It takes half a million dollars per year to maintain each sergeant in combat in Iraq. Thanks to a Senate committee inquiry, an authoritative government study finally details the costs of keeping boots on the ground. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO), in its report...
Andy Worthington, author of The Guantánamo Files, looks at recent disturbing developments in the Military Commission trial system at Guantánamo, and traces a chain of command that runs from the Commissions' supposedly impartial "Convening...
One way to look at the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is to see them as one war with two fronts. Germany fought two-front wars twice in the 20th century, and it was almost able to prevail because it had the advantage of interior lines. The German Army could quickly...
Many years ago, Nobel Prize-winning author Ivo Andric wrote about a peculiarity of Sarajevo; none of the bell towers in the Old City tolled at the same time. However slight, there would always be a lag between the chimes of the Catholic cathedral, the Orthodox...
Updated at 6:32 p.m. EDT, Oct. 2, 2008As the faithful were observing the Eid, suicide bombers struck at a pair of Sistani-led mosques in Baghdad. Overall, at least 39 Iraqis were killed and 65 more were wounded in attacks across the country. No Coalition deaths were...
In last Friday's presidential debate, John McCain went after Barack Obama on the surge in Iraq: "Senator Obama said the surge could not work, said it would increase sectarian violence, said it was doomed to failure. Recently on a television program, he said it...
The War Party loves generals: John McCain mentions Gen. David Petraeus at the drop of a hat, citing him as the final military and moral authority when it comes to U.S. strategy in the Middle East. The reverent tone is supposed to indicate that no further argument is...
A series of meetings between U.S. and Syrian diplomats, including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her counterpart, Foreign Minister Walid Moallem, at the United Nations over the past week is stirring speculation that Washington may at last be moving toward...
Tensions between Kurds and the Iraqi government over disputed territory have heightened recently, raising fears that they might lead to ethnic clashes between Kurds and Arabs at a time when the war-torn country is slowly recovering from years of sectarian violence...
At least eight Iraqis were killed and 37 more were wounded in the latest attacks. The lion's share of the casualties occurred during an attack on a shrine in Balad. No Coalition casualties were reported anywhere in Iraq. The Eid al-Fitr holiday continues, so there may...
