAEC Act) is likely to sharply polarize … Continue reading “Indo-US Nuclear Deal Done; Pleases Few”

When Israeli jets were dropping American-made-and-paid-for bombs on Lebanon’s cities, where was the Lebanese “army”? Hiding in its barracks, even as the Israelis reduced their bases to rubble. And where was Lebanon’s prime minister, Fouad Siniora, and what was he doing about it? He was pleading with his masters in Washington to call off their … Continue reading “Back to Lebanon”