Are You an ‘Unlawful Combatant’?

There has been a great deal of discussion about the Military Commissions Act of 2006 [.pdf], recently passed by both houses of Congress, and most of it has to do with the provisions allowing torture of alien detainees, that is, of non-citizens apprehended in, say,...

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Bloody Day in Iraq Leaves 263 Dead

Updated at 11:30 a.m. EDT, Oct. 3, 2006 In the last day, the body count in Iraq exploded as at least 263 were killed or found dead; 30 of those were insurgents killed in Ramadi. Tensions are particularly high due to two mass kidnappings that occurred in Baghdad. At...

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Bloody Day in Iraq Leaves 263 Dead

Updated at 11:30 a.m. EDT, Oct. 3, 2006 In the last day, the body count in Iraq exploded as at least 263 were killed or found dead; 30 of those were insurgents killed in Ramadi. Tensions are particularly high due to two mass kidnappings that occurred in Baghdad. At...

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West Texas Hailstorm

President Bush has been bonked on the head by so many facts that refute his rhetoric in recent days, he must feel like he's been caught in a West Texas hailstorm. But don't worry about him. He's a hardheaded man. I haven't seen a fact yet that can get past his hair....

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Not Worth a Camel

A deluge of experts, attracted by government money, is drowning Washington. So many elected and appointed officials know even less than the phony experts that it's like a gold-rush town for the briefcase-toting fast-talkers. You, however, don't need to be an expert...

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The Devil and the Post-9/11 Era

President Hugo Chávez's speech at the U.N. on September 20, 2006 created a new nadir of crudeness. It was also just one more attempt to demonize an opponent. He depicted President George W. Bush as the devil. Watching him speak extemporaneously, and with so...

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Groups Unanimously Assail New Detention Law

By enacting new legislation this week governing the treatment and trial of suspects in Washington's "global war on terror," Congress has turned its back on both international law and the U.S. Constitution, according to the country's major human rights...

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Much Ado Over Not Much

Although Afghan president Hamid Karzai may not be much of a ruler of the kind that firmly establishes control of the entire country – which might not be a bad thing in less parlous times in Afghanistan, which has never really cottoned to central government –...

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My President, Right or Wrong

Last week at the United Nations, Hugo Chávez, the president of Venezuela, called President George W. Bush "the devil" and complained he could still smell the sulfur. The reaction was immediate, visceral, and scary. Even the president's most virulent enemies took...

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