BAQUBA - As violence continues in Baghdad and southern Iraq, it seems quiet on the surface in Baquba, the volatile city 25 mi. north of Baghdad. But few believe the truce between the U.S.-backed Awakening Groups and the government security forces can last. The...
Aside from the expected drivel and boilerplate rhetoric, the testimony of Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker before Congress on Tuesday had a few surprises. Yes, we all know the administration's line: the "surge" is working, all's well, oh sure,...
Updated at 11:50 p.m. EDT, April 9, 2008On the fifth anniversary of the fall of Baghdad to U.S. forces, Iraqi authorities placed curfews on the capital and other cities in order to prevent anti-American activities and protests. At least 49 Iraqis were killed and...
TEHRAN - President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad can expect considerable opposition in the newly elected parliament – set to be installed on May 27 – that has a considerable number of representatives from rival hard-liners, conservatives, and a stronger reformist...
"There sure as hell is a draft going on," the passenger sitting next to me said grudgingly as the flight attendant handed him a ginger ale on our way into Los Angeles last week. "I signed up to be in the Navy, not the damn Army." It will be his...
Was WWII Really 'The Good War'? Pat Buchanan says: "[T]he destruction of the Jews of Europe was a consequence of this war, not a cause." Perhaps it was not a "cause" of the war, but neither was it a consequence. The murder of the Jews was uppermost in the minds of the...
While still distrustful of U.S. intentions, the Iranian public believes that the threat posed by Washington has diminished over the past year and favors increased exchanges between the two countries, including direct talks on stabilizing Iraq and other issues,...
BAQUBA - Battles between rival Shia groups have spread from Basra in the south to Baquba in the north. Clashes between the Mahdi Army of Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and the Badr Organization militia of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (SIIC) have been reported in the...
Updated at 8:37 p.m. EDT, Apr. 8, 2008As U.S. officials briefed Congress on Iraq withdrawal plans, Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr warned that his Mahdi army will end their unilaterally imposed ceasefire and called off a peaceful demonstration scheduled for tomorrow,...
The considerable buzz in conservative circles about Barack Obama, best exemplified by Andrew Bacevich's article "The Case for Obama" in The American Conservative, has largely focused on his potential as the only candidate who might actually end the war in...
