FALLUJAH - US and Iraqi officials claim that security is improving across al-Anbar province and much of Iraq. Security during the last half of 2007 was indeed better than in the period between February 2006 and mid-2007. But this has brought little solace to many...
Saturday: 1 Marine, 30 Iraqis Killed; 9 Iraqis Wounded
Updated at 5:10 p.m. EST, Jan. 12, 2008U.S. forces announced the removal of troops in Anbar province with the hope that the province will be completely in Iraqi hands by March. The news coincided with a light day of violence in which at least 30 Iraqis were killed and...
Iran, Again
The Iranians have released their own video of the alleged "confrontation" that occurred between three US warships and five Iranian speedboats in the Strait of Hormuz: The Pentagon's narrative is very different. Coupled with a claim that the Iranians...
Repress U: Build a Homeland Security Campus in Seven Steps
Consider the ultimate gift in a homeland security country: the iTaser, a weapon with its own MP3 player and earphones that can deliver a 50,000 volt electrical charge while you catch your favorite tunes. This new Taser, on display at the Consumer Electronics Show in...
Official Version of Naval Incident Starts to Unravel
Despite the official and media portrayal of the incident in the Strait of Hormuz early Monday morning as a serious threat to US ships from Iranian speedboats that nearly resulted in a "battle at sea," new information over the past three days suggests that...
On Anniversary, Views of Surge Diverge
Exactly one year after US President George W. Bush announced that he would significantly increase the number of troops deployed to Iraq, the wisdom of his so-called "surge" strategy remains very much in dispute here. While even many Democrats, who have...
Friday: 31 Iraqis Killed, 11 Wounded
Updated at 1:15 a.m. EST, Jan. 12, 2008For the first time in living memory, snow fell in Baghdad this morning. The unusual precipitation was a welcome break and taken by many residents as an omen of peace this prayer day. Unfortunately, 31 Iraqis were still killed and...
Zhou Enlai: The Last Perfect Revolutionary
Gao Wenqian, Zhou Enlai: The Last Perfect Revolutionary (New York: Public Affairs, 2007) 345 pp. Mao Zedong became the symbol of the communist revolution in China. Leading the famed Long March, proclaiming the new People's Republic of China, sending forth Red...
George Weigel’s Anti-American Jeremiad
What, one wonders, can possibly inspire the neoconservatives' hate for Americans, their history, their traditions, and their ideas? In the context of this question, George Weigel's new book, Faith, Reason, and the War against Jihadism. A Call to Action, is more...
Bush’s Israel Problem And Ours
No one knows what's in George W. Bush's mind as he heads off for Israel and Palestine. Perhaps he himself doesn't know exactly why he's making the trip. But if he is really going to burnish his legacy by moving both sides closer to peace, as the pundits say, he faces...


