Month: March 2008

Updated at 11:36 p.m. EDT, Mar. 13, 2008As the body of a kidnapped Chaldean Catholic priest was found in northern Iraq, a car bomb blast in Baghdad killed and injured scores of civilians. Overall at least 39 Iraqis were killed or found dead and another 112 were wounded in the latest attacks. No Coalition deaths … Continue reading “Thursday: 39 Iraqis Killed, 112 Wounded”

Describing the current Lebanese political impasse as a moment "pregnant with incredible danger," a US expert Tuesday urged rival factions and their international patrons to adopt of a formula of "no victim, no vanquished" in order to mitigate a possible descent into civil war. "When I think back to that horrible day in March of … Continue reading “In Lebanon, Time to Step Back From the Brink”

Since the release of the US National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iran’s nuclear capabilities last December, the prevailing conventional wisdom has been that the report’s finding that Iran is not currently pursuing nuclear weapons had derailed the possibility of the George W. Bush administration launching a military strike before leaving office. In the months preceding … Continue reading “Blowback of Iran War Likely to Be ‘Terrible’”

As children, most of us learned the so-called golden rule: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." Or in more plain language: "Treat others as you would like to be treated." Also known as the ethic of reciprocity, the golden rule is a moral principle common to most of the world’s … Continue reading “The Golden Rule”

Even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same. Job 4:8 (King James Version) Often people express concern about future acts of terrorism in America and about terrorists entering our country at our borders. I feel it is most important Americans come to realize that our borders would only … Continue reading “How To Reduce Terrorism”

If the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is one of the world’s most intractable, much the same can be said of the parallel debate about whether its resolution can best be achieved by a single state embracing the two peoples living there or by a division of the land into two separate states, one for Jews and the … Continue reading “Two-State Dreamers”

On Tuesday, March 11, the US House of Representatives voted for the version of the Intelligence Authorization Act of 2008 that banned waterboarding and other forms of torture. The measure, previously passed by Congress, was vetoed by President Bush. This vote was an attempt to override the veto. It passed 225-188, but failed to get … Continue reading “No to Torture, Yes to the Constitution”

Updated at 12:37 a.m. EDT, Mar. 13, 2008A group of Iraqi intellectuals and former political leaders formally requested the United Nations to take over security in Iraq in order to end the U.S. occupation of the country. Meanwhile, U.S. authorities received severed fingers belonging to four Americans and an Austrian citizen. In violent attacks, at … Continue reading “Wednesday: 4 US Soldiers, 25 Iraqis Killed; 36 Iraqis Wounded”

At a pretrial hearing at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, next month, the Pentagon will take its first public step toward a military commission trial for Osama bin Laden’s alleged driver and bodyguard. And one of the witnesses for the defense will be the military’s former chief prosecutor. He is Col. Morris Davis, now head of the … Continue reading “Former Gitmo Prosecutor to Testify for Defense”

Adm. William Fallon’s request to quit his position as head of the U.S. Central Command (Centcom) and to retire from the military was apparently the result of a George W. Bush administration decision to pressure him to resign. Announcing the resignation, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said he believed it was "the right thing to … Continue reading “Dissenting Views Made Fallon’s Fall Inevitable”