"WHO THE HELL IS SHOOTING AT US?"



--Sgt. First Class Marc Biletski, among the American soldiers that raced onto

Haifa Street before dawn to dislodge Sunni insurgents and Shiite militias; cited

in Damien Cave and James Glanz, ?In a New Joint U.S.-Iraqi Patrol, Americans Go

First? (New York Times, January 25)

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/25/world/mi...agewanted=print



"BOTTOM LINE IS THAT WE'VE HAD ENORMOUS SUCCESSES AND WE WILL CONTINUE TO HAVE

ENORMOUS SUCCESSES."



--Vice President Dick Cheney, regarding Iraq; cited in Peter Baker, ?Defending

Iraq War, Defiant Cheney Cites 'Enormous Successes,'? (Washington Post, January

25)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...2402066_pf.html



BUSH CONTINUES TO UNITE THE WORLD... AGAINST HIM JIM LOBE (ANTIWAR.COM,

JANUARY 23): Despite two years of a concentrated effort by Secretary of State

Condoleezza Rice and her public diplomacy major-domo Karen Hughes to boost

Washington's global image, more people around the world have an unfavorable

opinion of U.S. policies than at any time in recent memory, according to a new

BBC poll released Monday. SEE BELOW ITEMS 2, 28-35.

http://www.antiwar.com/lobe/?articleid=10375



USA TANKS IN WORLD POLL... THE BEGINNING OF THE BEGINNING - (DAVID SEATON'S

NEWS LINKS, JANUARY 24): The result of this world wide poll is not so much a

failure of US policy or even its "packaging" (public diplomacy) but rather the

triumph of the new technologies of communications and the social networks they

are forming.

http://seaton-newslinks.blogspot.com/2007/...ginning-of.html



HELEN OF TRUTH NANCY SNOW (HUFFINGTON POST, JANUARY 21): The Freedom House

report, Freedom in the World 2007 identified a "growing 'pushback' against

organizations, movements, and media that monitor human rights or advocate for

the expansion of democratic freedoms." The Middle East/North Africa region,

where U.S. public diplomacy efforts to "win hearts and minds" are especially

focused, saw miniscule change in democracy and freedom over the past year.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nancy-snow/h...th_b_39203.html



AMR KHALED AND WARS OF IDEAS MARC LYNCH (ABU AARDVARK, JANUARY 23): One of

the biggest dangers lurking within a lot of recent talk in the 'wars of ideas'

community about "using" moderate Islamists. Given such mutual public hostility

and mistrust, the temptation is great to avoid public dialogues and instead

focus on covert methods such as paying influentials to spread 'our message.' But

the U.S. shouldn't get sucked into payola schemes.' COMMENT BY BLOG READER

MARTIN: "How much of the American outreach to 'moderate Islam' is originating

out of the office of Karen Hughes?"

http://abuaardvark.typepad.com/abuaardvark...haled_and_.html



CHINA CONFIRMS MISSILE TEST - MURE DICKIE, MICHIYO NAKAMOTO, AND KATHRIN

HILLE (FINANCIAL TIMES, JANUARY 23): China's lack of effective public diplomacy

on the test of an anti-satellite weapon is not difficult to understand. Beijing

analysts have long argued that it is understandable for a still relatively weak

military power such as China to be reluctant to give too much information about

its defense.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/e657a164-aaa7-11db...00779e2340.html

SEE ALSO

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...2401646_pf.html



IS OSAMA BIN LADEN THE MARTIN LUTHER OF ISLAM? - REZA ASLAN (SLATE, JANUARY

24): Charlotte Beers, the hapless Madison Avenue exec who was the first

undersecretary of state for public diplomacy in the Bush administration, put

together a series of video spots showing how great life was for Muslims in the

United States. In many countries, the response was: "We're thrilled these people

like living in Dearborn. Now please get the Israelis out of the West Bank and

Gaza." Muslims abroad tend to be less interested in how their co-religionists

live in the United States -- what matters is American foreign policy.

http://www.slate.com/id/2158114/entry/2158213/?nav=tap3



WAR ON TERROR'S OTHER FRONT: CLEANING UP US POP CULTURE: THE DISTORTED VIEW

OF AMERICA THAT HOLLYWOOD PROJECTS BREEDS HATEFUL FEELINGS ABROAD - DINESH

D'SOUZA (CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, JANUARY 25): By proclaiming our allegiance

to the traditional values of Judeo-Christian society, we can reduce the currents

of anti-Americanism among the Muslims, and thus undercut the appeal of radical

Islam to traditional Muslims around the world.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0125/p09s01-coop.html



VIEWS ON U.S. DROP SHARPLY IN WORLDWIDE [BBC] OPINION POLL - KEVIN SULLIVAN

(WASHINGTON POST, JANUARY 23): Globally, the most common view in 23 of the 25

countries polled is that the United States is causing more Middle East conflict

than it is preventing.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...2201300_pf.html



THE WORLD AGREES: STOP HIM - ROBERT SCHEER (TRUTHDIG/COMMON DREAMS, JANUARY

24): The almost universal support the United States enjoyed after the 9/11

terrorist attacks has been completely squandered, as a majority of the world?s

people now believe that our role in the entire world is negative.

http://www.commondreams.org/cgi-bin/print....s07/0124-28.htm



LOW EBB OF AMERICAN SOFT POWER - JOSEPH NYE (HUFFINGTON POST, JANUARY 24):

'M]y strongest take-away of the day [at the Davos meeting in Switzerland] was a

seasoned Asian diplomat telling me that in all his travels, he has never seen

American soft power at such a low ebb. In his words, only the Israelis, Indians,

and Vietnamese have a positive view of the U.S. Then he added, and Iran, if you

look only at the people, not the government."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joseph-nye/d...e-_b_39536.html



THE VIEW OF BUSH AND AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY FROM DAVOS 07 - JIM WALLIS

(HUFFINGTON POST, JANUARY 24): 'Despite the broad hostility to U. S. policies

around the world, I am often amazed at how much good will there is toward

Americans.'

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jim-wallis/t...er_b_39493.html



EUROPOST: AS AMERICA'S DISCONTENT WITH BUSH GROWS, EUROPEANS SIGH WITH

RELIEF - MARTIN VARSAVSKY (HUFFINGTON POST, JANUARY 23): As Americans reject

Bush´s policies in Iraq, Europeans? sympathies for America increased.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/martin-varsa...er_b_39380.html



RESPONSE TO BUSH'S SPEECH FROM BRITAIN TO BEIJING: LEADERS AND ANALYSTS SAW

LITTLE NEW IN FOREIGN POLICY, BUT WELCOMED HIS SHIFT ON ENERGY (CHRISTIAN

SCIENCE MONITOR, JANUARY 25)

http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0125/p10s01-usfp.html



IRAQI POLITICIANS SEE LITTLE NEW IN STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS - SAMEER N.

YACOUB, ASSOCIATED PRESS (WASHINGTON POST, JANUARY 24)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...2400168_pf.html



IRAQ'S REFUGEES: THEY ARE FLEEING THEIR HOMES AT THE RATE OF 50,000 A MONTH,

AND THEY NEED HELP EDITORIAL (WASHINGTON POST, JANUARY 22): The best way to

help Iraqi refugees, of course, is to secure their country so that they can

return home safely. Since that won't be possible anytime soon, the United States

is bound by both practical and moral considerations to address a crisis that it

helped to create.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...2100934_pf.html



U.S. SOLDIER SPEAKS OUT FROM BAGHDAD - AARON GLANTZ (ELECTRONIC IRAQ,

JANUARY 23): More than 1,000 active duty U.S. soldiers have signed a petition to

Congress -- known as an Appeal for Redress -- calling for the withdrawal of all

U.S. troops from Iraq.

http://electroniciraq.net/news/printer2849.shtml



OUR MERCENARIES IN IRAQ: THE PRESIDENT RELIES ON THOUSANDS OF PRIVATE

SOLDIERS WITH LITTLE OVERSIGHT, A DISTURBING EXAMPLE OF THE MILITARY-INDUSTRIAL

COMPLEX - JEREMY SCAHILL (LOS ANGELES TIMES, JANUARY 25)

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commen...omment-opinions



SECTS MANIAC - PETER BEINART NEW REPUBLIC, JANUARY 22): "Do we and Prime

Minister Maliki share the same vision for Iraq?" wondered National Security

Advisor Stephen Hadley in a November memo. Virtually everything Maliki has done

in recent weeks screams no. How much more evidence do we need, and how many more

Americans must die, before we take that no for an answer?

http://www.tnr.com/docprint.mhtml?i=20070129&s=trb012907



ANALYSTS SEE A CHANCE FOR MALIKI SUCCESS - WALTER PINCUS (WASHINGTON POST,

JANUARY 24): The draft of a new National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq says it

will be "very difficult" but "not impossible" for the government of Prime

Minister Nouri al-Maliki to succeed in providing better governance in that

war-ravaged country, a top intelligence official told a Senate committee

yesterday.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...2301275_pf.html



THE STATE OF THE UNION - EDITORIAL (NEW YORK TIMES, JANUARY 24): Mr. Bush?s

comments on Iraq in his State of the Union speech added nothing to his failed

policies.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/24/opinion/...agewanted=print



SPEAKING ON DEMAND: THE STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS, A CONSTITUTIONAL

REQUIREMENT, SEEMED MORE FORCED THAN EVER THIS YEAR ? EDITORIAL (LOS ANGELES

TIMES, JANUARY 24): Much of the president's speech concerned Iraq, although he

said little that was particularly original or helpful.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-...-opinion-center



A STATE OF DISTRACTION EDITORIAL (SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, JANUARY 24): A

nearly four-year war that has consumed more than $400 billion and claimed the

lives of more than 3,000 Americans has seriously eroded the standing of the

president who initiated it -- and it showed in both the substance and the

reception of Bush?s state of the union speech.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?...;type=printable



STATE OF TROUBLES: A WEAKENED PRESIDENT BUSH ADDRESSES THE NATION ?

EDITORIAL (WASHINGTON POST, JANUARY 24): Mr. Bush's goal in his state of the

union speech was not so much to argue anew for the troop increase but to drive

home the point that the "consequences of failure would be grievous and far

reaching." On this, Mr. Bush is assuredly correct.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...2301727_pf.html



TATE OF DISUNION EDITORIAL (BOSTON GLOBE, JANUARY 24): Bush is still

going it alone in Iraq, losing even many in his own party.

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial...isunion?mode=PF



THE RIGHT STRATEGY ISN'T ENOUGH - STEPHEN SESTANOVICH (WASHINGTON POST,

JANUARY 24): If Bush focuses entirely on what's needed to improve things in Iraq

in the short term without making his policy more sustainable in America in the

long term, we'll have to call it a failure.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...2301565_pf.html



CONGRESS PLAYS BAD COP ON IRAQ: A VOTE AGAINST BUSH'S STRATEGY COULD

ACTUALLY GIVE HIM MORE LEVERAGE WITH BAGHDAD OFFICIALS ? EDITORIAL (LOS ANGELES

TIMES, JANUARY 22): If he is smart, Bush will use Congress?s impatience

regarding Iraq to his advantage in pursuing both aspects of his "new way

forward" -- a surge in U.S. troops and a message to the Iraqis that the surge is

their last, best and temporary hope of U.S. assistance in keeping their country

together.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editor...ment-editorials



CONGRESS'S CHALLENGE ON IRAQ EDITORIAL (NEW YORK TIMES, JANUARY 22): Both

houses will need to find ways to use their power -- including the power of the

purse -- to do what Mr. Bush refuses to do: set and enforce deadlines for the

Iraqi government to disarm militias, share oil revenues and reintegrate the

Sunni middle class into Iraqi life.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/22/opinion/...agewanted=print



THE DEMOCRATS FUMBLE AND STUMBLE - WILLIAM M. ARKIN (WASHINGTONPOST.COM,

JANUARY 24): Removing American soldiers from the streets would indeed be a

different approach. But it is also stupid, that is, unless it is accompanied by

withdrawal and reconciliation with the reality that we will let Iraq go.

