Pakistan: Vestiges of War, Hopes for Peace

PESHAWAR, Pakistan - "We aren't going to be browbeaten by acts of cowardice and [will] continue exposing Taliban and [other] militants," said an angry Shamim Shahid, president of the Peshawar Press Club (PPC). The spate of media killings in Pakistan in the...

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Gaza Extremists Drifting Toward al-Qaeda?

RAMALLAH - Two separate bomb attacks on Internet cafes in Gaza last week have served as an uncomfortable reminder that extremist groups within the coastal territory may be stronger than the moderate Hamas organization that rules the strip. The attacks in Khan Yunis...

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Monday: 3 Iraqis Killed, 13 Wounded

Updated at 8:48 p.m. EST, Jan. 11, 2010 At least three Iraqis were killed and 13 more were wounded in light violence. Among them is one election employee, only one of several who have suffered thanks to their connection to the March poll. Security officials are...

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The COIN Myth

The U.S. military's fabled counterinsurgency field manual (FM 3-24) is an authoritative-sounding 281-page volume of balderdash. Even the legend of its origin is a fabrication. Gen. David Petraeus, former commander of forces in Iraq and now in charge of Central...

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The Quiet American

The quiet American was the hero of Graham Greene's novel about the first Vietnam War, the one fought by the French. He was a young and naïve American, a professor's son who had enjoyed a good education at Harvard, an idealist with all the best intentions. When he...

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Helen Asks Why

Thank God for Helen Thomas, the only person to show any courage at the White House press briefing after President Barack Obama gave a flaccid account of the intelligence screw-up that almost downed an airliner on Christmas Day. After Obama briefly addressed L'Affaire...

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The Weird Factor

What I call the Weird Factor, for lack of a better name, seems to have become a permanent feature of our post-9/11 world, a dark and sinister leitmotif that plays in the background. On 9/11, of course, the Factor was on full display as a whole string of unusual events...

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