War on Terror
Senator Reed’s “four-point plan” for resolving the Iraq conflict is reasonable — even if short on practical methodology — but he undermines his entire strategy with his statement of principle: Now the president needs to take the next step and make it clear to the Iraqis that our military presence is not open-ended and we…
The world anxiously awaits the report from the “Iraq Study Group” (aka the Baker-Hamilton commission) on what major changes the U.S. should make in conducting the War in Iraq. Most media sources anticipate that a key recommendation from the commission will be opening negotiations with Iran and Syria. Here’s some representative speculation from Martin Walker…
The op-ed from today’s OpinionJournal hopes for bipartisanship between the President and the new Congress in their approach to the War on Terror…The biggest question mark, and responsibility, for Democrats is on Iraq and the war on terror. They could do themselves and the country much good by working with Mr. Bush on a strategy…
From the Associated Press…Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, architect of an unpopular war in Iraq, intends to resign after six stormy years at the Pentagon, Republican officials said Wednesday. Officials said Robert Gates, former head of the CIA, would replace Rumsfeld.
Cliff May offers a bit of clear analysis of evidence in Iraq: I also would argue that the evidence does not suggest that most Iraqis prefer not to be free, that most would rather not choose their leaders, that a majority enjoys a good suicide bombing every day or two. The evidence suggests that a…
The future of Iraq may now center around the Iraqi government’s response to a search for an American soldier in Iraq believed to have been captured last week by a Shi’ite militia. The U.S. military responded to the kidnapping by sealing off and aggressively searching the Sadr City section of Baghdad. On Tuesday, the Iraqi…
A George F. Will thought about Iraq from the winter of 2004 seems increasingly prescient…A manager says, “Our team is just two players away from being a championship team. Unfortunately, the two players are Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig.” Iraq is just three people away from democratic success. Unfortunately, the three are George Washington, James…
Over on the Autonomist, Rhode Island blogger D. Alighieri is seeing the reality in Iraq for himself. So far, he’s put up video of his bounce in Jordan and a first impression of Baghdad: Yesterday, a car bomb exploded a few miles from here. I watched the black plume boil towards the sky. This place…
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s address to the United Nations General Assembly was laced with what might be interpreted as standard progressive rhetoric. Here’s an example…All members of the United Nations are affected by both the bitter and the sweet events and developments in today’s world. We can adopt firm and logical decisions, thereby improving the…
Although the furor over Pope Benedict’s University of Regensburg lecture has centered on a perceived insult to the prophet Mohammed, I believe that the remarks were directed at a more recent figure, Sayyid Qutb, an Egyptian writer active in the Muslim Brotherhood in the mid-20th century whose writings are widely read in the Islamic world…