No one knows what's in George W. Bush's mind as he heads off for Israel and Palestine. Perhaps he himself doesn't know exactly why he's making the trip. But if he is really going to burnish his legacy by moving both sides closer to peace, as the pundits say, he faces...
George Weigel’s Anti-American Jeremiad
What, one wonders, can possibly inspire the neoconservatives' hate for Americans, their history, their traditions, and their ideas? In the context of this question, George Weigel's new book, Faith, Reason, and the War against Jihadism. A Call to Action, is more...
Zhou Enlai: The Last Perfect Revolutionary
Gao Wenqian, Zhou Enlai: The Last Perfect Revolutionary (New York: Public Affairs, 2007) 345 pp. Mao Zedong became the symbol of the communist revolution in China. Leading the famed Long March, proclaiming the new People's Republic of China, sending forth Red...
Thursday: 25 Iraqis Killed, 24 Wounded
Updated at 11:10 p.m EST, Jan. 10, 2008At least 25 Iraqis were killed and 24 more were wounded in the latest round of violence. Most of them were gunmen or security personnel. Meanwhile, the International Organization for Migration reported that only a trickle of...
Will Naval Incident Undermine Bush’s Iran Message?
It is by now almost routine. With recurring frequency, US leaders tour the Middle East depicting Iran as the region's greatest threat. As such, President George W. Bush's visit to the Middle East this week has historic precedent. But while the message often fell on...
Fuel Crisis Freezes Iraqi Life
BAQUBA - It's turning out to be about the hardest winter Abu Muslih has known. Too often it's a choice between buying food and medicines, and buying kerosene to keep his children warm. "I see them feeling cold, so I go out to buy kerosene at any price,"...
Kicking the Can Down the Road
A piece in the December 27, 2007 Cleveland Plain Dealer, "Vote on fate of Kirkuk postponed," by Tina Susman and Asso Ahmed of the L.A. Times, reported that "Kurdish lawmakers agreed Wednesday to a six-month delay in a referendum on whether the oil-rich...
The Ties That Strangle
I recently highlighted the irony of sending nearly $1 billion overseas in military earmarks as we close down bases here at home to save money. Our government's flawed foreign policy troubles me especially in light of recent events in Pakistan. Benazir Bhutto's...
Wednesday: 9 US Soldiers, 25 Iraqis Killed; 10 Iraqis Wounded
Updated at 6:30 p.m. EST, Jan. 9, 2008Nine American soldiers were reported killed on an otherwise extremely quiet newsday. At least 25 Iraqis were killed, mostly gunmen, and 10 Iraqis were wounded in separate events. Also, the World Health Organization released their...
The $100 Barrel of Oil vs. the Global War on Terror: The Bush Legacy (Take Two)
Consider the debate among four Democratic presidential candidates on ABC News last Saturday night. In the previous week, the price of a barrel of oil briefly touched $100, unemployment hit 5 percent, the stock market had the worst three-day start since the Great...