POLITICS-US: Rumsfeld Declares War on Bad Press

Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld has signaled that he plans to intensify a campaign to influence global media coverage of the United States, a move that is likely to heighten the debate over press freedom and propaganda-free reporting.

RIGHTS-US: Reports Find Tenuous Terror Ties at Guantanamo

Last June, U.S. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told reporters, "If you think of the people down there (at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba), these are people, all of whom were captured on a battlefield. They're terrorists, trainers, bomb makers, recruiters, financiers, (Osama bin Laden's) bodyguards, would-be suicide bombers, probably the 20th 9/11 hijacker."

CORRUPTION-US: At Spy Agencies, No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

Find illegal activity in the U.S. national security agency you work for. Report it to your superiors. Get rewarded by being demoted or having your security clearance revoked - tantamount to losing your career - while those whose conduct you've reported get promoted.

FINANCE: U.S. Free Traders Retreat on UAE Ports Deal

In a replay of congressional efforts last year that foiled a bid by a Chinese company to buy a U.S. oil firm, a group of hawkish U.S. lawmakers, citing national security concerns, are trying to block a deal that gives a major Arab company control over a British firm that runs some U.S. ports.

POLITICS-US: Cartoon Crisis Echoes “Why They Hate Us” Debate

While Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy Karen Hughes flies off on her second tour of the Middle East Friday, she must feel at least some relief that Europe - rather than the United States - has been the main target of the two-week outpouring of anger in the Islamic world that has come to be called the "cartoon crisis".

IRAQ: Gas Pumps Buried in Mountain of Unpaid Debts

Contract mismanagement and possible corruption in the Iraqi government are fueling a crisis over international gasoline delivery into Iraq.

IRAQ: Sunni Insurgents Seen as Increasingly Unified

Despite reports of growing tensions and even occasional clashes between Islamists and nationalists, the predominantly Sunni insurgency in Iraq appears increasingly united and confident of victory, according to a new report released here Wednesday by the Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG).

POLITICS-US: Funding Doubled for “Anti-Terror” Forces in Africa

As Washington's dependence on African oil intensifies, some analysts predict the region will increasingly play host to confrontations between U.S. forces deployed there and various insurgent groups, predominantly Islamic extremists.

RIGHTS: UN Report Fuels Debate Over Guantanamo

Foreign policy and human rights experts appear to agree with a United Nations report calling on Washington to shut down its detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, but most believe that simply closing it misses a larger point: What to do with the prisoners?

POLITICS-U.S.: Cheney’s Law – Shoot First, Ask Questions Later

Saturday's shooting by Vice President Dick Cheney of a quail-hunting companion on a ranch in Texas is certain to provide talk-show hosts and stand-up comedians with a veritable bonanza of jokes that could last weeks.

POLITICS: U.S. Risks Reporter’s Life to Strike Tough Pose

The George W. Bush administration went well beyond refusing to negotiate with terrorists in its handling of the threat by freelance journalist Jill Carroll's abductors to kill her if all female detainees were not released from U.S.-run prisons in Iraq.

POLITICS-US: John Ashcroft Spreads His Wings

Of the many chums and political appointees that have passed through the George W. Bush administration's revolving door, former U.S. Attorney-General John Ashcroft practically disappeared from the news after he resigned in November 2004.

/CORRECTED REPEAT*/U.S.: Top Mideast Analyst Accuses Bush of Politicising Iraq Intel

The U.S. intelligence community's top Middle East analyst from 2000 to 2005 has accused the George W. Bush administration of distorting and politicising intelligence in the run-up to the Iraq war.

POLITICS-U.S.: In Public’s Eyes, Iran Biggest Foreign Menace

The escalating crisis over Iran's nuclear programme appears to have persuaded the U.S. public that Tehran now poses a greater threat to the United States than any other country, or even al Qaeda, according to recent surveys.

POLITICS-U.S.: Special Forces, Big-Ticket Weapons Dominate Defence Plans

While the Pentagon emerged as the big winner Monday among U.S. government agencies in next year's budget sweepstakes, its failure to choose among the threats it says it must defend the country against may prove costly in the long run, both financially and operationally, according to analysts here.

POLITICS-US: Bush’s Attorney-General Defends Domestic Spying

If people in the United States expected to hear details of their government's top-secret "terrorist surveillance programme" from Attorney-General Alberto Gonzales in his testimony Monday before the Senate Judiciary Committee, they were likely disappointed.

POLITICS: Fear of U.S. Drove Iran’s Nuclear Policy

The George W. Bush administration's adoption of a policy of threatening to use military force against Iran disregarded a series of official intelligence estimates going back many years that consistently judged Iran's fear of a U.S. attack to be a major motivating factor in its pursuit of nuclear weapons.

POLITICS-U.S.: Guns Over Butter, Abroad and at Home

Despite his administration's growing concerns about preventing the collapse of states in strategic parts of the world, U.S. President George W. Bush has proposed cuts in development and disaster assistance while increasing the defence budget by almost seven percent.

POLITICS: Islamic Radicals Rise Via the Ballot Box

"You want democracy - and we will give you democracy," was the taunting comment by a Hamas supporter, as he joined thousands of demonstrators celebrating the stunning victory of the radical Islamic party in Palestinian elections last week.

POLITICS-US: Green for Danger?

As the George W. Bush administration ratchets up its domestic spying capabilities, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is collecting "research" reports on direct-action environmental groups produced by right-wing think tanks.

POLITICS-US: Bush Energy Proposals, Speech Underwhelm

U.S. President George W. Bush's proposals to boost government spending on clean energy technologies, like much of the rest of his State of the Union Address, received a tepid reaction from analysts here Wednesday who described the speech as uncharacteristically timid.