POLITICS-U.S.: Imperial Dreams Sink in Iraqi Quagmire

The coalition of Bush administration hawks that was empowered by the Sep. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on New York and the Pentagon agreed on three main strategic objectives.

POLITICS-U.S.: Chickenhawk Groupthink?

In a 1972 book, 'Victims of Groupthink: A Psychology Study of Foreign-Policy Decisions and Fiascoes', Irving Janis identified the Vietnam War and the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba as particularly compelling examples of how very smart people can collectively make very stupid decisions.

POLITICS-U.S.: Perhaps Not So Exceptional After All

To understand the impact in the United States of the photos of U.S. military personnel abusing Iraqi prisoners, it is necessary to recall what then-Secretary of State Elihu Root said in 1899, as the country first emerged as a global power in the Spanish-American War.

IRAQ: Neo-Cons See Iran Behind Shiite Uprising

Neo-conservatives close to the administration of President George W Bush are pushing for retribution against Iran for, they say, sponsoring this week's Shiite uprising in Iraq led by radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

POLITICS-U.S.: From Nation-Building to Religion-Building

One thing that can be said about U.S. neo-conservatives is they do not lack for ambition.

POLITICS: For U.S. Hawks, Madrid 2004 = Munich 1938

For neo-conservative and other right-wing U.S. hawks, Madrid has suddenly become Munich in 1938 and Spain's Prime Minister-elect Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero is former British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain.

IRAQ: CIA Chief Clueless on Neo-Con Intelligence Channel

Was Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director George Tenet really the last person in Washington to find out that both the president and vice president were being fed phoney or ''sexed up'' intelligence about pre-war Iraq by a Pentagon office staffed by ideologically driven neo-conservatives?

/CORRECTED UPDATE*/ARTS WEEKLY/FILM-U.S.: ‘The Passion’ Incites New Divisions Among Neo-Cons

Increasingly split and defensive over whether the United States must cooperate more with the United Nations and Europe and whether Syria or Iran should be ''next'' in the war on terrorism, the neo-conservative movement is now beset by a new source of tension within its ranks - Mel Gibson's film, 'The Passion of the Christ'.

U.S.-IRAN: Ad Hoc Detente to Continue Despite Conservative Sweep

Despite the sweeping victory of staunchly anti-U.S. conservatives in Iran's elections last month, analysts here believe the tentative detente between the two countries that began late last year will continue at least through the November U.S. elections.

IRAQ: Chalabi, Garner Provide New Clues to War

For those still puzzling over the whys and wherefores of Washington's invasion of Iraq 11 months ago, major new, but curiously unnoticed, clues were offered this week by two central players in the events leading up to the war.

IRAQ: Zarqawi Letter Delivers Mixed Message for War Hawks

A letter purportedly written to senior al-Qaeda leaders by a key associate, Abu Mus'ab al-Zarqawi, appears to undermine a major thesis of hard-core neo-conservatives who led the U.S. drive to war in Iraq.

POLITICS-U.S.: The Anti-Semitism Spectre

Some 30 years ago when the U.S. military was bogged down in Vietnam, a number of prominent Jewish intellectuals worried that the visibility of U.S. Jews as leaders in the anti-war movement would spark a resurgence of anti-Semitism once the conflict ended.

POLITICS-U.S.: Co-Chair of Bush Panel Part of Far Right Network

President George W. Bush's choice to co-chair his commission to investigate intelligence failures prior to the Iraq War is a long-time, right wing political activist closely tied to the neo-conservative network that led the pro-war propaganda campaign.

POLITICS-U.S.: Will Dubya Dump Dick?

While Democratic rivals battle for the presidential nomination in a succession of gruelling primary elections, Vice President Dick Cheney appears to be fighting to secure his spot on the Republican ticket behind President George W. Bush.

POLITICS-U.S.: Neo-Conservatism, Hard Core

If hard-core neo-conservatives Richard Perle and David Frum had their way, the Bush administration would be issuing ultimatums on virtually a daily basis.

POLITICS-U.S.: The Right Weaves a Tangled, But Effective, Web

While most of the world is still trying to come to terms with the neo-imperial ambitions of the post-Sep. 11 Bush administration, U.S. political analysts, particularly those on the libertarian right and the left, have been trying to map out the various forces behind the administration's hawks in order to better understand and counter-act them.

POLITICS-U.S.: Baker’s Return = Cheney’s Heartburn

It may be that, by four or five months from now:

POLITICS-U.S.: The Axis of Incoherence

As the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush searches increasingly desperately for a viable "exit strategy" from an Iraqi quagmire, its policy there is appearing ever more incoherent.

POLITICS-U.S.: The Realists Rally

After two years of dominating U.S. foreign policy, are unilateralist hawks in the administration of President George W. Bush losing power to the so-called realists whom they have long disdained?

POLITICS-U.S.: New Leak Smells of Neo-con Desperation

This week's blockbuster leak of a secret memorandum from a senior Pentagon official to the Senate Intelligence Committee has spurred speculation that neo-conservative hawks in the Bush administration are on the defensive and growing more desperate.

POLITICS-U.S.: Feith is the Answer

''What's gonna happen with Feith?"