/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: 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-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.

POLITICS-US: The Demagogue Neocons Love to Hate

"Let us state the obvious," wrote Reuel Marc Gerecht, the resident Persian Gulf specialist at the neo-conservative American Enterprise Institute in the Weekly Standard's feature article Monday. "The new president of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is a godsend."

POLITICS-US: Bush Seeks His Enemies’ Help in Iraq

To avoid failure of its mission in Iraq, the George W. Bush administration has been driven to seek the help of two major enemies - the Sunni insurgents and the government of Iran - but both initiatives have failed to make progress because officials were not given any real negotiating authority.

VENEZUELA: US Neo-Cons Accuse Chavez of Anti-Semitism

Despite objections by major Jewish organisations in Venezuela and the United States, some influential U.S. neo-conservatives are charging President Hugo Chavez with anti-Semitism, which they say is consistent with the country's friendly relations with Iran.

FINANCE-US: The Biggest Company You Never Heard Of

In a move that does not auger well for the environment, the Wichita, Kansas-based Koch Industries recently finalised its 21-billion-dollar buyout of forest products producer Georgia Pacific Corporation, making Koch the United States' largest privately held company.

POLITICS-US: Military Confidence in Bush Hits New Low

Although morale among members of the professional corps of the U.S. military remains generally high, their confidence in U.S. President George W. Bush and other civilian government leaders slipped substantially during 2005, according to major new survey released Monday by the "Military Times".

CHALLENGES 2005-2006: For Bush, January May Be the Cruellest Month

If U.S. President George W. Bush had high hopes of resuscitating his second term in office this month, he is likely to be disappointed by growing bipartisan opposition to many of his policy initiatives and the challenges of completing the leftover work of the last session of Congress.

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.

US/NORTH KOREA: Reform Rollback May Bolster Bush Hardliners

Growing indications that North Korea's central government is reasserting its control over the national economy may be strengthening hardliners in the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush who have long favoured a policy of "regime change" in Pyongyang.

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.

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: U.N. Threatened with Budgetary Shutdown

Less than two weeks before a Dec. 31 deadline, the United Nations is in danger of beginning the new year inauspiciously - without an approved budget and unable to pay staff salaries.

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.

RIGHTS-US: Watchdogs Protest Pentagon’s “Mission Creep”

By the end of the current session of Congress later this month, the Pentagon could have legal authority to "covertly" gather intelligence on U.S. citizens in the United States - a power taken away following excesses during the Vietnam War.

POLITICS: Israelis Grow Troubled by Bush Priorities

Despite their mutual enthusiasm for ousting Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, Israel and the United States appear increasingly at odds over what to do about the larger Middle East region.

POLITICS: Move to Shrink Palestinian Programmes Spurs Protest

The United States is leading a behind-the-scenes effort to eliminate or shrink "outdated" programmes and missions ostensibly to cut costs and prune the U.N.'s biennial budget.

POLITICS-US: The Unpopular in Pursuit of the Unwinnable?

Hoping to reverse plunging confidence in his strategy for Iraq - and in his own leadership - U.S. President George W. Bush Wednesday launched a major campaign to persuade the public that Washington is indeed prevailing against the insurgency there.

POLITICS-US: Realists Tighten Grip as Talks Open with Iran

In a new indication that the balance of power within the administration of President George W. Bush has tilted strongly in favour of the realists, Washington's influential ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, has disclosed that Bush has authorised him to open direct talks with Iran about stabilising Iraq.

POLITICS-US: Cheney Tries to Raise the Stakes

Amid growing pressure to begin withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq and mounting charges by Democrats that senior administration officials misled the nation into war there, Vice President Dick Cheney appears to have taken charge of defending his boss and taking on the critics.