IRAQ: US Military Still Runs With Dreaded Wolf Brigade

Despite the U.S. command's announcement last week that it would seek to curb abuses by Iraqi commando units, the U.S. military has been extremely tolerant of the most abusive unit of all - the notorious Wolf Brigade - because it regards it as highly effective against the insurgents.

IRAQ: Occupation Denies Validity of Election

The Dec. 15 election may have marked a turning point for the involvement of Sunnis in the new political process. But while many Sunnis turned out to vote, resistance groups have said they will continue fighting as long as the United States maintains a presence in Iraq.

IRAQ: Coalitions Reject Election Results

Many Iraqis are demanding a new poll after more than 1,500 cases of election fraud and forgery were reported in the Dec. 15 elections, at least 30 of them "extremely serious".

POLITICS: UN to Protect Corruption Whistle-Blowers

After being politically crucified over charges of malfeasance and mismanagement, the U.N. Secretariat has responded with a new "whistle-blower protection policy" aimed at encouraging staffers, contractors, consultants and even the public to help expose corruption in the world body.

MEDIA-US: The Freest Press Money Can Buy?

Amid undenied charges that the Pentagon is paying Iraqi journalists to write "good news" stories about the country's progress, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has announced a new international exchange programme for journalists named for famed broadcaster Edward R. Murrow and emphasising "the democratic principles that guided Mr. Murrow's practice of his craft - integrity and ethics and courage and social responsibility".

POLITICS-US: Anti-Imperialists Beware – Bush Is Reading Again

The Reader-in-Chief is at it again, and anti-imperialists around the world have reason to be concerned.

POLITICS-IRAQ: US-Shiite Struggle Could Spin out of Control

The George W. Bush administration has embarked on a new effort to pressure Iraq's militant Shiite party leaders to give up their control over internal security affairs that could lead the Shiites to reconsider their reliance on U.S. troops.

CHALLENGES 2005-2006: A “Conservative” Identity Crisis

One of the most misleading U.S. journalistic conventions has been the use of "conservative" to describe right-wing Republicans, like President George W. Bush and the party's leadership in Congress. More than four years into the "war on terrorism", it is clear to all but the blindest observers that they are anything but.

POLITICS: Emblem of Apartheid Resurfaces in Iraq

Black South Africans gave them a slang term, recalls Les Switzer, naming them the "Saracens". And when they were called in to break up a protest, he also remembers the terror they brought.

CHALLENGES 2005-2006: Scandal Soup Nears Boiling Point

If the fact that millions turned out to vote in the recent elections in Iraq was considered a victory for the George W. Bush administration, the joy was short-lived in Washington, as early election returns showed that the country will likely be in the hands of Shiite and Sunni religious parties for at least the next four years.

POLITICS-US/IRAQ: Pentagon Flunks Rebuilding 101

After a thousand days of widely acknowledged failure in the job of rebuilding Iraq, the U.S. Department of Defence has been quietly relieved of that responsibility, with the State Department taking over as Washington's lead reconstruction agency and coordinating the work of all other government departments.

IRAQ: People Concerned More About Own Lives than Saddam’s

Most Iraqis are more concerned with finding jobs, putting food on the table, personal safety and the removal of the occupation forces than the ongoing trial of former dictator Saddam Hussein.

POLITICS: Iraqis Spoke, But Hardly in Unison

The strong turnout in last week's parliamentary elections in Iraq may have been just the kind of civic demonstration that U.S. Pres. George W. Bush needed to restore some confidence in a weary public that Washington's adventure in the country may not turn out to be such a disaster after all.

ENERGY: Iraqis Reject Increased Fuel Costs

For two days demonstrations have continued across Iraq in protest against the government's decision to raise the price of petrol, cooking and heating fuels.

CHALLENGES 2005-2006: Iraqis Glad 2005 Over, Dim Hopes for 2006

Despite the parliamentary elections last week and temporary ease in violence, Iraqis remain bitter about the outgoing year, and sceptical of 2006.

RIGHTS: U.S. Vets Join Vietnamese Agent Orange Victims

Vietnamese victims of the defoliant known as Agent Orange wound up a month-long visit to the U.S. at the invitation of veterans, Vietnamese Americans and peace activists, to press their case for reparations from the U.S. government and the companies that made the deadly chemical.

CHALLENGES 2005-2006: The Fog of GWOT

Recent polling on the views of the U.S. public about the "Global War on Terror" (GWOT) suggests increasing ambivalence, confusion and lack of reliable information.

POLITICS-US: Torture Ban May Include a Backdoor

U.S. President George W. Bush suffered a stinging defeat Thursday when overwhelming congressional support forced him to abandon his opposition to anti-torture legislation and reach an agreement with its sponsor, Sen. John McCain, an Arizona Republican.

IRAQ: In Kurdistan, Election Becomes Endorsement

While most of Iraq waits as the counting of votes begins, much of the Kurdish north is celebrating election victory already.

POLITICS-US: House Joins Senate in Renouncing Torture

The U.S. House of Representatives yesterday sent a clear signal to the White House that it overwhelmingly supports a proposed ban on prisoner torture and limitations on interrogation tactics in U.S. detention facilities.

POLITICS: U.S. No Longer Seeks “Defeat” of Sunni Insurgents

While U.S. President George W. Bush continued to claim a strategy for "victory" in Iraq in recent speeches, his administration has quietly renounced the goal of defeating the non-al Qaeda Sunni armed organisations there.