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/earlywarnin...l?nav=rss_blogr



NEW FACE ON A TOUGH WAR - DAVID IGNATIUS (WASHINGTON POST, JANUARY 24): For

a nation bitterly divided over Iraq, the one point of agreement seems to be that

Lt. Gen. David Petraeus is the right commander for U.S. forces in Baghdad.

Petraeus offers something new: He is the last frail hope for a bipartisan

consensus on Iraq.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...2301570_pf.html



SURGIN' GENERAL: DAVID PETRAEUS REALLY IS AS GREAT AS ADVERTISED. BUT GIVEN

THE MISSION HE'S TASKED WITH IN IRAQ, THAT WON'T MAKE A DIFFERENCE - SPENCER

ACKERMAN (AMERICAN PROSPECT, JANUARY 24): The surge plan entrusted to Lieutenant

General David Petraeus, chosen to command American forces in Iraq, assumes that

Iraq's sectarian and political deadlocks are attributable to the absence of

security. But this gets it exactly backward: the chaos is the result of

political deadlock.

http://www.prospect.org/web/printfriendly-view.ww?id=12398



SIGH FOR AMERICA - JAMES CARROLL (BOSTON GLOBE, JANUARY 22/COMMON DREAMS):

The "surge" in Iraq that matters is the movement from disaster to catastrophe. A

question: How can otherwise rational policy makers and military leaders continue

to cooperate in this madness?

http://www.commondreams.org/cgi-bin/print....s07/0122-29.htm



BUSH'S IRAQ "SURGE": THE FRAUD EXPOSED - ROBERT FREEMAN (COMMON DREAMS,

JANUARY 23)

http://www.commondreams.org/views07/0123-26.htm



CAN THE GENERAL SAVE THE DAY? - H.D.S. GREENWAY (BOSTON GLOBE, JANUARY 23):

In all the debate about the surge, the negative effect of foreign troops on the

Iraqi population has been underestimated.

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial...the_day?mode=PF



THERE IS NO SOLUTION: A FOOL'S ERRAND IN BAGHDAD - MIKE WHITNEY

(COUNTERPUNCH, JANUARY 22): The real purpose of the surge is to pacify Baghdad

in order to rebuild confidence among the supporters of the war.

http://www.counterpunch.org/whitney01222007.html



ANDREA HEEDED AMERICA'S CALL, AND PAID WITH HER LIFE: IN IRAQ, ALL

FOREIGNERS ARE TARGETS - PATRICK COCKBURN (COUNTERPUNCH, JANUARY 23): The extent

of insurgent dominance in Baghdad is such that it will be extremely difficult

for Mr. Bush's "surge" in troops to work.

http://www.counterpunch.org/patrick01232007.html



BREAKING THE CLINCH - DAVID BROOKS (NEW YORK TIMES, JANUARY 25): The

weakness of the Bush surge plan is that it relies on the Maliki government.

There is one option that does approach Iraqi reality from the bottom up. It

calls for a ?soft partition? of Iraq in order to bring political institutions

into accord with the social facts.

http://select.nytimes.com/2007/01/25/opini...agewanted=print

PAID SUBSCRIPTION



A BAD IDEA THAT DESERVES A TRY: THE SURGE ISN'T GOING TO WORK. LET'S TRY IT

ANYWAY - JONATHAN RAUCH (REASON, JANUARY 22): Once the surge takes place,

Americans are likely to know in a matter of months whether the Maliki government

is serious about pacifying Shiite militants, coming to terms with Sunnis, and

cleaning up the ministries and security forces. If not, Washington can begin

withdrawing forces and shift into damage-control mode -- not without guilt, but

at least with certainty.

http://reason.com/news/printer/118092.html



COORDINATION COULD BREED CONTROL IN IRAQ - AUSTIN LONG (WASHINGTONPOST.COM'S,

JANUARY 24): Better coordination alone won't solve America's problems in Iraq

and guarantee victory. But without it, achieving victory will be a lot harder

regardless of the number of troops the U.S. maintains, because successes

achieved by one arm of the U.S. effort is too often undone by another.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...2301218_pf.html



WHY THE 'BIG PUSH' SOUNDS HORRIBLY FAMILIAR - ADAM HOCHSCHILD (ASIA TIMES,

JANUARY 24): Like the Big Push of the Somme in WWI, the Big Push in Iraq is a

reapplication of tactics that have already proved a calamitous failure. As the

outspoken retired US Army Lieutenant-General William Odom, former director of

the National Security Agency, puts it, it's like finding yourself in a hole and

then digging deeper.

http://atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/IA24Ak01.html



SPEAKING OUT NOW AGAINST THE IRAQ DISASTER IS TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE - CYNTHIA

TUCKER (BALTIMORE SUN, JANUARY 22): There is no chance for "victory" or

"success" in Iraq at this late date, and little chance for even averting

disaster. What is done cannot be undone. There is no "way forward."

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/o...-oped-headlines



REBELLION OVER IRAQ: SON AGAINST FATHER IVAN ELAND (ANTIWAR.COM, JANUARY

22): Full-blown civil war will likely occur in Iraq, with or without U.S.

forces being in the middle of it. Thus, the correct policy prescription is

immediate withdrawal.

http://www.antiwar.com/eland/?articleid=10376



FIGHT TODAY OR OCCUPY FOREVER: IF WE LEAVE IRAQ NOW, WE COULD GET A MIDEAST

VERSION OF NORTH KOREA: A DANGEROUS REGIME DOWN THE ROAD WITH U.S. FORCES

STATIONED NEAR ITS BORDERS FOR DECADES TO COME - JONAH GOLDBERG (LOS ANGELES

TIMES, JANUARY 25)

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commen...omment-opinions



TALKING OURSELVES INTO DEFEAT: PROFLIGATE SELF-DOUBT CAN EXACT A PRICE -

DANIEL HENNINGER (OPINION JOURNAL FROM THE WALL STREET JOURNAL EDITORIAL PAGE,

JANUARY 25): We are not only on the way to talking ourselves into defeat in Iraq

but into a diminished international status that may be harder to recover than

the doom mob imagines.

http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/d...r/?id=110009573



RETREAT ISN'T AN OPTION - LIZ CHENEY (WASHINGTON POST, JANUARY 23): If we

quit in Iraq now, we must get ready for a harder, longer, more deadly struggle

later. (The writer is former principal deputy assistant secretary of state for

Near Eastern affairs.)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...2201103_pf.html



TRUTH TO POWER - FRANK J. GAFFNEY JR. (WASHINGTON TIMES, JANUARY 23): In

truth, our defeat in Iraq will make it impossible to keep Afghanistan free, let

alone protect ourselves from what will subsequently emerge out of the

terrorists' new Iraqi base.

http://www.washtimes.com/functions/print.p...22-093342-3577r



AN OPPORTUNITY FOR DIPLOMACY IN MIDDLE EAST - TRUDY RUBIN (BALTIMORE SUN,

JANUARY 23): America has leverage for the kind of diplomacy that is essential if

we want to quit Iraq without disaster. The goal of such diplomacy: to convince

Iraq's neighbors that Iraq's collapse would so endanger them that they have to

work to stabilize the country.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/o...-oped-headlines



MARTIN LUTHER AL-KING? - THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN (NEW YORK TIMES, JANUARY 24): If

Iraq is ultimately unraveled by Muslim suicide-nihilism, it certainly will be a

blot on our history 'We opened this Pandora's box. But it will be a plague on

the future of the whole Arab world."

http://select.nytimes.com/2007/01/24/opini...agewanted=print

PAID SUBSCRIPTION



VIDEO OUR OWN WEAPON OF MASS DESTRUCTION (TRUTHDIG, JANUARY 23): This

disturbing documentary by former '60 Minutes' producer Barry Lando chronicles

the horror that 13 years of U.S.-backed sanctions wrought on Iraq, including the

deaths of hundreds of thousands -- many of them children.

http://www.truthdig.com/avbooth/item/20070...ss_destruction/



OUR DELUSIONAL HEDGEHOG - HAROLD MEYERSON (WASHINGTON POST, JANUARY 24): We

are stuck backing an Iran-friendly Shiite sectarian regime in Iraq, even as we

plan to spend hundreds of millions in aid to the Lebanese army to fend off the

Shiite sectarian forces of Hezbollah, and even as Secretary of State Condoleezza

Rice scuttles from one Sunni state to the next in an attempt to build a firewall

around Iran. This is foreign policy as nonsense.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...2301563_pf.html



LOOKING FOR A GULF OF TONKIN-LIKE INCIDENT - RODRIGUE TREMBLAY (NEW AMERICAN

EMPIRE, JANUARY 22): President George W. Bush is busily looking for a Gulf of

Tonkin-like incident in order to further escalate the war in Iraq and to start a

fresh one with Iran.

http://www.thenewamericanempire.com/tremblay=1054



WEST'S IRAN PLAN SHOWS GAINS. WILL US STICK TO IT? EVIDENCE MOUNTS THAT

INTERNATIONAL PRESSURE IS HAVING AN EFFECT, BUT IRAN'S PRESIDENT REMAINS DEFIANT

- HOWARD LAFRANCHI(CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, JANUARY 23)

http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0123/p02s01-usfp.html



STOP THE IRAN WAR BEFORE IT STARTS - SCOTT RITTER (NATION, JANUARY 24): If

the case for war with Iran is revealed to be as illusory as was the case for war

with Iraq, then Congress must take action to stop this conflict from occurring.

http://www.thenation.com/docprint.mhtml?i=...05&s=ritter



HE X FACTOR IN 2008 -- IRAN PATRICK J. BUCHANAN (ANTIWAR.COM, JANUARY

23): Is there anything that might alter the course of events and affect the war

picture by 2008? Indeed: a preemptive strike on Iran.

http://www.antiwar.com/pat/?articleid=10378



WISDOM IN EXILE - ANNE APPLEBAUM (WASHINGTON POST, JANUARY 23): There is

another Iran: an Iran that admires neither Ahmadinejad nor the Islamic

"establishment" that now opposes him, an Iran that believes in open engagement

with the West and an open discussion of history.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...2201090_pf.html



IRAN'S PLANS: STICKS & CARROTS - AMIR TAHERI (NEW YORK POST, JANUARY 23):

Confrontation or accommodation? Three decades after the mullahs seized power,

the question remains at the heart of the Islamic Republic's strife-ridden

political life.

http://www.nypost.com/php/pfriendly/print....amir_taheri.htm



IRAN PREPARES PUBLIC FOR POSSIBLE CLASH - ALI AKBAR DAREINI, ASSOCIATED

PRESS (WASHINGTON POST, JANUARY 22): Iran conducted missile tests Monday as its

leadership stepped up warnings of a possible military confrontation with the

United States.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...2200983_pf.html



