Updated at 9:20 p.m. EDT, Mar. 28, 2008At least 163 Iraqis were killed and 214 were wounded in the latest reports of violence. These figures included updated numbers from the Mahdi Army battles taking place since Tuesday. Fighting appears to be subsiding in Baghdad,...
One of the Arab world's most widely respected non-governmental organizations is charging that at least 14 Middle East and North African governments are systematically violating the civil liberties of their citizens – and most of them are close U.S. allies in the...
The recent increase in fighting around Basra, which is rapidly spreading to Baghdad, has the punditariat in a lather. Their sacred Surge has turned into a mere splurge – of resources, lives, and misplaced hope. Well, I could have told you that, and, indeed, I...
The stories of the Uighurs in Guantánamo – Muslims from the oppressed Xinjiang province of China, formerly known as East Turkistan – have long demonstrated chronic injustice on the part of the U.S. authorities to those who know of them, although they...
No one was prepared for the storm when it hit. The levees meant to protect us had long since been breached, and key officials had already left town. The well-to-do were assured of rescue, but for everyone else trapped inside the Superdome in a fast-flooding region,...
While the Iraqi government continued its large-scale military assault in Basra, the NPR reporter's voice from Iraq was unequivocal on the morning of March 27: "There is no doubt that this operation needed to happen." Such flat-out statements, uttered with...
The Kuomintang regained power in Taiwan's presidential election last Saturday. A large majority backed the KMT's Ma Ying-jeou in the hope that he will restore normalcy to the island's economic performance at home and political relations abroad. Taiwan's currency and...
Updated at 12:21 a.m. EDT, Mar. 28, 2008Although the fighting continues in Basra, followers of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in Baghdad instead took to the streets in mostly peaceful protests. The cleric himself has asked for peace talks, but the prime minister is...
The escalation of fighting between Mahdi Army militiamen and their Shi'ite rivals, which could mark the end of Moqtada al-Sadr's self-imposed cease-fire, also exposes Gen. David Petraeus' strategy for controlling Sadr's forces as a failure. Petraeus reacted...
On March 20, 2003, American forces began their invasion of Iraq. According to the Emperor himself, the purpose of the war was to "disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction, to end Saddam Hussein's support for terrorism, and to free the Iraqi people." Five...
