By July-August 2001, it was clear that something dramatic was about to happen. Pepe Escobar, our "Roving Eye", was
traveling in Afghanistan and the tribal areas of Pakistan. The rumor was that US forces were about to use Pakistan to launch a raid into Afghanistan. Escobar's article, published by Asia Times Online on August 30, 2001, was headlined  Get Osama! Now! Or else ... Our Karachi correspondent, Syed Saleem Shazad, was meanwhile filing articles like Osama bin Laden: The thorn in Pakistan's flesh (August 22, 2001) ...

Afghanistan: Return of the jihadis
Over the past decades, many Central Asian Islamic militants - with Pakistani and US assistance - have been trained in Afghanistan, before being sent back to their homelands to lie low pending a call to arms. That call has now come. And the destination is Afghanistan. - Syed Saleem Shahzad (Mar 31, '04)

Pakistan to play a pivotal part
For jihadis to operate on Pakistan's border with Afghanistan, from where the Afghan resistance will be launched, they need anarchy and chaos. - Syed Saleem Shahzad (Mar 31, '04)

With friends like Uzbekistan ...
Uzbekistan is in the news for all the wrong reasons: a series of terror attacks over the past days that have left scores of people dead, and a damning report of widespread imprisonment, torture and repression of dissenters. Food for thought for the country's Western allies, of which the United States is the most important, over their expedient support of the regime. - Jim Lobe (Mar 31, '04)

Rice: No end to controversy By acquiescing to National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice giving testimony to the 9-11 Commission, President George W Bush has silenced those who have vociferously demanded that she appear in public. But critics of the administration over broader issues relating to its handling of the al-Qaeda threat and Iraq will not be as easily mollified. - Ehsan Ahrari Bush's rare reversal Bush's U-turn on Condoleezza Rice is an unusual move by an administration that has fiercely resisted anything that suggests it is capable of making mistakes. - Jim Lobe  Bush's statement on his Rice decision  SPEAKING FREELY - Margie Burns  Toothless commission: Holes in the probe (Mar 31, '04)

Terrorism's eastward march
Uzbekistan has long been a terror attack waiting to happen. With its pro-United States leanings and heavy hand on dissent - whether political or religious - the regime of Islam Karimov has many opponents. Just which ones are responsible for this week's bombings, though, is an interesting question, especially as the usually nonviolent Hizb ut-Tahrir is being fingered. - Sergei Blagov (Mar 30, '04)

The growth of radical Islam in Central Asia
A certain consensus unites specialists on the dubious efficacy of official efforts to fight radical Islam in Central Asia. Less agreement is evident in specific recommendations to curb its spread. (Mar 30, '04)

Newspaper ban plays into radical's hands
By slapping a 60-day ban on al-Hawza newspaper, the mouthpiece of radical Iraqi Shi'ite leader Muqtada Sadr, United States officials, far from silencing the outspoken cleric, are likely only to increase the number of his supporters and the potency of his message. - Nir Rosen (Mar 30, '04)

Iraq invaded 'to protect Israel' - US official
As Washington steadfastly defends its decision to attack Iraq as a means to protect the US from (non-existent) weapons of mass destruction, remarks made by a member of a high-level White House intelligence group suggest otherwise: he alleges that the war had more to do with protecting the Bush administration's greatest Middle Eastern ally - Israel. (Mar 30, '04)

Africa: Oil, al-Qaeda and the US military
The US has a keen interest in Africa's oil resources - perhaps its only interest in the Dark Continent. And as US military involvement and/or cooperation with countries across the Maghreb and Sahel regions is being ratcheted up, so too is alleged al-Qaeda activity. Now the Madrid bombings have put the region firmly in the spotlight. - Ritt Goldstein (Mar 29, '04)

Musharraf left counting the cost
Relative calm has returned to South Waziristan after the implementation of a truce between tribals and the Pakistan army. The military claims that its mission to root out suspected al-Qaeda and no/images/f_images/atime_logo1.gif /atimes/Central_Asia/FD01Ag01.html /FONT wid/trtr/STRONGth=14A href= Afghan resistance fugitives has been successful, but it's the army and the administration of President General Pervez Musharraf that has received the bloody nose. - Syed Saleem Shahzad (Mar 29, '04)

Afghanistan: Lessons in state building Although Afghanistan has made remarkable strides over the past two years, a number of factors, most notably rampant insecurity and the slow pace of development, have pushed the process to the precipice of collapse. With a new donor conference to be held in Berlin this week, the Afghan government and the international community have a unique opportunity to right the wrongs. Armed militias challenge Kabul The recent fighting in the western Afghan city of Herat has increased pressure for speedier reforms on at least two security fronts - the disarming of the country's rival militia factions and the strengthening of the Afghan National Army. (Mar 29, '04)