SURVEYING THE SUNNI-SHIA QUESTION - MARC LYNCH (ABU AARDVARK, JANUARY 22):

The popular idea out there, true or not, is that the U.S. and its Arab allies

hope to prepare the ground for a confrontation with Iran by turning Arab public

opinion against the Shia.

http://abuaardvark.typepad.com/abuaardvark..._egyptian_.html



US, IRANIAN PUBLICS NOT SO DIFFERENT JIM LOBE (ANTIWAR.CON, JANUARY 24):

The people of Iran and the United States share many of the same hopes and fears

about global problems but remain deeply distrustful of each other's government,

according to a major survey of public opinion in both countries released

Wednesday.

http://www.antiwar.com/lobe/?articleid=10389



DEBUNKING IRAN'S NUCLEAR MYTH MAKERS - KAVEH L AFRASIABI (ASIA TIMES,

JANUARY 25): Increasingly, the voices of dissent in Iran on the nation's nuclear

policy are getting louder and louder, reflecting a growing disenchantment with

the confrontational policies of President Mahmud Ahmadinejad, which according to

many Iranian pundits have put vital national-security interests at risk.

http://atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/IA25Ak03.html



TAKING THE OFFENSIVE ON IRAN - DAVID L. GRANGE AND ILAN BERMAN (CHICAGO

TRIBUNE, JANUARY 24): The consequences of inaction far outweigh the risks of

resolutely confronting Iran now.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion...ncommentary-hed



THE PRICE OF HYPOCRISY - MARK LEVINE (ASIA TIMES, JANUARY 25): Rice's craven

coddling of one of the world's oldest and most authoritarian regimes -- Egypt --

is morally unconscionable and it confirms al-Qaeda's argument that the U.S.

continues to care not a wit about the human and political rights of ordinary

Muslims.

http://atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/IA25Ak06.html



OSTER POLITICS - ANDREW LEE BUTTERS (TIME, JANUARY 17): Lebanon seems

pretty evenly split between pro-Western and pro-Eastern camps.

http://time-blog.com/middle_east/2007/01/p...r_politics.html



THE STATE OF THE (DIS)UNION - PEPE ESCOBAR (ASIA TIMES, JANUARY 25): US

President George W. Bush's State of the Union address -- apart from the amalgam

of al-Qaeda and Iran in the same sentence -- was a non-event in terms of a new

strategy for the Middle East.

http://atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/IA25Ak01.html



DUBIOUS 'SUCCESSES' IN IRAN EDITORIAL (WASHINGTON TIMES, JANUARY 25): We

remain skeptical of the notion put forward by the Bush administration and the

Israeli government that we are on the verge of some kind of New Mideast Order in

which "moderates" like the Wahhabi rulers of Saudi Arabia join hands with Israel

to combat Iran and the Shi'ite radicals.

http://www.washtimes.com/functions/print.p...24-094726-1371r



RICE'S RHETORIC, IN FULL RETREAT - JACKSON DIEHL (WASHINGTON POST, JANUARY

22): In Egypt Rice neglected to mention something: "democracy and reform."

During the course of her visit to Egypt, and her latest tour through the Middle

East, the words never publicly crossed her lips.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...2100526_pf.html



SOMALIA'S LESSON -- DON'T ALWAYS TRUST THE LOCALS: SEND IN FOREIGN

PEACEKEEPERS TO THE HORN OF AFRICA, WHICH HAS SLIPPED INTO CHAOS EACH TIME

FORCES HAVE LEFT - MAX BOOT (LOS ANGELES TIMES, JANUARY 23): Although most of

the foreign policy debate in the U.S. has been riveted on Iraq, some within the

Pentagon have been touting recent events in Somalia as an alternative model of

how to fight Islamo-fascists.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commen...omment-opinions



MOMENT OF OPPORTUNITY IN SOMALIA EDITORIAL (NEW YORK TIMES, JANUARY 25):

Washington needs to move quickly, along with Arab and African leaders, to try to

broker a political compromise between responsible leaders of the Islamic Courts

Union, which was evicted from power last month by the Ethiopians, and the

internationally endorsed transitional government installed in its place.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/25/opinion/...agewanted=print



BLACKHAWK UP: AMERICA RETURNS TO SOMALIA - DAVEED GARTENSTEIN-ROSS (WEEKLY

STANDARD, JANUARY 29): It is now widely recognized that the United States should

not have disengaged from Somalia in 1994. The Bush administration should not

make the same mistake.

http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Publ...13/200wnmzz.asp



REMOTE CONTROL - MARCEL GRANIER (WALL STREET JOURNAL, JANUARY 24): The

president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, has verbally

announced his decision to shut down Radio Caracas Television (RCTV) -- our TV

station, the oldest in Venezuela as well as the one with the largest audience.

So continues a long series of attacks against journalists, employees, management

and shareholders of many independent media companies.

http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB1169...8902885814.html

PAID SUBSCRIPTION



ANOTHER VIETNAM: PART II - THOMAS SOWELL (WASHINGTON TIMES, JANUARY 23):

The most fundamental difference between President Bush and his critics has not

been in who has made mistakes, because both have. The biggest difference has

been that the president has taken a long-run view of the worldwide war on

terror, while his critics are seeking a quick fix.

http://www.washtimes.com/functions/print.p...22-093344-7820r



PRESIDENT'S PORTRAYAL OF 'THE ENEMY' OFTEN FLAWED - GLENN KESSLER

(WASHINGTON POST JANUARY 24): In his State of the Union address last night,

President Bush presented an arguably misleading and often flawed description of

"the enemy" that the United States faces overseas, lumping together disparate

groups with opposing ideologies to suggest that they have a single-minded focus

in attacking the United States.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...2400006_pf.html



BUSH'S SOTU: ANNOTATED - STEPHEN ZUNES (FOREIGN POLICY IN FOCUS, JANUARY

24/COMMON DREAMS): By only speaking out in support of freedom in countries with

autocratic governments the administration does not like but remaining silent in

regard to autocratic governments the Bush administration supports, it

politicizes the human rights struggle, replaces principle with political

expediency, and compromises the struggle for freedom worldwide.

http://www.commondreams.org/views07/0124-32.htm



STATE OF THE APOCALYPSE - GLEN FORD (TOMPAINE.COM, JANUARY 23): Although

the Bushite ranks are now demoralized and their public support at low ebb, they

have never abandoned their crusade for a new world order based on raw,

unilateral U.S. military force, a planetary ?market? to be constantly

restructured according to the whims of unfettered, hyperactive capital.

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2007/01/2..._apocalypse.php



AMERICA NO LONGER OWNS GLOBALIZATION - NATHAN GARDELS (INTERNATIONAL HERALD

TRIBUNE, JANUARY 24)

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/01/24/opinion/edgardels.php

First Arab joins Israeli cabinet BBC News
The Israel government has voted to appoint an Arab Muslim to the cabinet - for the first time in the history of the Jewish state.Raleb Majadele from the Labour Party will be minister without portfolio. Mr Majadele, aged 53, said his appointment would give Israeli Arabs a sense of belonging. Labour Party leader Amir Peretz said it was an historic step towards equality for Israeli Arabs, who make up about 20% of Israel's population. All Israeli cabinet ministers - except for the ultra-nationalist Minister of Strategic Affairs, Avigdor Lieberman - voted in favour of Mr Majadele's appointment. "The first step has been taken and this has given Israeli Arabs a feeling of belonging," Mr Majadele told Israel's Army Radio. Israeli Arabs have long complained of discrimination, but the Israeli government points out that they have more rights than Arabs elsewhere in the Middle East, the BBC's Jon Leyne in Jerusalem says. In 2001, Salah Tarif, a member of Israel's Druze minority, was made minister without portfolio but he resigned shortly afterwards after being indicted on corruption charges. He was convicted in 2003.

Blair sees hope of climate deal BBC News
UK Prime Minister Tony Blair has told the World Economic Forum a major breakthrough on long-term climate change goals could be close.He told the forum in Davos, Switzerland it was possible because of a "quantum shift" in the attitude of the US. He said the German G8 presidency offered an opportunity for a new international agreement for when the Kyoto Protocol expired in 2012. "I believe we are potentially on the verge of a breakthrough," he said. Mr Blair praised Chancellor Angela Merkel's focus on climate change during her EU presidency and India and China's engagement with the G8. He also pledged to work with other world leaders towards a more "radical" and "comprehensive" successor to the Kyoto protocol. "The German G8 Presidency gives us the opportunity to agree at least the principles of a new, binding international agreement to come into effect when the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012," Mr Blair said. "But one which is more radical than Kyoto and more comprehensive, one which this time includes all the major countries of the world."

'Mood shift'
However, he said any agreement would not be able to deliver without binding commitments from the US, China and India.He told the World Economic Forum: "If Britain shut down our emissions entirely, i.e. we closed down the country - not the legacy I want - the growth in China's emissions would make up the difference in just two years. "Without the biggest economies being part of the framework to reduce carbon dependence, we have no earthly chance of success," he said. But Mr Blair added: "The mood in the US is in the process of a quantum shift. "The president's State of the Union address built on his 'addicted to oil' speech last year and set the first US targets for a reduction in petrol consumption." In a wide-ranging speech on world issues, Mr Blair also said he believed nuclear power had to be part of the future. "But I look ahead in my country and I see a situation where we're going to move, incidentally, from self-sufficiency in gas to importing 90% of it, and I say for reasons both of energy efficiency and reducing carbon emissions, how are we going to do that without nuclear energy being part of the mix? "And I think we've got to get over this false view that it offers nothing by way of the future. I think there is a whole new generation of technology growing up around it," he said.

Standing ovation
According to the BBC's Tim Weber, the conference hall was completely full for Mr Blair's speech. Both his speech and following question and answer session received much applause and a standing ovation, our reporter in Davos said. Some observers are seeing Mr Blair's speech as an attempt to be viewed as an elder statesman once he steps down as prime minister. Trade ministers from around 30 countries have previously agreed during the conference that full-scale global trade talks should resume quickly. Politicians have said it would be "catastrophic" if the talks failed.

Foreign Policy Commentary Update January 29, 2007


US OFFICIAL PRAISES PHILIPPINES FOR SUCCESS IN WAR ON TERROR DOUGLAS

BAKSHIAN (VOICE OF AMERICA, JANUARY 27)

http://voanews.com/english/2007-01-26-voa13.cfm



CAN THE U.S. REBUILD ITS IMAGE? - LYRIC WALLWORK WINIK (PARADE, JANUARY 30):

After the usual niceties -- such as saying that we are reaching out to other

nations based on common values, friendship and respect -- Karen Hughes is

upfront in declaring that it will take at least a generation before hard-core

attitudes about the United States even begin to change. Hughes places some of

the responsibility for America's image on us. She talks about how -- before 9/11

-- people abroad perceived the U.S. as being uninterested in the rest of the

world.

http://www.parade.com/articles/editions/20...lligence_Report



PLAYING BY ISLAMOFASCIST RULES - ALEX ALEXIEV (WASHINGTON TIMES, JANUARY 27):

Top government representatives regularly engage in meaningless "Muslim outreach"

programs with the most radical of Islamist organizations, thereby legitimating

them again and again in the eyes of mainstream Muslims as the powers that be in

their community. Karen Hughes, the public diplomacy guru of the land, told a

convention of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA): "You are the

frontline in public diplomacy because you are more credible than I am."

http://washingtontimes.com/functions/print...26-090037-8629r



OPTIMISM IN THE FACE OF A "COSMIC WAR" - REZA ASLAN (SLATE, JANUARY 24):

Diplomacy will never work if it is run by partisan gunslingers like Karen Hughes

or by Madison Ave. executives like Charlotte Beers, not least because their

primary goal seems to be making American foreign policy more palatable to the

Muslim world. That's a waste of time. We need to focus instead on communicating

American values and ideals to the Arab and Muslim world. Who better to express

to the world's Muslims what it means to be American than American Muslims?

http://www.slate.com/id/2158114?nav=tap3



REGIONAL CRISES IN THE CONTEXT OF SAUDI-US RELATIONS: A CONVERSATION WITH

FLYNT LEVERETT - (SAUDI ARABIA UNITED STATES RELATIONS, DC, JANUARY 24): Dr.

