Friends are always accusing me of being overly Pollyannaish, of relentlessly seeing the bright side when the dark side is much more likely to prevail. So take these observations with whatever rations of salt seem appropriate. Nonetheless, I do think it is possible...
Restoring Some Balance
There is certainly some justification for being less than completely satisfied, as Elaine Cassel certainly is, with the Supreme Court's decisions this week on people detained without trial or access to friends, family or lawyers by the Bush administration, notably...
The Handover Just Might Work
Some unfinished business from last week: In that column I discussed in some detail how the Bush administration's story about Saddam and al-Qaeda differed from that of the 9/11 commission, and scanned some of the administration's prewar statements. In general I...
Deep Denial Remains
Perhaps it is just as well to conclude regretfully that mere facts will seldom if ever hold much sway with people whose minds are already made up. In the wake of the report from the 9/11 commission to the effect that there is "no credible evidence that Iraq and...
Thugs With Lawyers
I know it's terribly naive to suggest such a thing, but you might have thought that if even a secondary purpose of the vaunted war on terrorism and the sidetrack into Iraq had something to do with demonstrating the superiority of democracy and the rule of law, that...
Entering the Interim
So now there's an interim government in Iraq, and at least there's the appearance that the Iraqis exercised a bit of independence from the United States in the choice of a prime minister (Iyad Allawi, a Shia with longstanding military and CIA connections, head of the...
Scoping Out the Bushies
Against All Enemies: Inside America’s War on Terror, by Richard A. Clarke, Free Press, 304 pp. 27.00 The Price of Loyalty: George W. Bush, the White House, and the Education of Paul O’Neill, by Ron Suskind, Simon & Schuster, 348 pp., 26.00 When political...
Seeking Silver Linings
It's still early in the process, and it is important to acknowledge that in the cabal of neoconservative writers and policy wonks we face a generally intelligent, determined, opportunistic and persistent group who are not likely to change their ambitions for the rest...
Former NSA Director: War Weariness Growing
I asked retired Gen. William E. Odom if he agreed with me that the Bush administration would be well-advised to release all the Abu Ghraib photos immediately, even the most disgusting ones. PR gurus routinely advise corporation and other organizations facing a brewing...
Dying for an Exit Strategy
Wouldn't it be ironic if the current imperial venture – I'm not so naive as to suppose our neocon buddies don't have more ventures in mind for your children and mine, and note that even as Iraq blows up the United States is stirring the pot in Cuba, planning to...