The Petraeus Report:
More Kabuki?

September approaches, and with it the supposed watershed in the Iraq war that Gen. David Petraeus' report to Congress will represent. In reality, the report will make little difference in what the Democratically controlled Congress does, because it has already decided...

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George W. Bush: A CIA Analysis

It is as though I'm back as an analyst at the CIA, trying to estimate the chances of an attack on Iran. The putative attacker, though, happens to be our own president. It is precisely the work we analysts used to do. And, while it is still a bit jarring to be turning...

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Iran, US: Bury the Past!

There seems to be no end to the exchange of rhetoric between Iran and the U.S. Both blame each other for being the cause of Mideast instability and part of the regional problem. One would have expected a mutual change of tone, if not approach, following their...

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Tuesday: 63 Iraqis Killed, 89 Wounded

Updated at 11:57 p.m EDT, Aug. 21, 2007At least 63 Iraqis were killed or found dead and 89 more were wounded in the latest round of violence, but no foreign military deaths were reported. There are unconfirmed reports of the discovery, in Fallujah, of a mass grave...

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Experts: Surge, War on Terror Failing

Washington's policymakers are growing dissatisfied with the Bush administration's troop surge in Iraq and a majority agrees that the world is becoming more dangerous for the United States, according to a poll released Monday. The nonpartisan poll, called "The...

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Baquba Caught Between the US and Al-Qaeda

BAQUBA - The major U.S. military operation in Baquba city north of Baghdad has ended, but it has left continuing suffering for residents in its wake. The U.S. military launched Operation Arrowhead Ripper in Baquba, 30 mi. northeast of Baghdad, on June 18. Baquba is...

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Stumbling Toward Another War

Introducing Miss Calculatsia, that fashionable foreigner, the new star in Israeli discourse. To a Hebrew ear, she sounds like a young beauty, like "Miss Israel." But Miss-Calculatsia, the Hebrew version of "miscalculation," is neither young nor beautiful, nor even...

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America on the Downward Slope

Pick up the paper any day and you'll find tiny straws in the wind (or headlines inside the fold) reflecting the seeping away of American power. The president of the planet's "sole superpower" and his top diplomats and commanders have been denouncing Iran for months as...

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Militarism’s Transmission Belt

In a previous article, we analyzed the function of supposedly nonpartisan think tanks as propaganda mills for government policies, particularly those that aggrandize the warmaking state. It is worth elaborating with a fresh example. In the Aug. 16, 2007, edition of...

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