Flynt Leverett, Senior Fellow and Director of the Geopolitics of Energy

Initiative in the New America Foundation?s American Strategy Program: "[T]hat is

also very problematic for the Saudi regime, that US policy is not just

empowering Iran, but it is also enabling Iran to conduct, if you will, public

diplomacy against the United States, which further complicates the strategic

challenge facing Saudi leaders right now."

http://www.saudi-us-relations.org/articles...-interview.html



11. PRINCE TURKI AL-FAISAL: WE ARE NOT YOUR FRIENDS ? CATHOLICGAUZE (GEOGRAPHIC

TRAVELS WITH CATHOLICGAUZE! A BLOG ON GEOGRAPHY, GEOGRAPHIC THOUGHT, AND COOL

GEOGRAPHY LINKS!, JANUARY 27): "The main point of the [outgoing Saudi Ambassador

to the U.S. al-Faisal's] speech was public diplomacy. Al-Faisal said the era of

the diplomat was over. He went on to state that we all conducted diplomacy and

that the exchange program was a perfect opportunity for Saudis to learn about

America. ... I asked if there was a program which would enable Americans to

visit Saudi Arabia. I was hoping there the 'exchange' would be somewhere near

equal. The prince replied that the Kingdom is 'working on it' and took pride in

the fact there are 'slightly less than forty Americans' studying in the

kingdom."

http://catholicgauze.blogspot.com/2007/01/...e-not-your.html



THE GOOD OLD DAYS OF SELLING DEMOCRACY: MARSHALL PLAN FILMS OFFER HISTORY

LESSON IN PUBLIC RELATIONS - PHILIP KENNICOTT (WASHINGTON POST, JANUARY 27):

Washington is awash in people muttering about the urgent need for better public

diplomacy, but the current administration's attempts to reinvent it have met,

mostly, with distress and sometimes mockery -- especially the first travels of

Karen Hughes, who encountered chilly audiences in her first forays to the Middle

East. The films of the post-WWII Marshall Plan reveal the fruits of a propaganda

machine that was working on an entirely different level of sophistication than

anything happening today.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...2601742_pf.html



GEORGE W. BUSH, A PRESIDENT IN THREE ACTS - GEORGIE ANNE GEYER (YAHOO! NEWS,

JANUARY 25): "Compassionate conservatism? When did you last hear that term? Some

of my sources whispered that the whole agenda came from Laura Bush and Karen

Hughes, not from him [Bush]. At any rate, and particularly once 9/11 came,

George W. Bush left all those favorite ideas behind."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ucgg/20070126/cm_u...dentinthreeacts



LAWMAKERS EXCHANGE VIEWS ON CHINA-U.S. RELATIONS XINHUA (PEOPLE'S DAILY,

BEIJING, JANUARY 28): A group of Chinese and U.S. lawmakers had in-depth

exchanges of views on China-U.S. relations, parliamentary exchanges and other

issues of mutual concern, and reached wide-ranging consensus, at a meeting in

Hawaii over the past two days.

http://english.people.com.cn/200701/28/eng...128_345495.html



SLAUGHTER IN BAGHDAD'S BIRD MARKET: BOMBERS TARGET SHIA CIVILIANS - PATRICK

COCKBURN (COUNTERPUNCH, JANUARY 27/28): One by one the landmarks of Baghdad are

disappearing, engulfed by the torrent of violence.

http://www.counterpunch.org/patrick01272007.html



IT HAS UNRAVELED SO QUICKLY - SABRINA TAVERNISE (NEW YORK TIMES, JANUARY

28): Baghdad fell in 2003 and we are still trying to pick it back up. But Iraq

is a different country now. Deeply damaged from years of abuse under Saddam

Hussein, the Shiites who run the government have themselves turned into abusers.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/28/weekinre...agewanted=print



TOMGRAM: WHERE DO THE AMERICAN DEAD COME FROM? TOM ENGELHARDT

(TOMDISPATCH, JAUNUARY 25): The American dead of the Iraq and Afghan Wars come

disproportionately from rural America.

http://www.tomdispatch.com/index.mhtml?pid=160190



ATROCITY IN KARBALA - EDITORIAL (NEW YORK POST, JANUARY 28): Those who have

led the outcry over what they hysterically decry as U.S. "war crimes" in Iraq

have a particular obligation to speak out against genuine atrocities of the kind

committed by terrorist insurgents.

http://www.nypost.com/php/pfriendly/print....editorials_.htm



GRUNTS, CONTRACTORS AND LABORERS: THE THREE US ARMIES IN IRAQ - ZIA MIAN

(COUNTERPUNCH, JANUARY 26): It is hard to see how adding a few tens of thousands

of soldiers will make much difference to an American force of at least a quarter

of million already in Iraq. It is likely only to make things worse, and many

people see that.

http://www.counterpunch.org/mian01262007.html



IN LIMBO ON IRAQ - DIANA WEST (WASHINGTON TIMES, JANUARY 26): It's very

possible that renewed American fighting in Baghdad, if successful -- which, as

Americans, we must hope it to be -- will not only stabilize the chaotic capital

of Iraq, but will also entrench its Shi'ite-led, pro-Hezbollah, anti-Western

government.

http://www.washtimes.com/functions/print.p...25-091731-6290r



THE IRAQ WAR: CONGRESS IS DRAWING LINE IN SAND - MARK SILVA (CHICAGO

TRIBUNE, JANUARY 28): After years of asserting presidential wartime powers,

President Bush now faces a certain confrontation with a new,

Democratic-controlled Congress that will methodically make a case for reining in

the president's authority over the Iraq war.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion...perspective-hed





CONGRESS RESPONDS TO BUSH'S IRAQ PLEA HELEN THOMAS (SEATTLE

POST-INTELLIGENCER, JNUARY 26/COMMON DREAMS): Bush is on the ropes as support

for the unpopular war further erodes, both among American voters and in

Congress.

http://www.commondreams.org/views07/0126-23.htm



THE WAR AND THE SENATE OPINION (BALTIMORE SUN, JANUARY 26): The nation

can't simply bide its time for the next two years before doing anything about

this disastrous war. Congress must act.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/b...inion-headlines





THE FIGHT WE'RE IN: WHAT'S THE BEST WAY FOR DEMOCRATS TO FORCE BUSH TO END

THE WAR TERENCE SAMUEL (AMERICAN PROSPECT, JANUARY 26): For Congress, the only

pertinent consideration should be how we get out.

http://www.prospect.org/web/printfriendly-view.ww?id=12405



THE BIPARTISAN WAR ON BUSH: REPUBLICAN SENATORS JOINED THEIR COUNTERPARTS IN

TAKING AIM AT BUSH'S IRAQ PLAN -- EVEN IF THEY WERE ONLY SHOOTING BLANKS - MARK

BENJAMIN (SALON, JANUARY 25)

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/01/...tion/print.html



DEMORALIZED: THE REAL STATE OF THE UNION - MONA CHAREN (NATIONAL REVIEW,

JANUARY 26): The defeatism on the part of the Democrats and some Republicans is

one of the reasons our task in Iraq is so difficult.

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=YzEzZ...2Q5ZjA0N2U5Yzg=



THE BODY DEMOCRATIC: FIGHT TODAY OR OCCUPY FOREVER - JONAH GOLDBERG

(NATIONAL REVIEW, JANUARY 26): There seems to be only one hope for persuading

the Democrats to support staying in Iraq. Let's just beat the rush and call Iraq

a humanitarian crisis now.

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=ODIxN...TY1OTZiZDJmMjY=



CONGRESS'S IRAQ QUAGMIRE: THE SENATE WOULD SEND GEN. PETRAEUS OFF WITH A PAT

ON THE BACK AND A VOTE OF NO CONFIDENCE IN HIS MISSION EDITORIAL (WASHINGTON

POST, JANUARY 25): Even if the objective of pacifying Baghdad with American

troops were a good one, it's not clear that enough troops are being sent for

long enough to succeed.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...2401778_pf.html



THE INCOHERENT SENATE EDITORIAL (WASHINGTON TIMES, JANUARY 28): Passage of

a resolution denouncing the war in Iraq (which appears to have overwhelming

support) is utterly nonsensical if senators are serious about defeating the

enemy.

http://www.washtimes.com/functions/print.p...27-092607-6610r



PARTING WAYS IN IRAQ - DAVID BROOKS (NEW YORK TIMES, JANUARY 28): Logic,

circumstances and politics are leading inexorably toward soft partition.

http://select.nytimes.com/2007/01/28/opini...agewanted=print

PAID SUBSCRIPTION



THE COSTS TO THOSE WHO SOLDIER ON - ANTHONY LAKE (BOSTON GLOBE, JANUARY

26): The nation must meet its responsibility to begin a phased redeployment of

our troops from Iraq -- strengthening our armed forces for future missions while

pursuing more vigorously a war in Afghanistan that is not yet lost, but hangs in

the balance.

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial...dier_on?mode=PF



MURPHY'S LAW & WEASEL-HOLES: IF WE DON'T GET OUT OF THE WEASEL-HOLE OF IRAQ,

WE WON'T HAVE MUCH OF A FUTURE - CAROLINE ARNOLD (COMMON DREAMS, JANUARY 26)

http://www.commondreams.org/views07/0126-26.htm



GRAND DELUSION: POLITICIANS IN BOTH PARTIES ACT AS IF THEY CAN MAKE THE WAR

GO AWAY SOON. IT WON'T - ROBERT KAGAN (WASHINGTON POST, JANUARY 28): The United

States cannot escape the Iraq crisis, or the Middle East crisis of which it is a

part, and will not be able to escape it for years. And if Iraq does collapse, it

will not be the end of our problems but the beginning of a new and much bigger

set of problems.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...7012601541.html



NOT THIS TIME - FRED BARNES (WEEKLY STANDARD, FEBRUARY 5): The painful

lesson of Vietnam applies in Iraq: Don't give up when victory is at hand.

http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Publ...13/206ifjmh.asp



TEHRAN'S INFLUENCE GROWS AS IRAQIS SEE ADVANTAGES - JOSHUA PARTLOW

(WASHINGTON POST, JANUARY 26): Iran has driven a wedge between Iraq and the

United States.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...2502087_pf.html



IRAN'S NUCLEAR BOMB: ACQUIESCE OR ATTACK? GRAHAM ALLISON (HUFFINGTON POST,

JANUARY 27): However the war in Iraq ends, it is clear who the biggest winner

will be: Iran. If Iran is to be prevented from building nuclear bombs without

war, the US must now explore negotiating options that are unpalatable but

nonetheless better than the options a President will face at the end of the road

he is now on.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/graham-allis...qu_b_39800.html



