Survey Finds Suspicion of US Pervasive in Islamic World

Six and a half years after U.S. President George W. Bush launched his "global war on terror," suspicion of U.S. motives remains pervasive throughout the Islamic world, according to a new and highly detailed survey of four countries [.pdf] released Tuesday. An average...

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Breaking the Army

President George W. Bush's ongoing "surge" of some 35,000 troops to add to the 140,000 already deployed in Iraq is highlighting growing concern, particularly among the military brass, that the U.S. army is overstretched and fast becoming "broken."...

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Syria, Elliot Abrams, and the Contras All Over Again

It has an all-too-familiar ring to it. A crisis area – in this case, the Middle East – finds itself in desperate need of a peace process capable of tamping down the forces of violence and destabilization which the United States itself has played a central...

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Lessons in Capture, Release of Britons

The drama surrounding the release of 15 British sailors and marines after 12 days in Iranian captivity was designed to convey two key messages that the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush would do well to heed, say experts here. First, the Britons'...

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Tough Week for Bush’s
Middle East Strategy

To the extent the administration of President George W. Bush has a coherent Middle East policy, it took some serious hits this past week. No, not the democracy-promotion strategy, although that didn't fare very well either given what even the State Department conceded...

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Showdown Looms Over Iraq Withdrawal

With U.S. President George W. Bush reiterating his threat to veto legislation that makes funding for the Iraq war conditional on a deadline for withdrawing at least some U.S. troops, Washington appeared Wednesday to be moving rapidly toward a major confrontation...

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Possible Breakthrough Seen in Israeli-Arab Peace

As U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice wound down her latest and most intense round of Middle Eastern "shuttle diplomacy" Monday, a star-studded international cast of former top-ranking diplomats and government leaders said they were "convinced...

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Tentative Moves Toward New Palestine Govt

How seriously and to what ends is the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush willing to engage the new Palestinian government of national unity? As Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice makes her seventh visit to the Middle East in the last eight months, that...

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