It is difficult to imagine that a plan concocted by the plump and studious Fred Kagan deep in the bowels of the American Enterprise Institute can be taken seriously, but life offers many surprises. The Bush administration and putative Republican presidential candidate...
Monday: 8 US Soldiers, 30 Iraqis Killed; 77 Iraqis Wounded
Updated at 7:55 p.m. EDT, Mar. 10, 2008Eight U.S. soldiers were killed in two separate incidents in Iraq. Overall, at least 30 Iraqis were also killed and another 77 were wounded across Iraq, during a spate of mostly suicide bombings. Even the relatively stable city...
Just Waterboarding Under the Bridge
U.S. President George W. Bush appeared headed toward another train wreck with Congress as he carried out his threat to veto an intelligence bill that would have banned the Central Intelligence Agency from using waterboarding and other "enhanced interrogation...
A Strategy for Peace and Survival
The response to my "confession" of admiration for Barack Obama is instructive on several levels, the first being the amount of sheer emotion generated. Here, for example, is a response from some of Ron Paul's more hard-core supporters: to hear them tell it,...
Tune in to Winter Soldier Hearings
Get ready for the horrible, honest reality of the American occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan like you haven't heard it before. For three days, March 14-16, hundreds of U.S. veterans of the two wars will descend on Washington and testify in the "Winter...
Israel Plots Another Palestinian Exodus
Israeli Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai's much publicized remark last week about Gaza facing a shoah the Hebrew word for the Holocaust was widely assumed to be unpleasant hyperbole about the army's plans for an imminent full-scale invasion of the...
Happy Birthday, DHS!
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) just turned five years old. It seems like it was born just yesterday. The department's growing pains have made it a slow learner and a downright ugly child. Born in an atmosphere of tension and fear, and cobbled together from...
Sunday: 28 Iraqis Killed, 10 Wounded
Updated at 7:15 p.m. EDT, Mar. 9, 2008At least 28 Iraqis were killed and another 10 were wounded in the latest attacks. The U.S. military suggested that a recent surge in killings should not be taken as an overall return to violence. No Coalition deaths were reported....
Saturday: 1 US Soldier, 36 Iraqis Killed; 17 Iraqis Wounded; 100 Bodies Found
Updated at 9:34 p.m. EST, Mar. 8, 2008Although reported violence was otherwise light, a mass grave containing about 100 badly decomposed bodies was discovered in Khalis. Overall, at least another 36 Iraqis were killed and 17 more were wounded in the latest attacks....
Roots of Venezuelan-Colombian Crisis
It's not easy to tell, despite all the blustering on various sides and even the movement of troops, whether there is really a crisis brewing in South America that could lead eventually to military confrontation. But animosities that have been expressed for some time...


