POLITICS-SOMALIA: U.S. Policy Likely to Bring Blowback

U.S. counter-terrorism policies and support for the Ethiopian-backed Transitional Federal Government (TFG) in Somalia have helped create an increasingly desperate humanitarian and security situation in the East African nation, whose population has become increasingly radicalised and anti-U.S., according to a new report by a major U.S. human rights group.

POLITICS-US: The Return of the Return of History

In the wake of Russia's invasion of Georgia last month, many commentators have been quick to proclaim that the war signals "the return of history". But attentive observers could be forgiven for responding to these pronouncements with a sense of déjà vu.

POLITICS: Why Its Iraqi “Client” Blocked U.S. Long-Term Presence

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki signaled last week that that all U.S. troops - including those with non-combat functions - must be out of the country by the end of 2011 under the agreement he is negotiating with the George W. Bush administration.

RIGHTS: Treaty Languishes on State Terror

They have vanished, but are not forgotten. Whether they have been killed or are being kept in secret, dark, and unknown prisons, their relatives, family members and human rights activists want to know.

POLITICS-US: Muslim Charities Negotiate a Minefield

As Muslims begin one of their most important holidays - the month of Ramadan - charitable organisations serving the American Muslim community are taking what some observers believe is a desperate last step to keep the U.S. government from shutting them down.

POLITICS: Iran Could Reap Benefits of U.S.-Russian Tensions

Iran could emerge as a big winner, at least in the short term, from the rapidly escalating tensions between the United States and Russia over Moscow's intervention in Georgia, according to analysts here.

POLITICS-US: A Really Bad Couple of Weeks for Pax Americana

Whatever hopes the George W. Bush administration may have had for using its post-9/11 "war on terror'' to impose a new Pax Americana on Eurasia, and particularly in the unruly areas between the Caucasus and the Khyber Pass, appear to have gone up in flames - in some cases, literally - over the past two weeks.

US/PAKISTAN: Taliban Tests Fragile Coalition Gov’t

When Pakistani president and former military dictator Gen. Pervez Musharraf stepped down on Monday, it marked the official end of the flawed Pakistan policy of the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush.

POLITICS-US: McCain’s Plan to Privatise Veterans’ Health Care

If John McCain is elected the next U.S. president, wounded veterans could be in for a world of hurt.

POLITICS: Bush Covered up Musharraf Ties with Qaeda, Khan

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf's resignation Monday brings to an end an extraordinarily close relationship between Musharraf and the George W. Bush administration, in which Musharraf was lavished with political and economic benefits from the United States despite policies that were in sharp conflict with U.S. security interests.

RIGHTS-US: Arar Faces Uphill Legal Battle

After suffering a series of stinging defeats of its detention policies in four years of Supreme Court decisions, the George W. Bush administration may be in for yet more bad news.

IRAQ: U.S. Officials Admit Worry over a ‘Difficult’ al-Maliki

U.S. officials privately admit being concerned that Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al- Maliki has become "overconfident" about his government’s ability to manage without U.S. combat troops, according to an Iraq analyst who just returned from a trip to Iraq arranged by U.S. commander General David Petraeus.

POLITICS-US: One-Fifth of Iraq Funding Paid to Contractors

As a new report forecasts that the 190,000 private contractors in Iraq and neighbouring countries will cost U.S. taxpayers more than 100 billion dollars by the end of 2008, an under-the-radar Florida court case suggests that U.S. President George W. Bush - a staunch contractor supporter - is preparing to throw security contractors such as Blackwater under the political bus.

POLITICS: U.S. Debates Putin’s Ambitions

Just days after the outbreak of war between Russia and Georgia, the debate in Washington over how to view the crisis historically has become nearly as contentious as the debate over how to respond politically.

US/IRAN: Nothing Behind U.S. Allegations?

While the United States has repeatedly accused Iran of providing lethal weapons to Shiite militias, last week, U.S. officials once again failed to provide solid evidence for this charge, raising questions about the actual level of Iran’s meddling in Iraq.

POLITICS-US: Success of Attack on Iran's Nuclear Programme Doubtful

A military attack on Iran's major nuclear facilities by the United States or Israel would likely result only in a delay - and not a particularly significant one at that - in Tehran's ability to produce the fuel necessary to build a nuclear weapon, according to a report released here Friday by an influential think tank on nuclear proliferation issues.

POLITICS-US: How Tenet Betrayed the CIA on WMD in Iraq

Journalist Ron Suskind’s revelation that Saddam Hussein’s intelligence chief was a prewar intelligence source reporting to the British that Saddam had no weapons of mass destruction (WMD) adds yet another dimension to the systematic effort by then Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director George Tenet to quash any evidence - no matter how credible - that conflicted with the George W. Bush administration’s propaganda line that Saddam was actively pursuing a nuclear weapons programme.

RIGHTS-US: Hamdan’s Future Remains Unclear

Despite a sentence that effectively means convicted war criminal Salim Hamdan could be a free man before the end of this year, the future of Osama bin Laden’s driver is far from clear.

BOOKS: ‘Descent Into Chaos’

News coming out of Afghanistan and Pakistan in recent months has unsettled many assumptions about the U.S. war on terror. To most casual observers of the war on terror, Afghanistan served until recently as a reassuring contrast to the grim and bewildering conflict in Iraq - - the "good war" as opposed to the "bad war".

POLITICS-US: No Traction in the Middle East

More than five years after invading Iraq as a first step towards "transforming" the Middle East, the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush seems to have lost its footing - let alone its unquestioned domination - throughout the region.

RIGHTS-US: ‘When You Have To Leave America To Be Free’

Nearly three years after the U.S. government failed to convict Palestinian activist and former college professor Sami Al-Arian of any charges in one of the most high-profile terrorism trials following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, he continues to be held in federal prison - where, if convicted in an upcoming trial on criminal contempt charges, he faces the prospect of remaining for decades.