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DUBAI – Denouncing misguided religious fanaticism and terrorism, Muslim scholars and religious leaders who recently attended a major world Islamic conference in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), jointly called for the issuing of a unified fatwa (edict) on pressing issues in order to avoid the misuse of the religion. Attended … Continue reading “Scholars Try to Rein in the ‘Sheikhs of Death’”

Israel’s leaders are apt to portray the prospect of an Iranian nuclear warhead in highly apocalyptic terms. Earlier this year, for example, Ariel Sharon was prepared to call Iran "the biggest danger to the existence of Israel" and warned that "Israel will not allow Iran to be equipped with a nuclear weapon." But though the … Continue reading “Why Israel Really Fears Iranian Nukes”

Credibility, like virginity, can only be lost once and never recovered. Hence, the problem the Bush administration has in dealing with Iran is that having been so wrong about Iraq, who can believe it now? I recognize that a majority of Americans shrugged off going to war on false premises. The rest of the world … Continue reading “Credibility Can Only Be Lost Once”

Al-Qaeda and radical Islamists are winning the propaganda war against the United States, says a high-level Pentagon panel, which concluded that Bush administration policies in the Middle East, its fundamental failure to understand the Muslim world, and a lack of imagination in using new communications technologies are responsible. In a report [.pdf] concluded in September … Continue reading “Pentagon Panel: US Invasions Unite Extremists”

Well, I tried to write a column for today, but even I have social obligations during the holiday season – which could not be reconciled with the effort that goes into producing 1000-plus words, complete with links and a unifying theme. So tune in next week, on Monday, when I’ll have what I consider to … Continue reading “Instead of a Column”

I remember when friends would excitedly telephone to report that Rush Limbaugh or G. Gordon Liddy had just read one of my syndicated columns over the air. That was before I became a critic of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, the Bush administration, and the neoconservative ideologues who have seized control of the U.S. government. … Continue reading “What Became of Conservatives?”

President Bush probably wanted to burnish his self-styled reputation as a fierce opponent of terrorism who has conflated other conflicts with the all-encompassing and likely generations-long War on Terror and can celebrate success wherever his writ runs. But in declaring, for the umpteenth time in recent years, imminent victory in the war on cocaine in … Continue reading “Colombian Illusions”

BEIJING – Even as Iran pledges suspension of its uranium-enrichment program to avert United Nations sanctions, U.S.-led international efforts to curb Iran’s nuclear capabilities are being undermined by the emergence of an ever stronger partnership between China and the Middle-Eastern country. This was clearly evident when Seyed Hossein Mussavian, Iran’s envoy to the International Atomic … Continue reading “China-Iran Tango Threatens US Leverage”

BAGHDAD – What is the most common thing moms do? Take care of their kids? That’s what Susan Galleymore was doing when I met her. The uncommon thing was that she’d traveled halfway around the world, from San Francisco to Baghdad, to take care of her son. Nick is a U.S. Army Ranger, an occupation … Continue reading “An Uncommon Mom in Baghdad”

Preamble: April 28, 2003: U.S. soldiers kill 18 Fallujah school children. Act I April, 2004: In the attack on Fallujah, which ended after 3 weeks in defeat of the “coalition”: "U.S. forces bombed the power plant at the beginning of the assault; …The town was placed under siege; the ban on bringing in food, medicine, … Continue reading “Greetings from Fallujah!”