George W. Bush, Iraq, and the Kitchen Sink

Length does not equal strength. That's one lesson of President George W. Bush's latest speech on Iraq. The president apparently believed that the more he talked to the American Legion on Tuesday, the more persuasive he would be. But tossing in every argument that he'd...

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Truth-Tellers

As good news continues to flow from the "surge" – some of it true, some of it false and all of it spun – it is easy to forget the bottom line. The bottom line is whether or not we are beginning to see the re-emergence of a state in Iraq. Three...

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Bush Puts Iran in Crosshairs

Not another warning about war with Iran! Well, suck it up. President George W. Bush's speech Tuesday makes clear his plan to attack Iran, and how the intelligence, as was the case before the attack on Iraq, is being "fixed around the policy." It's not about putative...

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Defusing Nuclear Hysteria

Even as the International Atomic Energy Agency is meeting with Iranian officials to discuss increasing the openness of Iran's nuclear program, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad remains defiant about Tehran's right to pursue such a program – including uranium...

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The Language of Force

Soon after coming to power, Ariel Sharon started to commission public opinion polls. He kept the results to himself. This week, a reporter of Israel's TV Channel 10 succeeded in obtaining some of them. Among other things, Sharon wanted to know what the public thought...

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Bush Indictment of Iran Tops Usual Rhetoric

The George W. Bush administration has seemingly taken advantage of the congressional recess to escalate tensions with Iran. Earlier in August, the State Department revealed plans to designate the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) as a global terrorist...

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Abu Ghraib Justice Ends With Enlisted Soldiers

Tuesday's acquittal of Lt. Col. Steven Jordan on charges related to the Abu Ghraib prison abuses means that no officers have been found criminally responsible for the mistreatment of prisoners at the Iraqi prison near Baghdad. During Jordan's week-long court-martial...

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Politicize It

American Jeremy Brown was shocked and dismayed when he found out yesterday that the fee for renewing his travel visa in China had suddenly jumped from RMB160 to RMB760. A once routine trip to the Public Security Bureau in downtown Chengdu to pay a small fee is now a...

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