POLITICS: Elliott Abrams and Deja Vu All Over Again

It has an all too familiar ring to it.

POLITICS: Bush’s Bluster on Iran Was Cover for Direct Talks

When the George W. Bush administration launched a high-profile campaign in January and February accusing Iran of exporting armour-piercing bombs to Shiite militias in Iraq, seizing Iranian officials in Iraq, threatening cross-border raids against Iran and sending a second carrier battle group into the Gulf, it seemed that it was entering a much more aggressive phase of Middle East policy.

POLITICS-US: Civilian Court Sides With “Conscientious Objector”

University of California Santa Cruz student Robert Zabala joined the Marine Corps thinking it would be a "place where he could find security" after the death of his grandmother in 2003.

RIGHTS-US/IRAQ: “My Name Used to Be 200343”

A year ago, Donald Vance learned what its like to be falsely accused by the U.S. military of aiding terrorists. He was held without charge for more than three months in a high-security prison in Iraq, and interrogated daily after sleepless nights without legal counsel or even a phone call to his family.

POLITICS-IRAN: Lessons in Capture, Release of Britons

The drama surrounding the release of 15 British sailors and marines after 12 days in Iranian captivity was designed to convey two key messages that the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush would do well to heed, say experts here.

POLITICS-US: Terror-Free Investments Gain Momentum

As the United Nations toughens sanctions on Iran for its failure to suspend its nuclear activities, a growing number of U.S. state lawmakers - and a few Congresspersons - are responding to a grassroots campaign to divest in companies that do business with countries that the State Department considers state sponsors of terrorism.

POPULATION: U.S. Funding Cuts Undermine Terror War

A proposed 25-percent cut in U.S. international assistance for population in the upcoming 2008 budget threatens to undermine the war against terrorism, a Washington-based non-governmental organisation warned Wednesday.

FINANCE: Questions Linger About Bushes and BCCI

Now that the U.S. Congress is investigating the truth of President George W. Bush's statements about the Iraq war, they might look into one of his most startling assertions: that there was a link between Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden.

POLITICS-US: Public Anxiety Over Foreign Policy Nears Crisis

Increasingly anxious about the course of U.S. foreign policy under President George W. Bush, particularly in Iraq, the country appears to be moving toward a "full-blown crisis of public confidence," according to the latest "Confidence in U.S. Foreign Policy" survey designed by veteran pollster Daniel Yankelovich released here Tuesday.

POLITICS: Arab Leaders Resurrect Land-for-Peace Deal

A legendary anecdote of wishful thinking relates to a Jewish merchant who keeps praying to God hoping to win a multi-million-dollar lottery.

RIGHTS-US: Guantanamo Detainees Dealt a Legal Blow

The human rights community has responded angrily to the Supreme Court's decision not to hear the cases of detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba until they have exhausted all other legal avenues.

POLITICS-MIDEAST: Syrian Lion Back in the Arab Fold?

When Democratic Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi announced last week that she would visit Damascus to meet with Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, the White House called the trip "a really bad idea".

POLITICS-US: Tough Week for Bush Middle East Strategy

To the extent the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush has a coherent Middle East policy, it took some serious hits this past week.

US/IRAN: Duel for Leverage Fuels Conflict, Not Diplomacy

As the dispute over Iran's seizure of British sailors continues to twist and turn, what may have been an isolated incident at the outset is quickly developing into yet another move in the geopolitical chess game between the West and Iran.

POLITICS-PAKISTAN: Madrasas Resistant to Govt Pressure

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf's plans to crack down on Karachi's religious schools and the violent sectarian and jihadi groups many of them support has been an outright failure, says a report released Wednesday by the Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG).

POLITICS-US/IRAQ: Fate of Five Detained Iranians Unknown

As the Western media turns its attention to the fate of 15 Britons detained for allegedly trespassing into Iranian waters over the weekend, the status of five Iranian officials captured in a U.S. military raid on a liaison office in northern Iraq on Jan. 11 remains a mystery.

POLITICS-MIDEAST: Arabs See Both US and Iran as Harming Iraq

Large majorities of Arabs believe the United States' role in Iraq is negative and want U.S. troops to leave that country sooner rather than later, according to recent surveys in five Arab nations released here, Wednesday, by the Arab American Institute (AAI) and Zogby International, a polling firm.

POLITICS-US: Showdown Looms Over Iraq Withdrawal

With U.S. President George W. Bush reiterating his threat to veto legislation that makes funding for the Iraq war conditional on a deadline for withdrawing at least some U.S. troops, Washington appeared Wednesday to be moving rapidly toward a major confrontation between the White House and Democrats in Congress.

HEALTH-US: Top Army Hospital Swamped by Tide of Wounded

As a nine-member commission prepares to investigate allegations of ineptitude at the United States' largest and most prestigious military hospital, politicians in Washington are waiting to see if any more colleagues associated with the scandal will lose their jobs.

RIGHTS-US: Guilty Plea Won’t Dampen Gitmo Controversy

As Australian David Hicks awaits sentencing after being the first Guantanamo detainee convicted under the Military Commissions Act, human rights groups, legal scholars and some lawmakers are condemning the entire MCA process and again challenging its constitutionality both in the courts and in the U.S. Congress.

POLITICS-US: Peace Groups See Glimmer of Light

Peace activists reacted with cautious optimism to a vote by the U.S. House of Representatives Friday giving President George W. Bush an additional 100 billion dollars to fight the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. For the first time in four years, the appropriation contains a requirement that combat operations in Iraq cease by September 2008.