US State Dept. Found Little to Cheer in 2007

The global human rights panorama offered a decidedly mixed – if not mostly negative – picture in 2007, according to the latest edition of the State Department's annual human rights Country Reports released Tuesday. Its 19-page introduction, the most closely...

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Dissenting Views Made Fallon’s Fall Inevitable

Adm. William Fallon's request to quit his position as head of the U.S. Central Command (Centcom) and to retire from the military was apparently the result of a George W. Bush administration decision to pressure him to resign. Announcing the resignation, Defense...

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Former Gitmo Prosecutor to Testify for Defense

At a pretrial hearing at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, next month, the Pentagon will take its first public step toward a military commission trial for Osama bin Laden's alleged driver and bodyguard. And one of the witnesses for the defense will be the military's former chief...

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Tuesday: 80 Iraqis Killed, 123 Wounded

Updated at 11:38 a.m. EDT, Mar. 12, 2008At least 80 Iraqis were killed or found dead and another 123 were wounded in the latest reports. Also, a bombing in Mahmudiya left an unknown number of casualties. No Coalition deaths were reported. Twenty of the victims were...

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Surging in All Directions

It is difficult to imagine that a plan concocted by the plump and studious Fred Kagan deep in the bowels of the American Enterprise Institute can be taken seriously, but life offers many surprises. The Bush administration and putative Republican presidential candidate...

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‘Kill a Hundred Turks and Rest…’

I was reminded this week of the old tale about a Jewish mother taking leave of her son, who has been called up to serve in the czar's army against the Turks. "Don't exert yourself too much," she admonishes him, "Kill a Turk and rest. Kill another Turk...

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The First Casualty

[Foreword to the book So Wrong for So Long: How the Press, the Pundits – and the President – Failed on Iraq by Greg Mitchell (Union Square Press, March 2008).] In war truth is too often the first casualty, and it is not just a president or a secretary of...

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Int’l Support Ebbs for West’s Nuclear Hard Line

Public support for stronger measures, including possible military strikes, to curb or destroy Iran's nuclear program has declined significantly in most countries around the world compared to 18 months ago, according to a new survey of public opinion [.pdf] released...

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In Iraq, Childhood Is a Thing of the Past

BAQUBA - Iraq's children have been more gravely affected by the U.S. occupation than any other segment of the population. The United Nations estimated that half a million Iraqi children died during more than 12 years of economic sanctions that preceded the U.S....

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