WHAT IF IRAN SUSPENDS? A WESTERN DILEMMA - TRITA PARSI (ANTIWAR.COM, JANUARY

27): As the Feb. 21 deadline for Iran to halt its uranium enrichment program

fast approaches, both Iran and the West are scrambling to prepare themselves for

all possible moves by the other side.

http://www.antiwar.com/ips/parsi.php?articleid=10408



ANTI-SHIA OR ANTI-IRAN? BALANCE OF POWER POLITICS, NOT A NEW SECTARIANISM -

GREG GAUSE (ABU AARDVARK, JANUARY 25): The new effort at an anti-Iranian front

is a return to old American tactics. The fact that the democracy rhetoric has

been shelved and the minimal pressure on America's allies for political reform

set aside (evident most clearly in relations with Egypt) is the best indication

of the return to classic balance of power logic in American regional policy.

http://abuaardvark.typepad.com/abuaardvark..._balance_o.html



CRACKS IN IRAN: U.S. PRESSURE MAY BE HAVING AN IMPACT ON THE MULLAHS. IF SO,

THE OPPORTUNITY SHOULD BE EXPLOITED ? EDITORIAL (WASHINGTON POST, JANUARY 28):

The most promising way of refining the current policy would be to return to a

strategy that worked when the Bush administration tried it in 2001, which is

engaging Iran in a regional forum.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...7012701096.html



TO ATTACK IRAN EDITORIAL (BALTIMORE SUN, JANUARY 28): A unilateral

American military attack on Iran would cause incalculable harm to the United

States. It would leave the U.S. isolated among the world's nations, it would

expose American troops to far greater violence, and it would lay the groundwork

for a severe constitutional crisis between the executive branch and an aroused

Congress.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/b...inion-headlines



BUSH IS ABOUT TO ATTACK IRAN: WHY CAN'T AMERICANS SEE IT? - PAUL CRAIG

ROBERTS (ANTIWAR.COM, JANUARY 27): Everything is in place for an attack on Iran.

Why hasn't Congress told Bush and Cheney that they will both be instantly

impeached if they initiate a wider war?

http://www.antiwar.com/roberts/?articleid=10411



WHOSE IRAN? - LAURA SECOR (NEW YORK TIMES, JANUARY 28): For a Western

traveler in Iran these days, it is hard to avoid a feeling of cognitive

dissonance. From a distance, the Islamic republic appears to be at its zenith.

But from the street level, Iran?s grand revolutionary experiment is beset with

fragility.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/28/magazine...agewanted=print



ISRAEL'S WORST NIGHTMARE: CONTRA IRAN - YOSSI KLEIN HALEVI & MICHAEL B. OREN

(NEW REPUBLIC, JANUARY 26): The French philosopher André Glucksmann has noted

that, by threatening to destroy Israel and by attaining the means to do so, Iran

violates the twin taboos on which the post-World War II order was built: never

again Auschwitz; never again Hiroshima. The international community now has an

opportunity to uphold that order. If it fails, then Israel will have no choice

but to uphold its role as refuge of the Jewish people.

http://www.tnr.com/docprint.mhtml?i=200702...alevioren020507



THE HIDDEN COST OF FREE CONGRESSIONAL TRIPS TO ISRAEL: BRANDED AS

'EDUCATIONAL,' THESE TRIPS OFFER ISRAELI PROPAGANDISTS AN OPPORTUNITY TO EXPOSE

MEMBERS OF CONGRESS TO ONLY THEIR SIDE OF THE STORY - JIM ABOUREZK (CHRISTIAN

SCIENCE MONITOR, JANUARY 26): What drives much of congressional support for

Israel is fear -- fear that the pro-Israel lobby will either withhold campaign

contributions or give money to one's opponent. (Jim Abourezk is a former

Democratic senator from South Dakota.)

http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0126/p09s01-coop.html



LEBANON: SHADOW OF CIVIL WAR LOOMS AGAIN - SAMI MOUBAYED (ASIA TIMES,

JANUARY 27): The more the White House supports pro-Western Prime Minister Fouad

al-Siniora, the more it is easy for Hezbollah to discredit him.

http://atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/IA27Ak02.html



WORLD IGNORES SIGNS OF CIVIL WAR IN LEBANON ROBERT FISK (INDEPENDENT,

JANUARY 27/COMMON DREAMS)

http://www.commondreams.org/cgi-bin/print....s07/0127-22.htm



SAVING LEBANON - EDITORIAL (NEW YORK TIMES, JANUARY 28): The Bush

administration needs to drop its stubborn resistance to diplomacy with Syria --

and try to coax Damascus away from both Iran and Hezbollah. Washington must make

clear that Lebanon?s sovereignty is not negotiable.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/28/opinion/...agewanted=print



FLAMES LICKING AT LEBANON - EDITORIAL (BOSTON GLOBE, JANUARY 27): Iran,

Israel, and the United States have all had a hand in weakening the foundation of

the Lebanese state; they should all be enlisted to remove Syria's heavy hand

from Lebanon and to settle Lebanese political differences peacefully, within the

rules of the democratic game.

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial...lebanon?mode=PF



RICE'S STRATEGIC RESET - DAVID IGNATIUS (WASHINGTON POST, JANUARY 26):

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice this week sketched a new framework for

America's strategy in the Middle East based on what she calls the "realignment"

of states that want to contain Iran and its radical Muslim proxies.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...2501555_pf.html



FROM BAD TO WORSE - MORTIMER B. ZUCKERMAN (U.S. WORLD & NEWS REPORT,

JANUARY 21): With her recently completed journey to the Middle East, Condoleezza

Rice wasted both time and energy -- and badly dented America's diplomatic

credibility.

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/opinion/artic...0121/29edit.htm



WHAT ARE THE SUNNIS THINKING? SHARP RED LINES IN THE MIDDLE EAST - MICHAEL

YOUNG (REASON, JANUARY 25): Only democracy could prepare Arab states to

withstand Iran without recourse to sectarianism. But the Bush administration

seems to have abandoned that inventive undertaking for the region.

http://reason.com/news/printer/118301.html



REVIVING THE SEARCH FOR MIDDLE EAST PEACE - JOHN SHATTUCK (BOSTON GLOBE,

JANUARY 27): Middle East peacemaking will be a hard sell this year. But the

popular demand for peace remains high.

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial...t_peace?mode=PF



US ELEVATES PAKISTAN TO REGIONAL KINGPIN - M K BHADRAKUMAR (ASIA TIMES,

JANUARY 27)

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/IA27Df02.html



CAUTIONARY TALE ON AFGHANISTAN - DAN RESTREPO (BOSTON GLOBE, JANUARY 27):

Although Colombia's decades-long struggles against narco-trafficking and

insurgencies certainly offer lessons for Afghanistan, they are not the road map

to success suggested by the Bush administration. Instead, Colombia's experiences

offer cautionary tales for Afghanistan as it wrestles with the resurgent Taliban

and a booming heroin trade.

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial...anistan?mode=PF



CHAVEZ WARNS U.S. ENVOY; MAY ASK HIM TO 'LEAVE'- SOM PATIDAR (ALL HEADLINE

NEWS STAFF WRITER, JANUARY 26): Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez threatened the

United States ambassador to Venezuela saying that he may be asked to leave

country if he continues 'meddling' in the country's affairs.

http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7006259427



WHAT NORTH KOREA REALLY WANTS - ROBERT CARLIN AND JOHN W. LEWIS (WASHINGTON

POST, JANUARY 27): The North Koreans believe they could be useful to the United

States in a longer, larger balance-of-power game against China and Japan.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...2601363_pf.html



THE RIGHT MUDDLE FOR KOSOVO: A U.N. PLAN FOR 'SUPERVISED AUTONOMY' WILL

DISAPPOINT SERBIA, KOSOVO AND NATO. BUT THE APPROACH IS RIGHT EDITORIAL (LOS

ANGELES TIMES, JANUARY 26)

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editor...ment-editorials



EUROPE'S WOUNDED FLANK - EDITORIAL (BOSTON GLOBE, JANUARY 28): Russia, which

opposed the NATO war in 1999 to halt Slobodan Milosevic's ethnic cleansing of

Albanian Kosovars, has made no secret of its objections to granting Kosovo

independence and UN membership. In the hard bargaining ahead, the Bush

administration and its European allies will need to strike a difficult balance

between firmness and diplomatic suppleness, keeping Russia on board while

peacefully completing the inevitable disintegration of the former Yugoslavia.

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial...d_flank?mode=PF



SOMALIA IS IMPORTANT TO AMERICA: AFRICAN COUNTRY REFLECTS IRAQ AND

AFGHANISTAN - JONATHAN CURIEL (SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, JANUARY 28): Because

most Somalis rejected the government's use of radical Islam to maintain power,

they welcomed the intervention of the United States and Ethiopia -- two powers

that sometimes have been enemies of Mogadishu.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?...;type=printable



STABILIZING SOMALIA EDITORIAL (WASHINGTON TIMES, JANUARY 28): "The United

States believes that the key to long-term stability in Somalia now lies in a

process of inclusive dialogue and reconciliation -- a Somali to Somali

dialogue," said Jendayi Frazer, assistant secretary of state for African

affairs.

http://www.washtimes.com/functions/print.p...27-092609-5870r



DAVOS DAY 4: AN IMPRESSIVE RUSSIAN DELEGATION - JOSEPH NYE (HUFFINGTON POST,

JANUARY 27): Russia's current bullying attitudes in the energy area are

destroying trust and undercutting its soft power in other countries.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joseph-nye/d...iv_b_39798.html



IS HOLLYWOOD TOO TIMID FOR THE WAR ON TERROR?: THANKS TO POLITICAL

CORRECTNESS, YOU DON'T SEE MUCH ABOUT THE GREATEST CONFLICT OF OUR TIME ON THE

BIG SCREEN - ANDREW KLAVAN (LOS ANGELES TIMES, JANUARY 26)

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commen...omment-opinions



WAS 9/11 REALLY THAT BAD?: THE ATTACKS WERE A HORRIBLE ACT OF MASS MURDER,

BUT HISTORY SAYS WE'RE OVERREACTING - DAVID A. BELL (LOS ANGELES TIMES, JANUARY

28): The war against terrorism has not yet been much of a war at all, let alone

a war to end all wars. It is a messy, difficult, long-term struggle against

exceptionally dangerous criminals who actually like nothing better than being

put on the same level of historical importance as Hitler -- can you imagine a

better recruiting tool?

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-op-...-opinion-center



A USEFUL REBUKE ON RIGHTS - JIM HOAGLAND (WASHINGTON POST, JANUARY 28): For

better and for worse, President Bush has pursued a values-based foreign policy

that is being widely criticized for ignoring U.S. national interests. He has

failed to underpin his narrowly American approach to values with a persuasive

appeal to international moral standards and conscience.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...2601542_pf.html



BUSH'S BLESSED OMISSION - DERRICK Z. JACKSON (BOSTON GLOBE JANUARY 27): Six

years of Bush asking God to bless America while cursing global cooperation has

created more hell than heaven.

