HAVE WE LOST OUR MINDS? - DON (STOTTING OVER BLOG, NOVEMBER 21): Remember Alberto Fernandez? The State Department press officer was forced to apologize last month after telling Al Jazeera that the U.S. had shown "arrogance" and "stupidity" in Iraq. Well after a month of silence, the State Department is finally speaking out on Fernandez -- not to condemn him, but to praise his "integrity, courage, [and] sensitivity."
http://donstott.blogspot.com/2006/11/have-...-our-minds.html
SEE ALSO
http://shootingmessengers.blogspot.com/200...s-it-again.html
http://flapsblog.com/?p=3835
http://www.moonbattery.com/archives/2006/1...n_diplom_1.html
http://noisyroom.net/blog/?p=12469

THE NEWS FROM QATAR: AL JAZEERA ENGLISH DEBUTS - TROY PATTERSON (SLATE, NOVEMBER 21): Al Jazeera English is covering the world more deeply and broadly than U.S. television news does and with an even greater respect for the laws of show business.
http://www.slate.com/id/2154250/?nav=tap3

AL-JAZEERA IN THE NO-FLUFF ZONE OF EYE-OPENING NETWORK NEWS - PIERRE TRISTAM (DAYTONA BEACH NEWS-JOURNAL, FLORIDA/COMMON DREAMS, NOVEMBER 21): To watch al-Jazeera up close -- to really watch it, rather than catch eight-second snippets of snidely filtered stereotype by "our" own networks -- is to see the rest of the world as it sees us, and from the street up. Not surprisingly, America is turning a deaf ear.
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1121-25.htm

MESA BLOGGING PANEL - MARC LYNCH (ABU AARDVARK, NOVEMBER 21): Pay attention to Arab bloggers, many of whom offered sharp, savvy political analysis in both English and Arabic.
http://abuaardvark.typepad.com/abuaardvark...blogging_p.html
SEE ALSO
http://www.juancole.com/2006/11/academics-...-donate-to.html
(scroll down link for item on bloggers)

WAR EVERY DAY (EIRAQ BLOG): THE IRAQI EXPERIENCE OF WAR - JEFF SEVERNS GUNTZEL (ELECTRONIC IRAQ, NOVEMBER 21): Our primary objective at Electronic Iraq is to sneak behind the headlines and highlight the Iraqi experience of war.
http://electroniciraq.net/news/printer2655.shtml

HEARTS AND MINDS - (TRUTHDIG, NOVEMBER 22): This appalling video shows a group of U.S. soldiers in a truck taunting a pack of Iraqi children with a bottle of water.
http://www.truthdig.com/avbooth/item/20061...arts_and_minds/

PERFECT KILLING METHOD, BUT CLEAR TARGETS ARE FEW - C. J. CHIVERS (NEW YORK TIMES, NOVEMBER 22): More than three years after the insurgency erupted across much of Iraq, sniping -- one of the methods that the military thought would be essential in its counterinsurgency operations -- is proving less successful in many areas of Iraq than had been hoped, Marine officers, trainers and snipers say.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/22/world/mi...agewanted=print

TIME FOR ANOTHER BODY COUNT IN IRAQ - BY SHELDON RAMPTON, PR WATCH (ALTERNET, NOVEMBER 18): The war in Iraq has already claimed hundreds of thousands rather than tens of thousands of lives.
http://www.alternet.org/story/44459/

UN WARNS ON IRAQI CIVILIAN DEATH TOLL - REUTERS (FINANCIAL TIMES, NOVEMBER 22): Iraqi deaths hit a new high in October and more than 2 million people have fled their homes since the U.S. invasion to escape violence that is segregating the country on sectarian lines, a U.N. report said on Wednesday.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/7e474574-7a10-11db...00779e2340.html

BAGHDAD SHIAS BELIEVE KILLINGS MAY INCREASE ONCE U.S.-LED FORCES DEPART BUT LARGE MAJORITIES STILL SUPPORT WITHDRAWAL WITHIN A YEAR - (WORLDPUBLICOPINION. ORG, NOVEMBER 20)
http://www.worldpublicopinion.org/pipa/art...nt=275&lb=hmpg1

PENTAGON CITES ALTERNATIVE TO BAKER REPORT - ROWAN SCARBOROUGH (WASHINGTON TIMES, NOVEMBER 22): The Pentagon is drafting its own new options for winning in Iraq, in part, to give President Bush counterproposals to fall back on in case the Iraq Study Group comes up with ideas he does not like, defense officials say.
http://www.washtimes.com/functions/print.p...22-121959-6535r

