POLITICS-US: Terrorism Still Thriving, State Department Says

Four years into the "global war on terror", terrorism appears to be thriving, according to the 2005 edition of the annual "Country Reports on Terrorism" released here Friday by the U.S. State Department.

RIGHTS-US: Impunity Endures Two Years After Abu Ghraib

Two years after the abuse by U.S. soldiers of detainees at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq first came to light, accountability for what turns out to have been a widespread pattern of mistreatment at several detention sites, including torture and at least eight homicides, remains elusive, according to a new report released by three major human rights groups here Wednesday.

POLITICS-US: Six Months to Midterm Elections, Bush’s Popularity at Record Low

Another bad week for U.S. President George W. Bush, who almost exactly three years ago was preparing to don a flight jacket for his triumphal "Mission Accomplished" tour of the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier to celebrate his conquest of Iraq.

POLITICS-US: In Terror War, Not All Names Are Equal

A major government watchdog group is charging that Muslim charities are being shut down for supposedly backing terrorist causes, while giant firms like Halliburton are receiving the full protection of U.S. law for allegedly breaking government sanctions against doing business with Iran - a country designated as a sponsor of terrorism.

POLITICS-US: Amid Threats, Some Republicans Seek Talks on Iran

Amid a new escalation in threats between the United States and Iran over Tehran's nuclear programme, some prominent Republicans are calling for the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush to engage Tehran in direct talks.

POLITICS-US: Iran Crisis, Deja Vu All Over Again?

The drumbeat in some Washington foreign policy circles for "regime change" in Iran has striking similarities to the run-up to the Iraq invasion, and is being led by some of the usual suspects - like the American Enterprise Institute's Michael Ledeen.

POLITICS: U.N. Worried About Escalating Mideast Violence

As violence in the occupied territories continued to escalate last week, the Palestinians and Israelis traded accusations during an open debate at the Security Council, where an overwhelming majority of the 191 U.N. member states pointed a finger at Israel for the worsening security and humanitarian situation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

POLITICS-US: Rumsfeld’s Fall Drags Hawks in its Wake

Despite White House efforts to put an end to the controversy, the battle over the fate of Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld shows little sign of abating.

US/IRAQ: General Reveals Rift with Rumsfeld on Insurgents

A military assessment of the Iraqi insurgency in late 2004 concluded that it had the active support of millions of Sunnis who rejected the legitimacy of a U.S. installed government, according to Lt. Gen. John R. Vines, who led all coalition forces in Iraq from January 2005 to January 2006.

POLITICS: U.N. Secretariat Keeps Distance From Hamas

While those running the affairs of the United Nations seem ready to embrace U.S. and Israeli moves to boycott the Palestinian leadership, independent analysts and observers wonder if such an approach will produce anything but another cycle of violence and bloodshed.

POLITICS-US: To Battle Stations! To Battle Stations!

Led by a familiar clutch of neo-conservative hawks, major right-wing publications are calling on the administration of Pres. George W. Bush to urgently plan for military strikes - and possibly a wider war - against Iran in the wake of its announcement this week that it has successfully enriched uranium to a purity necessary to fuel nuclear reactors.

POLITICS-US: New Military Offensive Against Rumsfeld

Three years after the fall of Baghdad and the city's disastrous plunge into chaos, U.S. military brass appears engaged in a new campaign: getting rid of Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld.

POLITICS-US: Iran Showdown Tests Power of “Israel Lobby”

One month after the publication by two of the most influential international relations scholars in the United States of a highly controversial essay on the so-called "Israel Lobby", their thesis that the lobby exercises "unmatched power" in Washington is being tested by rapidly rising tensions with Iran.

POLITICS-US: Psy-War or Serious? Washington Mulls Iran Attack

Three years after the fall of Baghdad to U.S. forces, Washington is abuzz about new reports that the administration of Pres. George W. Bush is preparing to attack Iran, possibly with nuclear weapons.

FINANCE: U.S. Public Backs More Humanitarian Aid

Despite a U.S. decision to halt assistance to the Palestinian Authority and likely congressional cuts in the White House's foreign aid requests, a majority of U.S. citizens still believe that foreign assistance can be successful in improving their country's image abroad and enhancing national security.

US/IRAQ: Iran, Arab Roles in Peace Talks Urged

Foreign policy circles in Washington, including some figures considered close to the George W. Bush administration, have begun talking privately and in off-the-record meetings about the need to give both Iran and Iraq's Arab neighbours key roles in peace negotiations, according to Middle East experts.

POLITICS-US: Washington Cuts All Aid to Palestinian Authority

One week after the Palestinian Authority (PA) swore in its new Hamas-led government, the United States Friday announced that it will suspend all direct aid to the PA while sharply increasing humanitarian assistance to the people under its control.

IRAQ: US Efforts to Oust Jaafari May Backfire

Efforts by the United States to split the Shiite United Iraqi Alliance (UIA) and deny interim Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari his claim to head the next government could well prove counter-productive to long-term U.S. objectives in both Iraq and the larger region, according to some specialists here.

RIGHTS: U.S. Quits Council Race, Possibly Fearing Defeat

The United States, which has been lambasted for human rights abuses both by members of its armed forces in Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad and by U.S. law enforcement officials in the Guantanamo detention facility in Cuba, has backed out of a hotly contested race for membership in the newly-created U.N. Human Rights Council (HRC).

RIGHTS-US: Report Details CIA’s Covert Rendition Fleet

As U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her team continue to face increasingly harsh criticism from Muslim communities, Amnesty International has issued a new report on one of the practices they condemn the most: rendition.

POLITICS-US: Evangelicals Rally Their Flocks Behind Israel

Charismatic televangelist John Hagee thinks that the Rev. Pat Robertson's suggestion that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's stroke was payback from God for withdrawing from Gaza was "insensitive and unnecessary". But he nevertheless appears to share Robertson's concern that Israel may be giving up too much land to the Palestinians.