Expect to start hearing lots of talk about “bottom-up reconciliation” — yet another disingenuous portrayal of political progress in Iraq.
Spencer Ackerman
Spencer Ackerman, a senior correspondent for The American Prospect, is a senior reporter for The Washington Independent.
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Dicking Around
In his fawning new book about Dick Cheney, Stephen Hayes leans heavily on superficial details and explanations, and demonstrates a surprising lack of curiosity about what drives the man he’s devoted so much effort to covering.
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Wake Me Up When September Ends
September will supposedly be the moment for a definitive verdict on the war. Don’t bet on it.
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George Tenet’s Twisted Intel
In his new memoir, the former CIA chief proves to be a master of non-apology apologies.
Posted inEducation in America
GENERATION GAP.
GENERATION GAP. Baghdad, Iraq — It takes a while to get to Brigadier General Saleh, the commander of all Iraqi police forces in western Baghdad. For understandable reasons, the ornate Karkh Directorate police headquarters is protected by nearly an entire city block’s worth of cement barricades and concertina wire within the Sunni neighborhood of Yarmouk. […]
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CALM BEFORE THE…
CALM BEFORE THE… It was a good day for the 57th Military Police Company. The call came as the company commander, Captain Rob McNellis, was leaving a routine check of an Iraqi Police station off of Haifa Street in western Baghdad: residents in this run-down and heavily Shiite area had spotted a car they hadn’t […]
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THE LAST THROES.
THE LAST THROES. It’s truly the End Times when George W. Bush appears a paragon of truth and candor, but Dick Cheney rides a pale horse. In Cheney’s interview with Wolf Blitzer last night, we learned: Bottom line is that we’ve had enormous successes and we will continue to have enormous successes. Bush, of course, […]
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Surgin’ General
God is unfair to Lieutenant General David Petraeus. There isn’t a single general in the Army better prepared to command American forces in Iraq. During his confirmation hearing yesterday before the Senate Armed Services Committee, he referred to the “shab el-Iraqi,” which is Arabic for “the people of Iraq” — probably the first time any […]
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EVERYTHING KEEPING US TOGETHER IS FALLING APART
EVERYTHING KEEPING US TOGETHER IS FALLING APART. One more thing about the SOTU. Bush relied on the familiar case that you and your family will die if we withdraw from Iraq: “[O]ut of chaos in Iraq would emerge an emboldened enemy with new safe havens, new recruits, new resources, and an even greater determination to […]
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WHAT IF THEY HELD AN OCCUPIER-SUSTAINED SECTARIAN DEMOCRACY AND NO ONE SHOWED UP?
WHAT IF THEY HELD AN OCCUPIER-SUSTAINED SECTARIAN DEMOCRACY AND NO ONE SHOWED UP? Did you notice how President Bush snuck back in a reference to a “democratic Iraq” in the SOTU? During his latest iteration of the not-the-fight-we-entered mission, Bush had scaled back his goal to that of a “free nation that can sustain itself […]