The Irrelevance of
Military Victory

A military victory in Iraq is unattainable, just as it was in the Vietnam War. At the close of the Vietnam War in 1975, a telling conversation took place between an NVA colonel named Tu and an American colonel named Harry Summers. Col. Summers reportedly said, "You...

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It’s All About Iran

As American troops storm what is, or was, an Iranian consulate – at least that's what the Iraqi government calls it, in spite of American denials – and the president accuses Tehran of arming and aiding Iraqi insurgents, the answer to the question "Why...

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On the Mideast Escalator

While the president's announcement that an additional 20,000 troops would be sent to Iraq dominated the headlines last week, the real story was the president's sharp rhetoric toward Iran and Syria. And recent moves by the administration only serve to confirm the...

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‘Crusade’ Against an Evil War

Fellow columnist Molly Ivins has launched a crusade of sorts to end what she calls "this evil war." I'm afraid that columnists, other than having the ability to occasionally embarrass a politician who still has a conscience, are pretty much without influence in the...

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Bush’s Iraq Plan – Goading Iran Into War

WASHINGTON – President George W. Bush's address on Iraq Wednesday night was less about Iraq than about its eastern neighbor, Iran. There was little new about the U.S.'s strategy in Iraq, but on Iran, the president spelled out a plan that appears to be aimed at...

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A Cure For Yellow Ribbon Patriotism

A man I once knew survived his tour of duty in Vietnam. In the privacy of a rented house trailer he drank alone until he finally had the "courage" to kill himself. I don't know if he saw combat. He never said. I only assumed he had because when he spoke, what he said...

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Ratcheting up the Nuclear Ante

NEW DELHI – The stunning story by the London Sunday Times alleging that Israel has drawn up plans to destroy Iran's nuclear facilities with nuclear weapons has focused attention on the growing global nuclear danger and on the worsening situation in the Middle...

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