DOUBTING BAKER - JEFFERSON MORLEY (WORLD OPINION ROUNDUP, WASHINGTON POST, NOVEMBER 15): While many in Washington expect former secretary of state James Baker to engineer a shift in U.S. Iraq policy, a variety of international online commentators doubt he can do it.
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/worldopinio...ting_baker.html

IGNORE JAMES BAKER - MARTIN PERETZ (NEW REPUBLIC, NOVEMBER 21): What Bush did not grasp -- and what, for that matter, Baker and those for whom he speaks also do not grasp -- is the sheer and relentless butchery of which both Sunni and Shia are capable.
http://www.tnr.com/docprint.mhtml?i=20061127&s=peretz112706

LOOK WHO'S CUTTING AND RUNNING NOW: JAMES BAKER IS THE LAST GUY WE SHOULD LISTEN TO ABOUT IRAQ - CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS (SLATE, NOVEMBER 20): In 1991, when Baker was Secretary of State, there would never have been a better opportunity to "address the root cause" in Iraq and to remove a dictator who was a permanent menace to his subjects, his neighbors, and the world beyond. Instead, he was shamefully confirmed in power and a miserable 12-year period of sanctions helped him to enrich himself and to create the immiserated, uneducated, unemployed underclass that is now one of the "root causes" of a new social breakdown in Iraq.
http://www.slate.com/id/2154164/

AN IRAQI SOLUTION, VIETNAM STYLE - MARK MOYAR (NEW YORK TIMES, NOVEMBER 21): The benefits of a self-sufficient Iraqi government are great.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/21/opinion/...agewanted=print

CUTTING AND RUNNING ON OUR ALLIES: WASHINGTON'S HISTORY OF ABANDONING FRIENDS DOESN'T GIVE IRAQIS MUCH CONFIDENCE - MAX BOOT (LOS ANGELES TIMES, NOVEMBER 22): Knowing our history, few Iraqi leaders are counting on American support in the future.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commen...omment-opinions

IRAQ'S REALITY BANDWAGON - DAVID CORN (TOMPAINE, NOVEMBER 22): Bush, Cheney, the neocons and the other war backers placed the United States -- and Iraq -- in an awful spot.
http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2006/11/2...y_bandwagon.php

TRY ANYTHING - LEON WIESELTIER (NEW REPUBLIC, NOVEMBER 22): If we leave, or if we stay the bleeding course, things will get even worse. We are at the mercy of Iraq, where there is no mercy.
http://www.tnr.com/docprint.mhtml?i=200611...ieseltier112706

LOST IN THE DESERT - MAUREEN DOWD (NEW YORK TIMES, NOVEMBER 22): Regarding Iraq, it's hard to remember when America has been so stuck. We can't win and we can't leave.
http://select.nytimes.com/2006/11/22/opini...agewanted=print
PAID SUBSCRIPTION

WAR HAS NO 'ELEGANT SOLUTIONS' - AMIR TAHERI (NEW YORK POST, NOVEMBER 21): One can fight to win. One can surrender to the enemy. One can panic and run away. These are the options in Iraq.
http://www.nypost.com/php/pfriendly/print....amir_taheri.htm

MAKING THE LAST MISTAKE IN IRAQ - TONY BLANKLEY (WASHINGTON TIMES, NOVEMBER 22): We have only two choices: Get out and let the ensuing Middle East firestorm enflame the wider world; or stay and with shrewder policies and growing material strength manage and contain the danger.
http://www.washtimes.com/functions/print.p...21-083639-7479r

U.S. RETREAT FROM IRAQ? THE SECRET STORY - TOM HAYDEN (HUFFINGTON POST, NOVEMBER 21): The US has not abandoned its entire strategy in Iraq, but is offering significant concessions without its own citizens knowing.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tom-hayden/u...ml?p=2#comments

SEND MORE TROOPS - ROBERT KAGAN (NEW REPUBLIC): What's needed in Iraq are not more clever plans but more U.S. troops to provide the security to make any plan workable.
http://www.tnr.com/docprint.mhtml?i=20061127&s=kagan112706

GOING LONG IN IRAQ - ROBERT DREYFUSS (TOMPAINE.COM, NOVEMBER 21): The die-hards and dead-enders in and out of the Bush administration are making one last push for the notion that the United States has to prepare for one more Alamo-like last stand in Iraq.
http://www.tompaine.com/print/going_long_in_iraq.php

'CUTTING AND RUNNING' PREFERABLE TO 'STAYING AND PRAYING' - IVAN ELAND (ANTIWAR.COM, NOVEMBER 21): The Democratic proposal for withdrawal, coupled with a partition, is the best hope for Iraq.
http://www.antiwar.com/eland/?articleid=10045