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial...mission?mode=PF

IRAQ AT RISK OF FURTHER STRIFE, INTELLIGENCE REPORT WARNS - KAREN DEYOUNG AND WALTER PINCUS (WASHINGTON POST, FEBRUARY 2): A long-awaited National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq, presented to President Bush by the intelligence community yesterday, outlines an increasingly perilous situation in which the United States has little control and there is a strong possibility of further deterioration, according to sources familiar with the document.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...0101152_pf.html

IRAQ’S REFUGEES – EDITORIAL (NEW YORK TIMES, JANUARY 31): However President Bush tries to manage the endgame of his dismal war, America has an obligation to the Iraqis whose lives it has upended.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/31/opinion/...agewanted=print

A HAVEN FOR IRAQ'S REFUGEES – EDITORIAL (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, JANUARY 30): The United States has spent a lot of blood and treasure on behalf of the people of Iraq. What it has not done is assure a safe haven for many of those who find they can no longer remain in their home country, including those who have done the most to help us.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion...,1,855216.story

"IMAGINE ALL THEY HAVE SURVIVED ... ": ENGAGEMENT WITH WAR - KATHY KELLY (COUNTERPUNCH, JANUARY 30): There should be massive convoys traveling into Iraq on a regular basis to meet the rising humanitarian needs. There should be, but there aren't.
http://www.counterpunch.org/kelly01302007.html

WHO'S TO BLAME FOR THE KILLING - CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER (WASHINGTON POST, FEBRUARY 2): Iraq is their country. We midwifed their freedom. They chose civil war.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...0101497_pf.html

GAY + IRAQI = DEAD - DOUG IRELAND (TOMPAINE.COM, JANUARY 31): For the very first time, an official United Nations human rights report released last week has confirmed the “violent campaigns” against Iraqi gays and the “assassinations of homosexuals in Iraq.”
http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2007/01/3..._iraqi_dead.php

U.S. WASTED MILLIONS IN IRAQ AID, INQUIRY SAYS - ASSOCIATED PRESS (NEW YORK TIMES, JANUARY 31)
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/washington...agewanted=print
SEE ALSO
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?...;type=printable

A NOTE TO MY READERS ON SUPPORTING THE TROOPS - WILLIAM M. ARKIN (WASHINGTONPOST.COM, FEBRUARY 2): The military as an institution needs to ask itself what role it plays in where we are today in Iraq.
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/earlywarnin...ml?nav=rss_blog

U.S. RECONFIGURES THE WAY CASUALTY TOTALS ARE GIVEN - DENISE GRADY (NEW YORK TIMES, FEBRUARY 2): Statistics on a Pentagon Web site have been reorganized in a way that lowers the published totals of American nonfatal casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan. Dr. Michael Kilpatrick, deputy director of force health protection and readiness at the Defense Department, said the previous method of tallying casualties was misleading and might have made injuries and combat wounds seem worse and more numerous than they really were.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/02/us/02wou...agewanted=print

HAWKS KNOCK SURGE PLAN'S COMMAND STRUCTURE: BURIED IN THE BUSH ESCALATION PLAN IS A WHO'S-IN-CHARGE NIGHTMARE THAT VIOLATES U.S. MILITARY DOCTRINE. NOW EVEN JOHN MCCAIN AND FREDERICK KAGAN ARE BALKING - MARK BENJAMIN (SALON, JANUARY 29): While the U.S. troops would report to American officers, their Iraqi counterparts, in an apparent sop to national sovereignty, would report to Iraqi officers. The potentially disastrous result: two separate and independent command structures within the same military operation.
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/01/...mmand/print.htm

THE AMERICAN IRAQ - FOUAD AJAMI (WALL STREET JOURNAL, JANUARY 30): Where Iraq in the age of the Pax Britannica rested on an "Anglo-Sunni" regime, this new Iraq, in the time of the Americans, is by the logic of things an American-Shia regime. The messages put out by American officials now and then, that Mr. Maliki is living on borrowed time, and the administered leaks of warnings he has been given by President Bush, serve only to undermine whatever goals we seek in Baghdad.
http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB1170...0271492074.html
PAID SUBSCRIPTION

STILL GRAVE AND DETERIORATING: WHILE JAMES BAKER PREACHES TO GIVE ESCALATION A CHANCE, CONGRESS SEARCHES FOR THE MEANS TO STOP BUSH'S WAR IN IRAQ - WALTER SHAPIRO (SALON, JANUARY 31): There is no easy mechanism for Congress to change the U.S. mission in Iraq
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/01/...ings/print.html

SUPPORT THE TROOPS BY ENDING THE WAR – REP. RON PAUL (ANTIWAR.COM, FEBRUARY 1): Perpetuating and escalating the war only serve those whose egos are attached to some claimed victory in Iraq, and those with a determination to engineer regime change in Iran. Those in Congress who claim they want the war ended, yet feel compelled to keep funding it, are badly misguided.
http://www.antiwar.com/paul/?articleid=10444

PROGRESS IN BAGHDAD – REVIEW & OUTLOOK (WALL STREET JOURNAL, JANUARY 31): The last thing Prime Minister Maliki needs is to have his efforts undermined by votes of no-confidence in Washington -- or meddling by Congressmen with "benchmarks" who pretend to know better than he does how to deal with the most difficult issues, such as how best to marginalize Moqtada al-Sadr.
http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB1170...8407693348.html
PAID SUBSCRIPTION

IRAQ IS NO 'NAM - HELLE DALE (WASHINGTON TIMES, JANUARY 31): Only Sens. John McCain and Joe Lieberman have produced something helpful for the effort in Iraq in the form of a resolution that proposes to give Gen. Petraeus what he needs to do the job, including support for the troops already there and all the additional troops he believes he needs.
http://www.washtimes.com/functions/print.p...30-085827-4194r

OUR OPTIONS IN IRAQ – BRET STEPHENS (WALL STREET JOURNAL, JANUARY 30): The President's Way is to surge troops into the toughest neighborhoods of Baghdad, Ramadi and Najaf and keep them there indefinitely. It is the only strategy on the table that aims at victory and has a chance of succeeding.
http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB1170...6920092002.html
PAID SUBSCRIPTION

SURGE DEBATE SIGNALS - DONALD LAMBRO (WASHINGTON TIMES, JANUARY 29): The time for evaluating the success or failure of the wider war against an insurgency Gen. Petraeus and 21,500 additional troops are being sent in to quell will come soon enough, but now is not the time to send a message to friend and foe alike that we no longer believe in this mission.
http://www.washtimes.com/functions/print.p...28-104107-6990r

NO THIRD WAY IN IRAQ - TONY BLANKLEY (WASHINGTON TIMES, JANUARY 31): If the "surge" doesn't work then more troops and different strategies should be employed. If we are going to throw in the towel, then we should bring the troops home promptly, lick our wounds and prepare for the inevitable Third Gulf War, which we will have to fight under far worse conditions than currently.
http://www.washtimes.com/functions/print.p...30-085828-6900r

WHITHER THE SURGE? - CHARLES V. PEÑA (ANTIWAR.COM, JANUARY 31): If the odds are against the surge working, the relevant question is: What happens next? The obvious answer is: More troops.
http://www.antiwar.com/pena/?articleid=10428

WAR OF THE WATER COOLER - RICHARD COHEN (WASHINGTON POST, JANUARY 30): Bush has authorized the so-called surge, which is meant to rectify the slide, the mess, the coming defeat. But to Cheney, there is no slide, no mess.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...2901447_pf.html

GOING FOR BROKE: ENDORSING THE BAKER REPORT WOULD HAVE MEANT DENOUNCING HIS ENTIRE FOREIGN POLICY, SO BUSH IS BETTING EVERYTHING ON THE NEOCONS’ SURGE - ANDREW J. BACEVICH (AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE, JANUARY 29): To imagine that 170,000 troops will accomplish what 140,000 troops failed to do in nearly four years or that marching a handful of additional combat brigades into the maw of Baghdad will snatch victory from the jaws of defeat qualifies as pure fantasy.
http://amconmag.com/2007/2007_01_29/cover.html

HUMVEES AND TACTICAL MADNESS IN IRAQ: EMBEDDING WITHOUT BLENDING - FRANKLIN C. SPINNEY (COUNTERPUNCH, JANUARY 30): The so-called "surge" could degenerate into a real bloodbath -- both for our guys on ground and for Iraqis of all stripes when we bring in the not-so-precise "precision" firepower, especially airpower, to extricate our troops from ambushes.
http://www.counterpunch.org/spinney01302007.html

THE RETURN OF SHOCK AND AWE? - JACOB BOAS (ANTIWAR.COM, JANUARY 29): The "augmentation," as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice dubbed the "surge," is mere window-dressing, designed to enhance the president's image as a strong leader prepared to go it alone.
http://www.antiwar.com/orig/boas.php?articleid=10420

FUNERAL SURGE – EDITORS (NEW REPUBLIC, FEBRUARY 1): So who in Washington actually believes this surge will work? Apparently, the one man who still believes in Mission Accomplished. We speak, of course, of Dick Cheney.
http://www.tnr.com/docprint.mhtml?i=200702...editorial021207

PUT IRAQI INSURGENTS OUT OF BUSINESS: A 5-POINT PLAN TO STARVE MILITIA FIGHTERS AND INSURGENT GROUPS OF THE CASH THEY NEED TO FIGHT - KEITH CRANE (CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MOITOR, JANUARY 29): Bombs and bullets have failed to stop Iraq's insurgents and militia fighters. Starving them of cash is a better way to put them out of business.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0129/p09s01-coop.html

INSURGENCY MAY BE BACK ON ITS HEELS, BUT IT'S NO SETBACK – WILLIAM S. LIND (ANTIWAR.COM, JANUARY 30): The real game, and a successful one to date, is to let the Americans take the brunt of the fight with armed Sunni organizations, whether nationalist or Ba'athist or al-Qaeda or whomever, while the Shi'ite militias get the softer job of terrorizing Sunni civilians and forcing them out.
http://www.antiwar.com/lind/?articleid=10424

AMBUSHING THE SURGE: KARBALA ATTACK SIGNALS A MORE COMPLICATED, DEADLY IRAQ – JEFF TAYLOR (REASON, JANUARY 30): Four years into the conflict, the United States has basically set up a giant Prisoner's Dilemma problem in Iraq for the Sunni and Shiite populations. Unless the United States can demonstrate that it can guarantee the peace, neither side has much incentive to move away from violence.
http://reason.com/news/printer/118412.html

THERE'S NOTHING PRECIPITOUS ABOUT IT: THE LOGIC OF WITHDRAWAL - ANTHONY ARNOVE (COUNTERPUNCH, JANUARY 30): To those who say we cannot withdraw "precipitously," there is nothing precipitous about pulling out after four years of occupying another country against its will. And to those who say we are abandoning the troops, the best way to support the troops is to bring them home now.
http://www.counterpunch.org/arnove01302007.html

DEATHTRAP - JAMES CARROLL (BOSTON GLOBE, JANUARY 29): To leave our soldiers in the deathtrap of Iraq is the true abandonment.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial...athtrap?mode=PF

CONSEQUENCES OF US COMMITMENT TO IRAQ: AMERICA'S FOCUS ON IRAQ IS ALLOWING RUSSIA AND CHINA TO ASSERT THEMSELVES - JOHN HUGHES (CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, JANUARY 31):
Says one US diplomat: "While the cat [the US] is away [in Iraq], the mice [China, Russia, Iran] feel free to play."
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0131/p09s01-cojh.html

BUSH'S 'LEGACY' – HERBERET MITGAND (NATION, FEBRUARY 1): Surely, George W. ("I'm the decider") Bush will be remembered for one thing: the folly of his pre-emptive war in Iraq.
http://www.thenation.com/docprem.mhtml?i=2...9&s=mitgang

