Updated at 12:21 a.m. EDT, Mar. 28, 2008Although the fighting continues in Basra, followers of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in Baghdad instead took to the streets in mostly peaceful protests. The cleric himself has asked for peace talks, but the prime minister is...
Last week marked five years since President Bush's decision to engage in preemptive war against Iraq (or more accurately, preventive war, since there was no imminent threat to thwart; rather its purpose was to prevent a potential threat that had not yet emerged from...
Adm. Fallon's (forced?) resignation was the last warning we are likely to get of an attack on Iran. It does not mean an attack is certain, but the U.S. could not attack Iran so long as he was the Centcom commander. That obstacle is now gone. Vice President Cheney's...
Today, in his usual remarkable way, Mark Danner takes stock of the president's failed War on Terror abroad. One day, we will also need to take full stock of George W. Bush's War on Terror at home. After all, conceptually speaking, the War on Terror lay at the heart of...
China's continuing crackdown on Tibetan pro-independence protesters is a big, big issue here in San Francisco. Why, just the other day, I was coming out my front door, and there was one of my neighbors – a very nice woman in her fifties, albeit an archetypal...
Updated at 9:00 p.m. EDT, Mar. 26, 2008As clashes continue today in southern Iraq and Baghdad, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has given the Mahdi Army three days to surrender and turn over their weapons. Overall, 76 Iraqis were killed and 367 more were wounded...
It has sometimes been noted that the neoconservatives, conspicuously absent on the battlefield, excel at the Washington infighting that enabled their ascent in the first place. Marine and Army combat units are justifiably proud of never leaving a comrade behind on the...
Who Speaks for Islam? What a Billion Muslims Really Think John L. Esposito and Dalia Mogahed Gallup Press, 2008 230 pp. A new book by John L. Esposito and Dalia Mogahed ought to have a profound and transforming influence on Americans' view of their government's...
Five years ago last week, the U.S. military's "shock and awe" campaign lit up the Baghdad sky. Five years later, with hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and nearly 4,000 Americans dead, we should pause and reflect on just what has been gained and what has been...
Matt asked me this question (Matt being Matthew Barganier, merciless editor at this Web site) in response to a draft rant from me about NATO's role in Afghanistan. It's a good question: what should NATO do in Afghanistan? Here's my answer: (1) read the Globe and Mail,...
