Opinion-Columns.com

Kicking the Last Leg Out From Under the Iraqi Chair

The Pentagon, no doubt while Robert Gates was busy elsewhere, trying along with Condi Rice to rekindle a sense of bi-partisan goals between Russia and the United States, was up to mischief in Iraq. Serious stuff--the kind of decision-making that characterized the early blunders by L. Paul Bremer, for which we are still paying a huge price.

So, NOW What the Hell Are We Doing Here?

It was all about Saddam until it wasn't. Then it was all about al-Qaeda until it wasn't. Then as everything went entirely to hell, it wasn't about 9-11 and wasn't about nation-building, it was all about holding the gangsters away from each other until Iraqis could form a government.

Charles Krauthammer’s Refreshing Dip Into Selective History

How much France may have flipped is far from determined and will take more than a statement at the U.N--a statement that more nearly announces Sarkozy’s arrival on the world stage than it does change the mix in Europe. France is heavily Muslim, heavily invested in Iran and ‘nuclear ambitions’ are in the eye of the beholder—Iran claims a need for nuclear energy.

Automated Targeting, Cruise-Control for What Hitler Had to Do By Hand

I’m mad as hell. I’ve written in as moderate and civilized a manner as is possible (for me) for seven years now about this evil band of co-conspirators we call an administration. No matter, the gloves are off. I am like Howard Beale, the newscaster in the 1976 film Network. Grab some dialogue;

Jim Moran, the Courtesy Man

But the Jim Moran who’s getting fried by the Washington Post is a different guy. This Moran is a congressman from Virginia and Amy Gardner’s headline, Moran Upsets Jewish Groups Again sounds like upsetting Jewish groups was Jim’s main stock in trade.

The General’s Thoughts Aside, What Do Iraqis Think?

On this sixth anniversary of the multiple attacks on America, while General Petraeus is giving testimony before Congress and Ryan Crocker paints the Bush position, it might be a good time to check in on what Iraqis are thinking.

The Terrorist State We Dare Not Name

The nation we dare not name is the largest country on the Arabian Peninsula. Bordered by Jordan on the northwest, Iraq on the north and northeast, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates on the east, Oman on the southeast, and Yemen on the south, with the Persian Gulf to its northeast and the Red Sea to its west. One could hardly find a more pivotal entity.

The Ignorance and Stupidity of a Manhattan Mom

Here we go again, folks. The hate mongers are out there front and center, making sure no American child learns anything about the rest of the world. Moms are rallying to the barricades in this earnest stand against kids educations (even if it's not their kids).

A Late Choice, Made Under Considerable Pressure, But Made Correctly

One of the inherent difficulties of a political system that appoints its own in every election is that it loses the talents of some very good people. Occasionally an FBI director is held over. Once in a while a CIA chief keeps his job, but it’s unusual.

The Gonzales Rule, an Alberto Concerto in D-Minus

This delicate Bush composition for Congress, featuring soloist Alberto Gonzales might have opened to disastrous revues, had there been any revue. Instead, we are left with a D-minus grade earned by a Congress impatient to get the kids up to the lake for a family vacation before Labor Day.