THE DEMS' FIRST STEP ON IRAQ: THE KIND OF HEARINGS WE NEED - ANDREW BARD SCHMOOKLER (COMMON DREAMS, NOVEMBER 20): The main question that should be answered, in public hearings, is: What are the options for the United States for dealing with the situation in Iraq?
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1120-31.htm

THE ONLY REAL OPTION: LEAVE IRAQ NOW - EUGENE ROBINSON (WASHINGTON POST, NOVEMBER 21): The longer we stay, the more lawless and chaotic the country becomes.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...2001101_pf.html

ADMIT IT'S OVER - RICHARD A. CLARKE (NEW REPUBLIC, NOVEMBER 21): Only withdrawal from Iraq offers a realistic path forward.
http://www.tnr.com/docprint.mhtml?i=20061127&s=clarke112706

BUSH'S VIETNAM ANALOGY - ROBERT SCHEER (NATION, NOVEMBER 22): The lesson of the Vietnam debacle is that yesterday's enemy is more likely to become today's trading partner if we remove the specter of US imperialism and leave the fate of Iraq to the Iraqis.
http://www.thenation.com/docprint.mhtml?i=...1204&s=truthdig

IRAQ VS. VIETNAM - TRUDY RUBIN (BALTIMORE SUN, NOVEMBER 21): The complex Iraqi situation makes the Vietnam war look simple. We must exhaust every effort to find a way to stabilize the country and persuade Iraq's neighbors to contribute before calling for a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq in the near term.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/o...-oped-headlines

THE LINGO OF VIETNAM - RICHARD COHEN (WASHINGTON POST, NOVEMBER 21): Iraq is like Vietnam: older men asking younger men to die while they try to figure something out.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...2000965_pf.html

VISIONS OF DEFEAT - MONA CHAREN (WASHINGTON TIMES, NOVEMBER 22): But we are about to be defeated in Iraq by a few thousand cutthroats. How did this happen? It's simple: The only thing powerful enough to defeat us is ourselves, and we've done it.
http://www.washtimes.com/functions/print.p...21-083637-4500r

IRAQ: THE WAR OF THE IMAGINATION - MARK DANNER (TOMDISPATCH, NOVEMBER 21-22): In that War of Imagination victory was to be decisive, overwhelming, evincing a terrible power -- enough to wipe out the disgrace of September 11 and remake the threatening world.
PART 1
http://www.tomdispatch.com/index.mhtml?pid=142383
PART II
http://tomdispatch.com/index.mhtml?pid=142396

AN INTERVIEW WITH MICHAEL ISIKOFF -- IRAQ: "AT A MINIMUM NEGLIGENCE IN THE COMMISSION OF A FRAUD" - KEVIN ZEESE (COUNTERPUNCH, NOVEMBER 21). Michael Isikoff is a reporter for Newsweek and co-author of "Hubris: the Inside Story of Spin, Scandal and the Selling of the Iraq War."
http://www.counterpunch.org/zeese11212006.html

CAN WE WIN IN IRAQ? - CLIFF KINCAID (ACCURACY IN MEDIA, NOVEMBER 23): The State Department policy of putting U.S. officials on Al-Jazeera, a vicious anti-American propaganda vehicle, never made any sense. It's like feeding Christians to the lions.
http://www.aim.org/media_monitor/5037_0_2_0_C/

THE OTHER IRAQ - (MOUNTAIN RUNNER BLOG, NOVEMBER 22): Example of Kurdish public diplomacy or information operations, depending on what chair you're sitting in. Welcome to Iraqi Kurdistan. It's the other Iraq. Check it out: http://www.theotheriraq.com/
http://mountainrunner.us/2006/11/the_other_iraq.html

WE'RE AWARE OF ISRAEL'S PAIN, FRENCH OFFICIALS SAY, BUT MAY DOWN ITS PLANES - YNETNEWS (ISRAEL INSIDER, ISRAEL, NOVEMBER 24): French Ambassador to Israel Jean-Michel Casa: "Israel must keep using public diplomacy and show the world the situation on the ground."
http://web.israelinsider.com/Articles/Diplomacy/9940.htm

BUSH'S MYSTERIOUS 'NEW PROGRAMS' - NAT PARRY (PEOPLE'S VOICE, TN, NOVEMBER 24): Similar to the distinction the Pentagon draws between "collecting" and "receiving" intelligence on U.S. citizens, the Pentagon's "Information Operations Roadmap," approved by Rumsfeld in October 2003, argues that as long as the American public is not intentionally "targeted," any PSYOP propaganda consumed by the American public is acceptable.
http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/cgi-bin/blo..._new_programs_1

1,000 IRAQIS A DAY FLEE VIOLENCE, U.N. GROUP FINDS REFUGEES CITE LACK OF SECURITY ALONG WITH THE GROWTH OF ARMED MILITIAS AND CRIMINAL GANGS - WALTER PINCUS (WASHINGTON POST, NOVEMBER 24)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...2301014_pf.html

