Jim Lobe

To succeed, next month’s Israeli-Palestinian conference here should establish and endorse the contours of a permanent peace accord and secure the participation of Arab states that do not currently recognize Israel, including Syria, according to a letter sent Wednesday to President George W. Bush from a bipartisan group of eight former top US policy-makers. The … Continue reading “Israel-Palestine Talks Must Be Inclusive, Urge US Graybeards”

In a major rebuff to human rights and government accountability activists, the U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday declined to take up the case of a German citizen who was allegedly abducted, detained and tortured by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) as part of the CIA’s "extraordinary rendition" program. By declining to hear the appeal, the court … Continue reading “High Court Won’t Hear Rendition, Torture Case”

Bolstered in part by major new arms agreements with Pakistan, the United States reclaimed its ranking as the developing world’s biggest supplier of conventional arms in 2006, according to a new report [.pdf] by the Congressional Research Service (CRS). Washington agreed to transfer a total of $10.3 billion in arms to developing countries in 2006, … Continue reading “US Firms Up Spot as No. 1 Arms Supplier to South”

Amid growing speculation about prospects for military action against Iran, neoconservatives and other hawks won a significant – if somewhat incomplete – victory in rallying the Democratic-led Congress to its side. In a 76-22 vote Wednesday, senators approved a non-binding amendment to the 2008 defense authorization bill that called for the administration of President George … Continue reading “Anti-Iran Hawks Win Partial Victory in Congress”

Despite the support of a solid majority of the US Senate, a measure designed to restore the right of foreign terrorist suspects to challenge their detention in federal court was blocked here Wednesday on a procedural maneuver. The measure, an amendment to the 2008 defense authorization bill, would have restored habeas corpus rights for non-citizens … Continue reading “Republicans Block Habeas for Gitmo Detainees”

In what was at least a symbolic blow to George W. Bush, a prominent Iraqi tribal sheikh and self-styled leader of the "Sunni Awakening" movement against al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) was assassinated just hours before the US president was to make his latest appeal for public support for his Iraq strategy. The death in an … Continue reading “Sheikh’s Killing a Blow to Bush”

After two days of Congressional testimony by Washington’s top two officials in Iraq, prospects for a substantial withdrawal of US military forces there before the end of President George W. Bush’s tenure at the White House look as remote as ever. Bush himself is expected to take to the airwaves Thursday evening to endorse the … Continue reading “No Exit from Iraq Before Bush Leaves”

Civil liberties advocates and Democrats hailed Monday’s resignation by U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales as a major victory, while most Republicans, for whom Gonzales’ performance had increasingly become a source of embarrassment, kept their comments to a minimum. Gonzales, a longtime crony of President George W. Bush and the first Hispanic citizen to hold a … Continue reading “Bush Drops Another Crony”

While there have been some improvements in Iraq’s security situation over the past seven months, the level of overall violence remains "high" with only modest improvements possible over the next six to 12 months, according to a new study by the US intelligence community released here Thursday. At the same time, prospects for a political … Continue reading “Iraq: Still No Light at Tunnel’s End”

Opening a new campaign to sustain his "surge" strategy in Iraq, President George W. Bush Wednesday compared Washington’s ongoing struggle there to both World War II and the Vietnam War where, he said, Washington’s withdrawal led to disaster for "millions of innocent citizens." Speaking to the perennially hawkish Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Convention in … Continue reading “Bush Campaigns to Sustain ‘Surge’”