Report Traces US/EU Covert Rendition Network

A long-awaited report [.pdf] by the Council of Europe on European complicity in "extraordinary renditions" secretly carried out by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) against suspected terrorists was hailed here Wednesday by human rights groups, even as...

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Somalia: Bush Hawks Down

The takeover of Mogadishu this week by Islamic militias marks a major defeat for the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush, which had secretly backed a coalition of warlords that has reportedly been routed from the Somali capital. While the victors, the...

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Rice’s Conditional Offer to Iran May Be Problematic

Wednesday's unprecedented offer by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to join multilateral negotiations over its nuclear program was hailed as a positive step by Iran specialists who warned, however, that its conditional nature could prove problematic. Bowing to...

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Bad Month in Afghanistan May Delay US Drawdown

By just about any measure, May has been a bad month for U.S. policy in Afghanistan. It began with a warning by a shopkeeper in a small-town bazaar in the Pashtun southern part of the country to the visiting commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, Lt. Gen. Karl...

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Massacre Story Mars
Memorial Day

Monday's observance of Memorial Day, the annual commemoration of U.S. soldiers who died in the service of their country, has taken place at a particularly difficult moment for both the U.S. armed forces and the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush. While...

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Pressure Grows on Bush to Engage Iran Directly

The administration of U.S. President George W. Bush is under increasing pressure – both here and abroad – to engage Iran in direct talks despite the continued opposition of pro-Israel neoconservatives and Vice President Dick Cheney. In recent weeks, a...

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Right-Wing Israel Lobby Seizes on Olmert Visit

On his maiden visit to the United States as Israel's prime minister, Ehud Olmert received a firsthand look at the political muscle of the right-wing "Israel Lobby," part of which used the occasion to launch a campaign to deter him from following through on...

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Bush Democracy Doctrine, RIP

Less than 18 months after U.S. President George W. Bush declared in his 2005 Inaugural Address his unequivocal commitment to the "ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world," tyrants, particularly in the Islamic world, are taking heart. From North Africa to Central...

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Iran the Target of Disinformation Campaign

A story authored by a prominent U.S. neoconservative regarding new legislation in Iran allegedly requiring Jews and other religious minorities to wear distinctive color badges circulated around the world this weekend before it was exposed as false. The article by a...

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