The Final Assault

When in May 2005 the Bush apparatchiks officially adopted the Clinton policy towards the Balkans (until then, they merely allowed it to continue out of inertia), predictions were rife that independence for the occupied Serbian province of Kosovo would be just around...

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Wednesday: 59 Iraqis Killed, 177 Wounded

Updated at 11:30 p.m. EST, Dec. 13, 2007A large triple bombing killed or wounded scores of people in the southern city of Amarah. Meanwhile a smaller blast in Baghdad left over a dozen casualties there. Overall, 59 Iraqis were killed and 177 more were wounded in the...

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Bush’s Surreal Iran Policy

According to the recent National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) "Iran: Nuclear Intentions and Capabilities," [.pdf] a key judgment of the 16 members of the U.S. intelligence community is that they "judge with high confidence that in fall 2003, Tehran...

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The Israel Lobby
and the War Party

How many times have we read some variation on the following lede? "Israeli armored forces backed by aircraft thrust into the southern Gaza Strip today, killing four Palestinians a day before Israeli and Palestinian negotiators were to begin laying the groundwork...

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Is Tom Lantos’ Seat in Jeopardy?

Tom Lantos, a Democrat who has represented San Mateo in the U.S. House of Representatives for 13 terms, plans to run for reelection in 2008. Budapest-born Lantos, who came to the United States as a young man, may face a primary challenge from popular former state Sen....

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On the Torturable and the Untorturable

In Wednesday's Wall Street Journal, reporter Siobhan Gorman offered a striking little portrait of José A. Rodriguez, who, in 2005, as chief of the CIA's National Clandestine Service, ordered the destruction of those "hundreds of hours" of CIA videotapes of...

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No Liberty Without
Habeas Corpus

The U.S. Supreme Court has taken up the issue whether the executive branch can detain people indefinitely merely by declaring them to be suspected terrorists or illegal enemy combatants. The case is a habeas corpus issue and, therefore, of the utmost importance....

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Chinese, US Attitudes Reflect ‘Hope and Fear’

While the Chinese and U.S. publics and elites hold generally favorable views of each other, distrust between them also persists, according to a new "mirror" survey of both countries released Monday. The survey [.pdf], entitled "Hope & Fear: American...

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White House Fought NIE Over an Old Charge

The reported White House resistance to the National Intelligence Estimate's conclusion that Iran had abandoned a nuclear weapons program in 2003 was an effort to save a political tactic the George W. Bush administration had been using since early 2004, despite the...

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