BEYOND BAGHDAD - RICHARD G. LUGAR (WASHINGTON POST, JANUARY 30): The administration must avoid becoming so quixotic in its attempt to achieve the optimal outcome in Iraq that it fails to adjust to shifts in the region or political realities within Iraq. (The writer, a Republican from Indiana, is the ranking minority member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...2901445_pf.html

THE MYTH OF AN AL QAEDA TAKEOVER OF IRAQ - TED GALEN CARPENTER (ANTIWAR.COM, FEBRUARY 1): The notion of al Qaeda using Iraq as a sanctuary is a specter -- a canard that the perpetrators of the current catastrophe use to frighten people into supporting a fatally flawed, and seemingly endless, nation-building debacle.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/o...-oped-headlines

THE 'AXIS OF FEAR' IS BORN - PEPE ESCOBAR (ASIA TIMES, FEBRUARY 2): The administration of US President George W. Bush was forced to acknowledge that the monumental disaster of occupied Iraq had to be blamed on a new scapegoat. Thus the umpteenth twist in the "war on terror": exit al-Qaeda, enter Iran.
http://atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/IB02Ak01.html

BUSH’S DISTURBING IRAQ-IRAN PARALLELS – VIDEO (TRUTHDIG, FEBRUARY 1): A video package that compares Bush’s 2002 rhetoric about Iraq with his 2007 rhetoric about Iran. It’s not pretty.
http://www.truthdig.com/avbooth/item/20070...iran_parallels/

BUSH'S RATTLED IRAN POLICY – EDITORIAL (BOSTON GLOBE, FEBRUARY 1): As suggested by the Baker-Hamilton panel, the best chance to prevent Iraq's sectarian war from igniting a regional conflagration is to forge understandings with Iraq's neighbors, including Iran.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial..._policy?mode=PF

LEADERS WANT U.S. TO STAY ON WHILE IRAQIS STAND UP - TRUDY RUBIN (BALTIMORE SUN, JANUARY 29): Iraqi leaders know they must live alongside Iran, with which they share a long border. They don't want U.S.-Iranian grievances fought out on their soil. This is a moment when determined diplomacy on a regional and international level is vital to contain and mitigate the violence in Iraq.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/o...-oped-headlines

OFF THE AXIS – OPINION (BALTIMORE SUN, FEBRUARY 1): Because of geography and the tie of Shiism, Iran is destined to play a role in Iraq. The U.S. might as well work toward making that role a positive one rather than a destructive one.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/b...inion-headlines

THE NEOCONS HAVE LEARNED NOTHING FROM FIVE YEARS OF CATASTROPHE - FRANCIS FUKUYAMA (GUARDIAN, JANUARY 31/COMMON DREAMS): The failure to absorb Iraq's lessons has been evident in the neoconservative discussion of how to deal with Iran's growing regional power, and its nuclear program.
http://www.commondreams.org/cgi-bin/print....s07/0131-26.htm

BULLYING IRAN – EDITORIAL (NEW YORK TIMES, FEBRUARY 1): Given America’s bitter experience in Iraq, one would think that President Bush could finally figure out that threats and brute force aren’t a substitute for a reasoned strategy. But Mr. Bush is at it again, this time trying to bully Iran into stopping its meddling inside Iraq.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/01/opinion/...agewanted=print

AVOIDING ANOTHER US WAR IN THE MIDDLE EAST: BUSH, IN GOING EYEBALL TO EYEBALL WITH IRAN'S MULLAHS, NEEDS TO BE OPEN ABOUT THE REAL DANGERS - MONITOR'S VIEW (CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, JANUARY 31)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0131/p08s02-comv.html

HOW US IS PUTTING MORE HEAT ON IRAN: TO ADDRESS ITS NUCLEAR PROGRAM AND IRAQ AID, BUSH TARGETS IRANIAN AGENTS AND ADDS POLITICAL PRESSURE - PETER GRIER (CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, JANUARY 29)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0129/p03s03-usfp.html

IRAN: 'EDGE OF THE ABYSS' - SEAN-PAUL KELLEY (HUFFINGTON POST, FEBRUARY 1): The drumbeat for an attack on Iran is getting louder and louder.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/seanpaul-kel...html?view=print

BUSH'S TRASH TALK ABOUT IRAN - ROBERT DREYFUSS (TOMPAINE.COM, FEBRUARY 1): The hardliners and neoconservatives in the administration -- led, as always, by Dick Cheney -- have been pushing for five years for a confrontation with Iran. The neocons can only be crossing their fingers in the hope that Iran will respond provocatively, making what is now a low-grade cold war inexorably heat up.
http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2007/02/0..._about_iran.php

OUR BLITHERING WORLD: WHERE’S THE VISION AND LEADERSHIP? - MICHAEL LEDEEN (NATIONAL REVIEW, FEBRUARY 1): Never has a country strained so hard to avoid a conflict as the United States concerning Iran. They have waged war against us for 28 years, and we are only now beginning to contemplate the possibility of a response.
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=ZjQxN...WEyZWZkZjQ2NWE=

YES, IRAN CAN BE STOPPED: THE IRANIAN REGIME CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT ITS OIL MONEY - DANIEL DORON (WEEKLY STANDARD, FEBRUARY 1): Iran's nuclear project can probably be stopped by significantly cutting its oil income.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Publ...13/233fmswq.asp

THE WRITING'S ON THE WALL FOR IRAN - LEON HADAR (ASIA TIMES, JANUARY 31): Any retaliation from an Israeli attack on Iran would probably necessitate a US response, which Congress would have no choice but to support.
http://atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/IA31Ak02.html

THE DANGER OF BUSH'S ANTI-IRAN FATWA: THE PRESIDENT'S DECISION TO USE FORCE AGAINST IRANIAN "AGENTS" INSIDE IRAQ COULD SNARE INNOCENT PILGRIMS, AND RAISES THE RISK OF OPEN WARFARE - JUAN COLE (SALON, JANUARY 30)
http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2007/...hura/print.html

HYSTERIA AT HERZLIYA - PATRICK J. BUCHANAN (ANTIWAR.COM, JANUARY 31): America is on a collision course with an Iran of 70 million, and the folks who stampeded us into Iraq are firing pistols in the air again. There is no need for war. Yet, Israelis, neocons, and their agents of influence are trying to whip us into one.
http://www.antiwar.com/pat/?articleid=10429

IRAN: BUSH’S NEXT DISASTER? - JOE CONASON (TRUTHDIG, JANUARY 31)
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/200701..._next_disaster/

BUSH 'SPOILING FOR A FIGHT' WITH IRAN - SIMON TISDALL (GUARDIAN, JANUARY 31/COMMON DREAMS)
http://www.commondreams.org/cgi-bin/print....s07/0131-31.htm

BELLIGERENCE IS NOT THE ANSWER ON IRAN - JACOB WEISBERG (FINANCIAL TIMES, FEBRUARY 1): Were the US goal to persuade the Iranian regime to hasten its nuclear race while binding it more closely to a weary and discontented populace, it is hard to see how we could be more effective.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/fadb12b8-b166-11db...00779e2340.html

APOCALYPSE HOW? THOSE HYPING THE THREAT OF A NUCLEAR IRAN (AND ENDORSING ISRAELI OR U.S. MILITARY ACTION) COULD STAND TO ENGAGE WITH THE ACTUAL HISTORY OF NUCLEAR DIPLOMACY - ROBERT FARLEY (AMERICAN PROSPECT): Loose Iranian nukes, rather than purposefully delivered ones, represent the real threat to Israel and to Iran's other neighbors.
http://www.prospect.org/web/printfriendly-view.ww?id=12424

OPPORTUNITY LOST OVER IRAN NUCLEAR CRISIS - KAVEH L AFRASIABI (ASIA TIMES, FEBRUARY 2): In Iran there is a growing sentiment in favor of nuclear compromise and away from the hitherto hardline position of President Mahmud Ahmadinejad, yet this positive mood could quickly evaporate in the face of the United States' perceived lack of flexibility and outright hostility.
http://atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/IB02Ak03.html

'THE IRANIANS DO NOT EXPECT TO BE ATTACKED' [INTERVIEW WITH BERENARD LEWIS] - TOVAH LAZAROFF AND DAVID HOROVITZ (JERUSALEM POST, JANUARY 31): Q: "How will the Iranians be stopped? Do you think they are going to be stopped?" Bernard Lewis: "I do not know what Washington intends to do, or what Israel intends to do. My own preference would be to deal with the Iranian regime by means of the Iranian people. All the evidence is that the regime is extremely unpopular with their own people.”
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid...Article/Printer

STRANGE BEDFELLOW - THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN (NEW YORK TIMES, JANUARY 31): The most important thing American could do to stabilize the Middle East would be to resolve the Iran-U.S. conflict.
http://select.nytimes.com/2007/01/31/opini...agewanted=print
PAID SUBSCRIPTION

LIBYA MODEL FOR DISASTER: FOR THE RIGHT PRICE, QADHAFI WILL REFRAIN FROM CERTAIN HUMAN-RIGHTS VIOLATIONS - MOHAMED ELJAHMI (NATIONAL REVIEW, FEBRUARY 1): The current state of U.S.-Libyan relations belies Washington’s rhetoric. State Department diplomats may claim victory, but engagement with Qadhafi has failed.
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=N2I1Y...WZiNjkzMTViMmI=

SYRIAN MEDDLERS: IRAN AND SAUDI ARABIA DON'T WANT CIVIL WAR IN LEBANON. DOES SYRIA? - MICHAEL YOUNG (SLATE, JANUARY 31): Lebanon is one of several new front lines in a regional contest between the United States and the Sunni regimes of the Arab world on the one side, and Iran and its allies or proxies—most significantly Syria, Hezbollah, and Hamas—on the other. However, what is interesting is that all sides are resisting sectarian conflict.
http://www.slate.com/id/2158498/nav/tap1/

A WAY TO SOOTHE THE MIDDLE EAST - H. D. S. GREENWAY (BOSTON GLOBE, JANUARY 30): If the open sore of a Palestinian state could be finally healed, the empowerment of Arab moderation could extend to a settlement in Lebanon -- perhaps even to a settlement between Israelis and Arabs on their remaining territorial disputes, including the Golan Heights, because by then Syria would not want to be left out. That would be to everybody's advantage, and may even rescue the shattered legacy of the Bush administration.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial...le_east?mode=PF

IS NOW THE TIME TO TALK PEACE IN THE MIDEAST? CONDOLEEZZA RICE AND OTHERS CITE A NEW CLIMATE, BUT SOME SAY FRIDAY'S MEETING HAS MORE TO DO WITH POLITICAL MOTIVATIONS - HOWARD LAFRANCHI (CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, FEBRUARY 1)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0201/p02s02-wome.html

THE NEW, NEW MIDDLE EAST: HOW THE IRANIAN AXIS HAS DIVIDED THE REGION - DUNCAN CURRIE (WEEKLY STANDARD, JANUARY 29): Already frightened at the prospect of a U.S. pullout from Iraq, which would leave Iraqi Sunnis prey for murderous Shiite militias and possibly pave the way for Iranian intervention, status quo states such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia now have more reason than ever to work with Jerusalem and Washington.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Publ...13/228grnxk.asp

UGLY CHOICES - RALPH PETERS (NEW YORK POST, JANUARY 29): Thanks to abysmal policy errors (many pre-dating the current administration), we've caught ourselves between two irreconcilable sides -- Sunni and Shia Muslims -- whose enmity dates back 13 centuries. And we're now taking fire from every direction.
http://www.nypost.com/php/pfriendly/print....alph_peters.htm