233 DEAD IN CIVIL WAR CARNAGE; HEALTH MINISTRY BESIEGED; 3,000 WIDOWS CREATED EACH MONTH - JUAN COLE (INFORMED COMMENT: THOUGHTS ON THE MIDDLE EAST, HISTORY, AND RELIGION, NOVEMBER 24): "How bad the situation is in Iraq is suggested by this email I just got from a professional who used to be in Iraq but now is in a nearby country: 'It is desperate in Iraq, worse then ever and there is no end in sight. ... Another friend, a Sunni sheikh of the Shammar tribe noted to me that thousands of former officers are prepared to assault the G[reen] Z[one]. It is no longer a matter of can they do it, they are only mulling over the timing. The breach of the Green Zone security the other day was a test of their ability to get in, and not a real attempt at a coup, though it is reported as such.'"
http://www.juancole.com/2006/11/233-dead-i...age-health.html

IRAQIS RELAY OPTIMISM - EDITORIAL (WASHINGTON TIMES, NOVEMBER 24): A poll conducted for WorldPublicOpinion.org by the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland shows both that the majority of Iraqis prefer a strong government to a decentralized, federalist system, and that the deteriorating security situation has not caused Iraqis to loose all confidence in the Maliki government.
http://www.washtimes.com/functions/print.p...22-090144-3669r

A TIMELINE TOO LONG - TIM GRIEVE (SALON, NOVEMBER 22): Gen. James Conway, who has been on the job as commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps for all of eight days now, said that training Iraqi security forces is "a long, slow process," and that the "timeline it would take to build a fully capable, competent force -- and for us to feel comfortable in stepping away -- is longer than the timeline that we feel now our country will support."
http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/200...ines/index.html

IRAQ STRATEGY TAKES PAGE FROM VIETNAM PLAYBOOK - PETER SPIEGEL (LOS ANGELES TIMES, NOVEMBER 24): New tactics favored by U.S. commanders in Iraq -- an influx of military advisors and a speeded-up handover to indigenous forces followed by a gradual U.S. withdrawal -- resemble those in place as the U.S. effort in Vietnam reached its end.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wo...-home-headlines

WE CAN PUT MORE FORCES IN IRAQ ... AND THEY WOULD MAKE A DIFFERENCE - FREDERICK W. KAGAN (WEEKLY STANDARD, DECEMBER 4)
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Publ...12/994zsofb.asp

THE LESSER OF TWO EVILS - JONATHAN MOORE (BOSTON GLOBE, NOVEMBER 23): Massive US military presence in Iraq cannot be sustained because of two ruthless realities: after a long haul, it isn't working and it isn't supported. The US occupation has become poisonous.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial...r_of_two_evils/

WHO IS US KIDDING? - GORDON ADAMS (BOSTON GLOBE, NOVEMBER 24): Hopefully, the Baker-Hamilton working group can produce policy and strategy ideas that allow the United States to make the prettiest and most successful picture of a withdrawal, before too many more Americans (and Iraqis) have paid the price.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial...kidding?mode=PF

IRAQ IS BROKE BEYOND REPAIR: THE POTTERY BARN RULE WON'T CUT IT ANY MORE -- WE HAVE TO GET OUT BEFORE MORE DAMAGE IS DONE - ROSA BROOKS (LOS ANGELES TIMES, NOVEMBER 23): We can withdraw quickly or slowly, all at once or in stages, but we should withdraw.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commen...omment-opinions

IDEAS ON IRAQ'S FUTURE - EDITORIAL (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, NOVEMBER 24): What's needed now, and what we're likely to get, is a realistic appraisal and a bracing debate about the best steps America can take to help that Iraq to prevail.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion...newsopinion-hed

ASSASSINS AND DIPLOMACY: ANOTHER MURDER IN BEIRUT FOR JIM BAKER TO CONTEMPLATE - REVIEW & OUTLOOK (OPINION JOURNAL FROM THE WALL STREET JOURNAL EDITORIAL PAGE, NOVEMBER 22): When it comes to Syria, do the sages of the Iraq Study Group really want the Bush Administration to seek the benediction of a country that stirs such mayhem in Beirut?
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/fe...ml?id=110009283

THE ROAD TO DAMASCUS - EDITORIAL (BOSTON GLOBE, NOVEMBER 23): Desirable as it is to engage both Syria and Iran in the momentous work of seeking to stabilize Iraq, the Bush administration and its Iraqi partners must not accept any deal that allows Syria to escape judgment at the bar of the UN tribunal or to reimpose its writ on Lebanon.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial...amascus?mode=PF