On Tuesday morning Director of National Intelligence, Admiral Dennis Blair, employed the indicative mood in describing the high value that Chas Freeman, his appointee to head the National Intelligence Council (NIC), will bring to the job "his long...
Squaring the Pentagon
Former Antiwar.com columnist Doug Bandow writes this week in The National Interest President Barack Obama has unveiled his new budget, which proposes continued increases in military outlays. What for? The United States is spending far too much on the Pentagon. There...
Palestinian Unity as Elusive as Deal With Israel
RAMALLAH - Intensive unity talks are under way in Cairo as five Palestinian committees, representing 13 factions and independents, face each other across a table in a bid to form a new Palestinian unity government. But significant obstacles, differences in ideology,...
NGOs Hail Congressional Moves to Ease Embargo
Leading advocates for lifting the nearly 50-year-old U.S. trade embargo against Cuba are hailing Congress's approval Tuesday of a general appropriations bill that eases albeit in a mostly symbolic way several restrictions on travel and sales to the...
Thursday: 6 Iraqis Killed, 9 Wounded
Updated at 4:47 p.m. EDT, Mar. 12, 2009 At least six Iraqis were killed and nine more were wounded during light violence. Meanwhile, journalist shoe-thrower, Muntazer al-Zaidi, received three years for attempting to assault a foreign leader. Also, Prime Minister Nouri...
A Falcon of Peace
How come they get to be the hawks? And we get to be the doves? A hawk is a noble bird. A dove well, basically it's a pigeon. The sort of bird that, in New York City anyway, messes your building's window sills, is always underfoot, and, along with the city's...
Freeman Withdrawal Marks Victory for Israel Lobby
Amb. Chas Freeman withdrew from consideration for a top intelligence post in the Obama administration on Tuesday, following a vitriolic battle that pitted Republican lawmakers and pro-Israel hardliners opposed to his appointment against liberals and members of the...
Israeli Home Demolitions Threaten Peace Talks
RAMALLAH Eight-months pregnant Shireen Abu Sbeh, 20, mother of a 2-year-old, lives with eight other people in a two-bedroom apartment that is on a list of Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem to be demolished by the Israeli authorities. "I am struggling to...
Wednesday: 9 Iraqis Killed, 42 Wounded
Updated at 6:41 p.m. EDT, March 11, 2009 At least nine Iraqis were killed and 42 more were wounded in the latest violence, but no Coalition deaths were reported. Amidst the recent surge in bombings, two Iraqi officials gave their opinion on the country's security...
Holding Obama to His Promises
The meaning of President Obama's Iraq withdrawal speech, and its influence on real U.S. policy in Iraq, will not be determined solely by his actual words. The import of the speech and whether its promises become real will be determined by a fluid...