New light on life and death of John O'Neill
When former Federal Bureau of Investigation counter-terrorism expert John O'Neill died in the Twin Towers on September 11, questions over his abrupt departure from the FBI and the obstacles he faced from Washington in sounding the al-Qaeda alarm died with him. Now, with Richard Clarke's new insider allegations of US tardiness over al-Qaeda, questions over O'Neill call for answers. - Tom Griffin (Mar 26, '04)

THEATER REVIEW
Still embedded in Iraq
Embedded by Tim Robbins, New York
This hard-hitting satire of the war on Iraq comes, in an election year, at a time of intense debate in the United States over the merits and methods of the war, and provides both sides of the argument plenty of food for thought. - Ashraf Fahim (Mar 26, '04)

India smarts over US 'strategic partnership'
Smarting over Pakistan winning non-NATO ally status, India now is alarmed by Washington's decision to lift sanctions imposed on its rival. Now Islamabad can get US defense technology and economic aid. Democratic India wonders what happened to its own US "strategic partnership" - and some are calling the US the "enemy". - Sultan Shahin (Mar 26, '04)

(Mar 25, '04) Al-Qaeda got it wrong, says militant group In a startlingly frank book, the leadership of al-Jama'ah al-Islamiyah, an Egyptian militant group labeled by the US as a terror outfit, has failed al-Qaeda in its terror tactics. Al-Jama'ah's book, an English version of which is in the hands of the US Central Intelligence Agency, states that al-Qaeda gives "preference to the logic of defiance over the principle of calculations". Ironically, the US Defense Department delivered an almost identical assessment of the Bush administration's "war on terror". - Ritt Goldstein US got it wrong, says bipartisan panel Preliminary reports issued by an independent US commission investigating the September 2001 attacks on America have concluded that both the Clinton and Bush administrations failed to take sufficient action against Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda before September 11.

The evangelical roots of US unilateralism
They once were thought to be on the fringes of US politics. No longer. The Christian Right now has the ear of a born-again US president, and is giving him aid and comfort as he makes his unilateralist march toward a world order of US-defined righteousness. The movement is indeed powerful, but it has important weaknesses as well. (Mar 25, '04)

Method in Sistani's muscle flexing
Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani only reluctantly gave his approval to Iraq's interim constitution in the first place; now he has expressed further reservations that threaten to derail its implementation. And lest the United States complain, what the ayatollah is doing is all in the name of democracy. - Ehsan Ahrari (Mar 24, '04)

The fatal flaws in Iraq's constitution
The interim constitution was drafted under US supervision by a body hand-chosen by the US military occupation authorities, and built into it is a recognition of its own impotence. (Mar 24, '04)




The spreading flames of war
Fanned by the determination of tribesmen in South Waziristan not to hand over any suspected al-Qaeda members to the Pakistani army, resistance to the military in the region is spreading - as are rumblings within the army itself over the wisdom of an operation that pits countrymen against each other. - Syed Saleem Shahzad (Mar 24, '04)

THE ROVING EYE
The al-Zawahiri fiasco
Despite confident official claims, the thousands of troops dispatched to Pakistan's tribal areas have failed to find "high-value target" Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaeda's No 2. What they have found is fierce resistance from local tribesmen who give far greater allegiance to such "targets" than they do to Islamabad. - Pepe Escobar (Mar 23, '04)

A Hamas blow for Pakistan
The Israelis kill a Hamas leader in the Middle East, and as a result the volatile situation in Pakistan's tribal areas takes a turn for the worse, further increasing the pressure on Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf, whose army is restless. - Syed Saleem Shahzad (Mar 23, '04)

SPENGLER
'You love life, we love death'
Who precisely loves life and who loves death? Al-Qaeda's taunt comes from a people with one of the highest birth rates in the world, the Arabs. It is directed at a people with one of the lowest birth rates in the world. Al-Qaeda is saying that the Spaniards are too soft to fight for their own future. (Mar 22, '04)

More fuel to Pakistan's simmering fire
A ceasefire between Pakistani troops and tribal fighters in South Waziristan has already been broken. And now, with powerful clerics and normally impartial tribes joining the fray, the dangers of the unrest on the border with Afghanistan spreading across the country are greater than ever. - Syed Saleem Shahzad (Mar 22, '04)

Failures of a 'war president'
President George W Bush is wont to refer to himself as a "war president" in the context of the "war on terror". But according to his former top counter-terrorism advisor, the wars that Bush and his team chose to fight were widely off the mark. - Ehsan Ahrari (Mar 22, '04)