THE SUNNI-SHIITE FOLLY: THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION'S COCKEYED STRATEGY TO PROMOTE SECTARIAN CONFLICT IN THE MIDDLE EAST - FRED KAPLAN (SLATE, JANUARY 31)
http://www.slate.com/id/2158734/

REALISM, INDIGNATION, AND AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY: A RADICAL AND A NEOCONSERVATIVE CHANGE THEIR POLITICAL STRIPES [REVIEW OF AMERICA AT THE CROSSROADS: DEMOCRACY, POWER, AND THE NEOCONSERVATIVE LEGACY, BY FRANCIS FUKUYAMA; POWER AND THE IDEALISTS: OR, THE PASSION OF JOSCHKA FISCHER AND ITS AFTERMATH, BY PAUL BERMAN] - MICHAEL YOUNG (REASON, FEBRUARY) Washington's Arab allies, authoritarian regimes all, are in terminal decline, utterly illegitimate to their peoples. Force alone won't change them for the better, but unless the U.S. pushes them to open up in fundamental ways, all its chips will be placed on failing states that bigoted Islamists are most likely to inherit. That said, those of us who have argued this also realize that America is in no mood to listen. The botched war in Iraq has poisoned the waters.
http://reason.com/news/printer/118322.html

THE AFGHANISTAN SURGE: IRAQ IS NOT THE ONLY THEATER WHERE THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION IS BELATEDLY COMMITTING MORE TROOPS AND AID – EDITORIAL (WASHINGTON POST, FEBRUARY 1): In Afghanistan U.S. troop levels started at rock bottom and have steadily risen over the past five years, even as security has worsened. By most measures, there are still far fewer Afghan and foreign troops than are needed to secure the country.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...3101905_pf.html

LIFE OF THE PARTIES - ANN MARLOWE (WALL STREET JOURNAL, JANUARY 29): We need to foster civil society and robust institutions in order to assure a decent life for Afghanistan's citizens. An essential part of this is nurturing political parties.
http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB1170...0043190656.html
PAID SUBSCRIPTION

THE PAKISTAN PROBLEM – NEW YORK POST (JANUARY 29): Recent news from Pakistan is troubling: After five years, President Pervez Musharraf seems to be rethinking his role as a U.S. ally in the War on Terror.
http://www.nypost.com/php/pfriendly/print....editorials_.htm

WHAT NORTH KOREA REALLY WANTS: THE 'HERMIT KINGDOM' DESIRES A BETTER RELATIONSHIP WITH THE WEST - THE US IN PARTICULAR - TONY HALL (CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, JANUARY 30)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0130/p09s01-coop.html

FROM RUSSIA WITH LIKE: WASHINGTON AND MOSCOW MUST GET PAST BEING NOT QUITE ENEMIES, NOT QUITE FRIENDS - YURI USHAKOV (LOS ANGELES TIMES, FEBRUARY 1): What offends us is the view shared by some in Washington that Russia can be used when it is needed and discarded or even abused when it is not relevant to American objectives. Russians do not need any special favors or assistance from the United States, but we do require respect in order to build a two-way relationship. (Yuri Ushakov is Russia's ambassador to the United States.)
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commen...omment-opinions

BEAR GROWLS AT U.S. MISSILE PLAN - PETER BROOKES (NEW YORK POST, JANUARY 29): The United States and Russia can both benefit from a cooperative relationship. Neither capital wants a deeper freeze in already chilly ties. But Moscow must understand its actions aren't without perceived -- or real -- consequences for Russian security, too.
http://www.nypost.com/php/pfriendly/print....ter_brookes.htm

RUSSIA BEARS FRUIT: THE WEST MAY FAULT PUTIN, BUT A GROWING MIDDLE CLASS SAVORS HIS VISION OF DEMOCRACY - MICHAEL MAINVILLE (SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, FEBRUARY 1): Not only do few Russians see Putin as anti-democratic, but most appear to support his attempts to consolidate power. In a Pew Research Center poll last year, 81 percent of Russians said a strong economy -- which Putin has also tightened his grip on -- is more important than a good democracy.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?...;type=printable

SOLUTION FOR KOSOVO: THE BALKAN PROVINCE SHOULD BE ON ITS WAY TO INDEPENDENCE – EDITORIAL (WASHINGTON POST, FEBRUARY 2): If Mr. Putin decides to make trouble over Kosovo, the United States will either have to push back or abandon allies it has supported against aggression: the Kosovo Albanians, or Georgia's liberal democratic government. The administration ought to make clear now that it will not go wobbly.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...0101743_pf.html

LINGERING NATIONALISM DARKENS SERBIA'S FUTURE - PAUL MILLER (BALTIMORE SUN, JANUARY 30): Compared to Slovenia, which has joined the EU, and Croatia, which is on its way thanks to its cooperation with the tribunal, the sense of apathy among ordinary Bosnians and Serbs is profound: They don't trust their political leaders; their professional prospects seem nil without the right connections; and they are trapped by the restrictive visa regime.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/o...-oped-headlines

HOPING FOR A 'PERFECT STORM' TO WASH AWAY CASTRO REGIME - JOHN C. BERSIA (BALTIMORE SUN, JANUARY 31): Considering America's commitments around the world, I cannot imagine any serious U.S. intervention impulses toward Cuba, no matter how vulnerable it appeared.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/o...-oped-headlines

WHERE'S THE CONTRITION FOR RENDITION? MAHER ARAR, WRONGFULLY DEPORTED AND TORTURED IN SYRIA, GOT AN APOLOGY FROM CANADA BUT NOT THE UNITED STATES – EDITORIAL (LOS ANGELES TIMES, JANUARY 31)
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editor...ment-editorials

NO MORE RENDITIONS: IF THE U.S. WANTS EUROPEAN ALLIES TO HELP IN THE WAR ON TERROR, IT HAS TO RESPECT THEIR LAWS – EDITORIAL (LOS ANGELES TIMES, FEBRUARY 2)
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editor...ment-editorials

NO EXIT - JOSEPH LELYVELD (NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS, FEBRUARY 15): The question of whether we're prepared to hold terrorist suspects without charge for the rest of their natural lives has yet to be squarely addressed by either Congress or the courts. Decisions on detention issues have been handed down and laws have been passed.
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/19853

A CRISIS OF COURAGE: DO WE IN THE WEST HAVE THE WISDOM AND CONFIDENCE TO PREVAIL AGAINST ISLAMIST TERROR? - JON KYL (CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, JANUARY 31): At stake in the war on terror is nothing less than preserving Western civilization. (Jon Kyl is a Republican senator from Arizona.)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0131/p09s02-coop.html

THE PRESIDENT IS RIGHT - ILAN BERMAN (WASHINGTON TIMES, FEBRUARY 1): In the eyes of the White House, a successful counterterrorism strategy increasingly revolves around confronting both Sunni and Shi'ite extremism.
http://www.washtimes.com/functions/print.p...31-093853-6050r

DRIVING WHILE DEFEATIST - FRANK J. GAFFNEY JR. (WASHINGTON TIMES, JANUARY 30): One would hope that many -- if not all -- members of Congress would behave better if confronted with the reality of the determined and implacable enemy we face in this War for the Free World.
http://www.washtimes.com/functions/print.p...29-091801-6101r

'24': TELEVISION FOR A POST-9/11 WORLD - CINNAMON STILLWELL (SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, JANUARY 31): Centered on a fictional CIA Counter Terrorism Unit based in Los Angeles, the show “24” has become a favorite of those seeking "good guy vs. bad guy" moral clarity in America's battle against Islamic terrorism.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?...;type=printable

REALISTS TO THE RESCUE? - BRET STEPHENS (COMMENTARY, FEBRUARY 2007): Today’s realists begin from theory and proceed to wishes: the wish that war against Islamist terror can be waged at the same relatively leisurely pace as the cold war, and perhaps need not be waged at all
http://www.commentarymagazine.com/cm/main/....Article::10828

THE IRAQ SYNDROME, R.I.P. - DAVID BROOKS (NEW YORK TIMES, FEBRUARY 1): Americans are having a debate about how to proceed in Iraq, but we are not having a strategic debate about retracting American power and influence. The United States has always exercised as much power as it could. It has always coupled that power with efforts to spread freedom.
http://select.nytimes.com/2007/02/01/opini...agewanted=print
PAID SUBSCRIPTION
SEE ALSO
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/02/opinion/l02iraq.html

1, 2, 3, MANY VIETNAMS AND IRAQS – IRA CHERNUS (COMMON DREAMS, JANUARY 29): Our imperialist interventions will never end until the American people rise up and say “NO,” not merely to this war, but to the whole idea that the U.S. can do anyone any good by invading foreign lands.
http://www.commondreams.org/cgi-bin/print....s07/0129-28.htm

MANIFEST DESTINY: A NEW DIRECTION FOR AMERICA - WILLIAM PFAFF (NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS, FEBRUARY 15): We have gone beyond the belief in national exception to make an ideology of progress and universal leadership into our moral justification for a policy of simple power expansion. In that case we have entered into a logic of history that in the past has invariably ended in tragedy.
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/19879

EMPIRE V. DEMOCRACY: WHY NEMESIS IS AT OUR DOOR - CHALMERS JOHNSON (TOMDISPATCH, JANUARY 31): We are on the brink of losing our democracy for the sake of keeping our empire.
http://tomdispatch.com/index.mhtml?pid=160594

KEEPING UP WITH THE CHÁVEZES - FRANCIS FUKUYAMA (WALL STREET JOURNAL, FEBRUARY 1): If the U.S. wants to support liberal democracy around the world, it needs to start thinking seriously about a well-designed social agenda that will appeal to the poor.
http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB1170...1530694662.html
PAID SUBSCRIPTION

INDEPENDENCE ISN'T ALWAYS BEAUTIFUL: WITH OLD EMPIRES CRUMBLED AND A MORE GLOBALIZED WORLD, AUTONOMY MAY BE TEMPTING BUT ISN'T ALWAYS THE BEST CHOICE FOR A NATION - NIALL FERGUSON (LOS ANGELES TIMES, JANUARY 29): Most of humanity's greatest achievements, from Ming China to 20th century America, have come where large numbers of people have been able to exchange ideas in a common language.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commen...omment-opinions

VISA DIFFICULTIES SLOW U.S. TOURISM - ASSOCIATED PRESS (NEW YORK TIMES, JANUARY 30)
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Fore...agewanted=print
SEE ALSO
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/31/us/31travel.html
Check out the new AOL. Most comprehensive set of free safety and security tools, free access to millions of high-quality videos from across the web, free AOL Mail and more.

“I WISH THEY WOULD ATTACK US WITH A NUCLEAR BOMB AND KILL US ALL.”

--Haydar Abdul Jabbar, 28, a car mechanic who was standing near a barber shop when the recent Baghdad bombing took place; cited in Damien Cave and Richard A. Oppel Jr., “Iraqis Say U.S. Plan Allowed Deadly Attack” (New York Times, February 4)
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/04/world/mi...agewanted=print

“DEADLIEST BLAST KILLS 135 IN IRAQ”

--Page-one headline in online edition of Washington Times (February 4)
http://www.washtimes.com/world/20070203-115718-8786r.htm

VIDEO

Video of American soldiers negotiating Iraqi traffic by bumping cars out of the way and driving on the