Tuesday: 27 Iraqis Killed, 56 Wounded

Updated at 7:35 p.m .EDT, Oct. 21, 2008Yet another mass grave was discovered today. Like the others this week, the victims were buried for months, if not years. Overall, at least 27 Iraqis were killed or found dead, and another 56 were wounded in the latest reports....

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Zero Plus Zero Equals Zero

Whoever wins the presidency in two weeks will have to put his own stamp on the United States' foreign and security policies. Though constrained by an economy that can no longer afford guns and butter, the U.S. president can pretty much call the shots on foreign...

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Fears of Blowback Nixed Afghan Air Strikes in 2004

The present U.S. policy in Afghanistan of using air strikes to target local Taliban leaders was rejected by the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan in early 2004 as certain to turn the broader population against the U.S. presence. Lt. Gen. David Barno, the three-star...

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When Is a Child Not a Child?

When is a child not a child? Apparently, when he is Omar Khadr, a 15-year-old Canadian who was shot in the back after a firefight in Afghanistan in July 2002. Omar has been in U.S. custody ever since, first at a prison at Bagram airbase in Afghanistan, and for the...

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Attack on Iran Off the Table?

On Sept. 23, the neoconservative chiefs of the Washington Post's editorial page mourned, in a tone much like what one hears on the death of a close friend, that "a military strike by the United States or Israel [on Iran is not] likely in the coming months."...

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Coffee With Robert Fisk

Militarily, the most helpful – or least harmful – thing the West can do is to withdraw all troops from the entire Middle East, and from South Asia to boot. That's the bottom line I got from a conversation with celebrated British foreign correspondent Robert...

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Susan Sontag Was Right

The former head of Britain's intelligence agency, MI5, says the U.S. response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks – specifically the invasion of Iraq – and the launching of a worldwide "war on terrorism" was "a huge overreaction." Those words would've gotten her...

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Moving Towards a ‘Grand Bargain’ in Afghanistan

Increasingly frustrated by the "downward spiral" that the U.S. intelligence community sees in Afghanistan, the Pentagon appears to be moving in support of engaging leaders of the resurgent Taliban who are prepared to disassociate themselves from al Qaeda....

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Sunday: 10 Iraqis Killed; 25 Wounded

Updated at 5:20 p.m. EDT, Oct. 17, 2008A spate of bombings opened the workweek in Baghdad. At least 10 Iraqis were killed and another 25 were wounded across the country. Meanwhile, the Shi'ite coalition in government suggested that a potential security pact with the...

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