Between December 2006 and January 2007, George Bush may reconsider America’s short-term and long-term role in Iraq, though it is looking more and more unlikely that he will choose peace anytime soon. Still, there are similarly situated presidents in our past who...
Anti-Americanism has emerged as a term that, like "fascism" and "communism" in George Orwell's lexicon, has little meaning beyond "something not desirable." However it is defined, anti-Americanism has clearly mushroomed over the last six...
Warning that Iraq faces "complete disintegration into failed-state chaos," the International Crisis Group (ICG) is calling on the United States to make a "clean break" in its strategy for both Iraq and the wider Middle East region. In a new report...
For most of the second part of the 20th Century, representatives of foreign governments had grown accustomed to dealing with a certain type of US official. Ask a Russian diplomat, a Japanese bureaucrat or a French intelligence officer, and they will probably describe...
With charges expected to be filed Thursday against five to eight Marines accused of killing 24 Iraqi civilians in Haditha, Iraq on Nov. 19, 2005, it now appears that at least one senior officer will also be charged in the case. The attorney for Capt. Lucas McConnell,...
There is no doubt that future analysts will regard 2006 as the year of setbacks for the American Empire. The most visible defeats have taken place in the Middle East: Iraq first and foremost, then the abortive Israeli war against the Hezbollah in Lebanon, and the...
As official Washington breaks for the two-week Christmas-New Year's hiatus, it knows that the number one issue it will face on its return in early January is the White House's apparent "urge to surge" as many as 50,000 new troops into Iraq for up to two...
Updated at 3:25 p.m. EST, Dec. 21, 2006 Bombings rattled Baghdad again today where at least two suicide bombers killed over a dozen people. Overall, at least 59 Iraqis were killed or found dead and another 42 wounded in violent incidents. Also, the U.S. military...
Updated at 11:45 p.m. EST, Dec. 20, 2006 New U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates made an unannounced trip to Iraq where he discussed with local military commanders the possibility of increasing the number of troops there. Meanwhile, President Bush talked about the...
At this time last year, the Pentagon was hinting that troop levels in Iraq would be reduced. Then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld announced that two combat brigades scheduled for combat tours would not be deployed to Iraq. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of...
