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.

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: Pentagon Eyes the Ultimate High Ground

After 50 years of international cooperation and peace in space, the U.S. military insists that it has no plans to usher in an age of space-based warfare.

LATAM-US: Bush Policies Stoke Anti-Yanqui Sentiment

While anti-U.S. sentiment has deep roots in Latin America, particularly among populist and left-wing parties that are winning elections there, specific policies pursued by the administration of Pres. George W. Bush and the Republican-led Congress are fueling the growing alienation from Washington, according to a new report.

RIGHTS-US: High Court Hears Historic Case on Detainees

On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear what will almost certainly be one of the landmark cases of the past 50 years.

POLITICS: “Troops Home” Call Echoes Across U.S.

Wrapping up a week of over 600 protest actions to mark three years since the United States invaded Iraq, activists here say that anti-war sentiment has become the dominant perspective in the U.S. and leaves the war "without legitimacy".

IRAQ: Are U.S. Intentions More “Base” Than Honourable?

Pres. George W. Bush has long assured the world that his intentions in Iraq are strictly honourable - to set the country on a clear and stable path toward democracy and withdraw U.S. troops as soon as Iraqi forces can take control, "and not one day more".

POLITICS-US: Is War the Real National Pastime?

In his provocative documentary "Why We Fight", director Eugene Jarecki asks whether Washington's foreign policy is overly preoccupied with the idea of military supremacy, and if the military has become too important in U.S. life.

POLITICS: Iran, Iraq Crises Converge Despite U.S. Hardliners

The agreement last week between Washington and Iran to hold direct talks on Iraq has forged a new linkage between the Iraq and Iran crises.

POLITICS-US: White House Reaffirms “First Strike” Doctrine

U.S. Pres. George W. Bush issued his second-term National Security Strategy Thursday, a document outlining the administration's strategy for using diplomatic, economic, and military tools to deal with global challenges.

RIGHTS: U.N. Creates New Watchdog Over U.S. Opposition

A running gag at the United Nations is that whenever the United States takes a defiant stand against an overwhelming majority of the 191 member states, there are only three countries that predictably vote with Washington most of the time - whether it is right or dead wrong.

POLITICS-US: Most Now Say Iraq Invasion Was a “War of Choice”

Three years after Pres. George W. Bush ordered U.S. troops into Iraq, public confidence in the operation is dwindling ever smaller, as is the belief that Bush's stated reasons for going to war were sincere, according to a new poll released here Wednesday by the University of Maryland's Programme on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA).

POLITICS: Can Iran Debate Bridge the Continental Divide?

As the United States began making the case in the U.N. Security Council this week for what its Ambassador John Bolton calls "painful consequences" if Iran continues with its controversial nuclear programme, Washington is facing a familiar dilemma: What to do if the rest of the world refuses to go along?

POLITICS: US Abuses, Sense of Irony Missing in Rights Report

Foreign policy, legal and human rights authorities are raising serious questions about the credibility of the U.S. State Department's annual report on human rights, released last week.

POLITICS: U.S. Isolated in Opposing New Human Rights Body

The United States is being reduced to a minority of one in its unyielding opposition to a proposal to create a new Human Rights Council (HRC) to replace the U.N.'s existing much-maligned Human Rights Commission in Geneva.

PAKISTAN: Anxiety Ahead of Bush Visit

Apprehension and expectation are uppermost in the minds of Pakistani leaders as United States President George W. Bush begins, Thursday, the business end of a four-day tour of India and Pakistan.

POLITICS: Nuclear Glitches Apart, Bush Set to Alter Indo-US Ties

As President George W. Bush begins his three-day visit to India, Wednesday evening, the two governments appear set to further consolidate their strategic and political relationship, despite glitches over planned civilian nuclear cooperation.

POLITICS: U.S. Threatens ‘No’ Vote on Human Rights Council

The United States, which has expressed strong reservations over a proposed draft resolution for the creation of a new Human Rights Council (HRC), is heading for a collision course with the highest policy-making body at the United Nations: the 191-member General Assembly.

RIGHTS: Top U.S. General Dismisses Grim Abuses Report

A senior U.S. military commander has branded as "propaganda" a new report from a major human rights group revealing that of the 98 detainees who have died in U.S. custody in Iraq and Afghanistan since August 2002, 34 are suspected or confirmed homicides.