POLITICS-U.S.: Pentagon Hawk Released – Straws in the Wind?

A major Pentagon hawk has abruptly resigned his post in a move that, in the context of other recent developments, is likely to fuel speculation that the White House might be trying to soften the harder edges of its controversial policies.

POLITICS-U.S.: Cheney’s the One

The image was not an edifying one: the president of the United States a horse, his vice president, the rider.

POLITICS-U.S.: New Cheney Adviser Sets Syria In His Sights

A neo-conservative strategist who has long called for the United States and Israel to work together to ''roll back'' the Ba'ath-led government in Syria has been quietly appointed as a Middle East adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney.

POLITICS: Bush Stance on Syria Hit Shows Neo-Cons Still Hold Sway

The neo-conservatives in and around the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush may be on the defensive, but Washington's reaction to the Israeli attack on Syria Sunday show that they remain in the driver's seat at the White House.

POLITICS-U.S.: Cheney as Extremist

In the 2000 elections he was the thoughtful, grey-haired Washington veteran who reassured nervous voters that candidate George W. Bush would indeed have adult supervision if he became president of the United States.

POLITICS-U.S.: Public Wants Bigger U.N. Role

A solid majority of the U.S. public favours giving the United Nations a greater role in guiding the political future and reconstruction of Iraq despite President George W. Bush's insistence that Washington exercise virtually total control over both, found a poll released just hours after Bush's speech to the United Nations on Tuesday.

POLITICS-U.S.: An Administration in Disarray

While Hurricane Isabel granted President George W. Bush a brief respite this week from the constant stream of bad news coming out of the Middle East, its ravages on Washington and the mid-Atlantic states might pale in comparison to the gathering political storm over his war in Iraq.

POLITICS-U.S.: The Hawks Fall Out

Faced with the rising costs and complications of occupying Iraq, the hard-line coalition around U.S. President George W. Bush that led the drive to war with Iraq appears to be suffering serious internal strains.

POLITICS-U.S.: Public Counsels Cooperation Two Years After 9/11

Two years after the Sep. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on New York and the Pentagon, the U.S. public favours a distinctly less unilateral strategy than the one pursued by President George W. Bush, found a major new poll released Tuesday.

POLITICS-U.S.: UN to the Rescue?

Now that U.S. President George W. Bush has decided to ask the United Nations Security Council to rescue Washington's occupation of Iraq, the question here is, 'what will be the price'?

POLITICS-U.S.: The Andean Condor Who Deploys the Hawks

When historians look back on the U.S. war in Iraq, they will almost certainly be struck by how a small group of mainly neo-conservative analysts and activists outside the administration were able to shape the U.S. media debate in ways that made the drive to war so much easier than it might have been.

POLITICS: What Is a Neo-Conservative Anyway?

With all the attention paid to neo-conservatives in the global media today, one would think that a standard definition of the term would exist. Yet, despite their now being credited with a virtual takeover of U.S. foreign policy under President George W. Bush, a common understanding of 'neo-cons' remains elusive.

POLITICS-U.S.: Pentagon Office Home to Neo-Con Network

An ad hoc office under U.S. Undersecretary of Defence for Policy Douglas Feith appears to have acted as the key base for an informal network of mostly neo-conservative political appointees that circumvented normal inter-agency channels to lead the push for war against Iraq.

POLITICS-U.S.: War Critics Zero In on Pentagon Office

On most days, the Pentagon's 'Early Bird', a daily compilation of news articles on defence-related issues mostly from the U.S. and British press, does not shy from reprinting hard-hitting stories and columns critical of the Defence Department's top leadership.

POLITICS: N. Korean Attack on US Diplomat Spotlights Ultra-Hawk

To the North Koreans, he is ''rude human scum'' and a ''bloodthirsty vampire''.

POLITICS-U.S.: White House Discipline Breaking Down

If foreign leaders and diplomats appear increasingly confused about where U.S. foreign policy is being made, they are not alone.

POLITICS-US: Key Officials Used 9/11 As Pretext for Iraq War

With demands for a full-scale investigation of the manipulation of intelligence by the administration of Pres. George W. Bush mounting steadily, it appears increasingly clear that key officials and their allies outside the administration intended to use the Sep. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks as a pretext for going to war against Iraq within hours of the attacks themselves.

POLITICS-U.S.: Imperial Dreams Running Aground on Arabian Sands

Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld has become distinctly testy, while Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz seems almost to have disappeared from public view, and Vice Pres. Dick Cheney hasn't been heard from in weeks.

POLITICS-U.S.: Anatomy of a Quack-Mire

How could such smart people get so much wrong?

POLITICS-U.S.: Bush Team on Defensive on Weapons Charges

The administration of President George W. Bush is finding itself increasingly beleaguered by growing charges by retired intelligence and foreign service officers that administration hawks exaggerated the threat posed by Iraq in order to press Washington into war.

POLITICS-U.S.: Shadowy Neo-Con Adviser Moves on Iran

When 'The Washington Post' published a list of the people who Karl Rove, President George W. Bush's closest adviser, regularly consults for advice outside the administration, foreign-policy veterans were shocked when Michael Ledeen popped up as the only full-time international-affairs analyst.