Coming Up Empty

President Bush relied almost exclusively upon the top-secret 2002 National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iraq's Continuing Programs for Weapons of Mass Destruction for justification of his pre-emptive invasion of Iraq to "disarm" Saddam Hussein. On the eve...

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The Power of Nightmares

In the past our politicians offered us dreams of a better world. Now they promise to protect us from nightmares. The most frightening of these is the threat of an international terror network. But just as the dreams were not true, neither are these nightmares. - from...

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US Charities Feel Heat From ‘Terror War’

The tsunamis that pounded Indian Ocean coastlines the day after Christmas killed an estimated 30,000 Sri Lankans – nearly half in areas controlled by the Tamil Tigers, a rebel group that has been placed on a special list of "terrorist" groups by the...

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Neoconservatives at Sea

Jubilant over President George W. Bush's re-election victory just two months ago, neoconservatives who played a leading role in shaping the radical trajectory of U.S. foreign policy after the Sep. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks appear increasingly divided on key issues...

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Backtalk, January 15, 2005

Conduct Unbecoming P.C. Roberts may or may not be right in his opinion that the president, vice president, and secretary of defense have acted "unbecomingly." He’s dead wrong in the sarcasm he fires off about the misguided punishment of the top Air Force (AF)...

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Iraq and the El Salvador ‘Option’

Panic is setting in at the Pentagon. Ever bolder and ever widening, the Iraqi insurgency grows in firepower and tactical sophistication, as well as in sheer numbers, while the architects of what appears to be a looming stalemate are scrambling to snatch victory from...

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Aussie Gitmo Detainee Mulls Legal Action

CANBERRA - The U.S. and Australian governments could face legal action for damages after the Pentagon announced that it would release Australian citizen Mamdouh Habib from the notorious Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba after three years in detention without charges....

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Let’s Not Pretend We Didn’t Know

The only thing worse than seeing endless news stories about the torture of "detainees" at U.S. prison camps like Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay is seeing the word "shocking" in relation to something that we all, in our heart of hearts, knew was...

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The Century of the Believers

In the 18th century, Goethe's romantic novel The Sorrows of Young Werther led than more than one "sensible" young gentleman to emulate the protagonist and kill himself. I hope a happier end awaits Old Werther, the northern Virginia defense analyst who writes under...

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No Semblance of Accountability

Perhaps the most striking thing about the official acknowledgment that the two-year hunt for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq is over is the fact that it was greeted by most with a collective shrug of the shoulders and an almost cheerful defense of what many of us...

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