Petraeus’ Grand Delusions

Yes, their defensive zone is the planet and they patrol it regularly. As ever, their planes and drones have been in the skies these last weeks. They struck a village in Somalia, tribal areas in Pakistan, rural areas in Afghanistan, and urban neighborhoods in Iraq....

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Diego Garcia: The Other Guantánamo

On the small, remote island of Diego Garcia, in the Indian Ocean halfway between Africa and Indonesia, the United States has one of the most secretive military bases in the world. From its position almost 10,000 miles closer to the Persian Gulf than the east coast of...

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A Tragi-Comic Cavalcade of Chicanery

I have to laugh – otherwise, I'll never stop crying. In perusing the headlines this morning , trying to decide which fresh disaster to focus on, I'm reminded of what H. L. Mencken had to say about America in the third volume of his Prejudices: "Here, more than...

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Was WWII Really ‘The Good War’?

"Yes, it was a good war," writes Richard Cohen in his column challenging the thesis of pacifist Nicholson Baker in his new book, Human Smoke, that World War II produced more evil than good. Baker's compelling work, which uses press clips and quotes of Axis...

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Campaigns Spar Over Where to Focus Troops

Last week's violent clashes in the Iraqi cities of Baghdad and Basra reverberated all the way to Washington, where suddenly, the Iraq war was thrust back into the limelight just as the 2008 primary season enters its final stretch. On Monday at the Washington...

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North Korean Nuclear Deal at Risk?

Growing tensions between North Korea and the new, more hawkish South Korean government are spurring concern among US experts that already halting progress toward implementation of a denuclearization deal with Pyongyang could unravel. US officials, notably Assistant...

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Friday: 51 Iraqis Killed, 37 Wounded

Updated at 8:49 p.m. EDT, April 4, 2008Although Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki stopped threatening more crackdowns, he continues his attempt to reassert his power against Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and his Mahdi Army. Meanwhile, at least 51 Iraqis were killed and...

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Reclaiming Conservatism

The conservative movement is dead. At least, anything resembling the traditional conservative movement. As represented by the Bush administration, Republican congressional majority, and right-leaning punditocracy, conservatism means more federal spending, an...

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Latest Gitmo Charges Questionable

The U.S. Department of Defense announced Monday that Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, a Tanzanian captured after a gunfight in Gujrat, Pakistan, in July 2004, would be the fifteenth Guantánamo prisoner to be tried by military commission, in connection with his alleged...

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