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...
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...
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...
Families of Iraqi Detainees Losing Hope
BAGHDAD - Hopes are fading for early release of the large number of Iraqis detained under the so-called surge. The "surge" is the new effort by US-led coalition forces to crack down on terror suspects. The number of detainees held by the US military has...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Thursday: 2 GIs, 30 Iraqis Killed; 26 Iraqis Wounded
Updated at 12:25 a.m. EDT, Aug. 31, 2007During a day of light violence, 30 Iraqis were killed and 26 more wounded. Two U.S. servicemembers were killed and one was wounded in separate events. An unspecified number of people were also wounded during an attack at a...
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...