Afghan offensive: Grand plans meet rugged reality
The US has a straightforward plan to rid Afghanistan of Taliban and al-Qaeda insurgents. The insurgents have a counter strategy, which they have revealed toAsia Times Online. Both plans are presently unfolding - with renewed fighting in Pakistan's South Waziristan being one manifestation - and both focus on one of the most inhospitable places in the world, a place that makes one's "head spin". -  Syed Saleem Shahzad (Mar 19, '04)

Prizes and surprises
The elevation of Pakistan's military relationship with the United States is a reward for President Musharraf's support in the "war on terror" - but India's reward for good behavior seems to have been forgotten. (Mar 19, '04)

  Pakistan as key US ally
- Ehsan M Ahrari
   Powell pleased, India perplexed
- Sultan Shahin

Just another Baghdad car bombing
Dozens died in Wednesday night's car bombing of Baghdad's Mount Lebanon Hotel. In Iraq, nothing changes. The lives of the occupiers go on, the Americans engrossed in their elections (or perhaps with Martha Stewart since all but the most sensitive have forgotten Janet Jackson's breast), and the Spanish having decided this is not their fight. - Nir Rosen (Mar 18, '04)

THE ROVING EYE
Shock, awe, from Mesopotamia to Madrid
One year has passed since the United States stormed into Iraq, a bleak anniversary coming to pass amid deadly bombings in Baghdad and hysterical cries from Washington's neo-cons blaming Spanish voters for the ouster of the Bush-friendly conservatives. Indeed, the US has little to show for its Iraq endeavors. - Pepe Escobar (Mar 18, '04)

For US hawks, Madrid 2004 = Munich 1938
The decision of the Spanish electorate to oust its pro-George Bush conservative government has resulted in the shrill cry of "appeasement" in the US media. But in their eagerness to compare Spain's Socialists to British premier Neville Chamberlain, the neo-cons are, as usual, ignoring important facts - and exposing their distrust of democracy. - Jim Lobe (Mar 18, '04)

Pakistani tribes await 'full force' offensive 
It's only a matter of time before further deadly clashes take place between Pakistani forces and tribespeople, with troops now mobilizing for a "full force" operation. Meanwhile, the fierce fighting which took place on Tuesday has all but eradicated what little support the United States had from anti-Taliban tribespeople in its "war on terror". - Syed Saleem Shahzad (Mar 18, '04)

THE ROVING EYE
Return of the Moor
A Moroccan Islamist group linked to al-Qaeda is blamed for last week's Madrid bombings, not surprising given that Islamists and jihadis view Spain as Islamic territory occupied by infidels. That didn't stop the outgoing government of premier Jose Maria Aznar lying and manipulating information so as to pin the bombings on Basque separatists - a fact that has now been confirmed by the Spanish press. - Pepe Escobar (Mar 17, '04)

Deathly silence in South Waziristan Villagers have fled their homes in fear of bombing by the US planes flying overhead, and burnt-out military vehicles litter the landscape. Pakistan's South Waziristan agency, scene of fierce fighting between tribespeople and government forces Tuesday, is bracing for more battles after the tribals - together with insurgents of the Afghan resistance - routed the Pakistani military. - Syed Saleem Shahzad (Mar 17, '04) How Pakistan ignited The US provided the spark that ignited the fierce fighting inside Pakistan, and the fire threatens to spread. Ironically, there's only one gainer - the Afghan resistance. - Syed Saleem Shahzad (Mar 17, '04)

'Liberating' Saudi's Shi'ites (and their oil)
Recent neo-con suggestions that the US should bring Saudi Arabia to heel by supporting independence for the country's Eastern Province, where much of its minority Shi'ite population - and most of its oil - is situated, have fed growing paranoia in the region. And unfortunately for Riyadh, the fringes of the neo-cons often become policymakers nowadays. - Ashraf Fahim (Mar 17, '04)
Muqtada's powerful push for prominence
Since the US-led invasion of Iraq last year, one radical young cleric has been steadily gaining popularity among Iraq's Shi'ite population - Muqtada Sadr. The son of assassinated grand ayatollah Muhamad Sadiq Sadr, Muqtada has been changing all the rules in his push to get the US out of IA href=A href=raq, threatening to set ofBR BR/Af an armed rebellion Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaeda's No 2. What they have found is fierce resistance from local tribesmen whoFONTA href= soon. - Nir Rosen (Mar 17, '04)

US foreign policy is popular - in the US
A new international poll indicates that mistrust of the US has grown steadily in Western Europe during the course of the Iraq war, while anti-US sentiment in the Arab world remains pervasive, though it has dissipated somewhat. Osama bin Laden's popularity among Muslims, unlike George Bush's, remains high. Overall, the gulf is widening between how Americans and other nationalities see the world. - Jim Lobe (Mar 17, '04)

The emergence of hyperterrorism In the wake of last week's bombing in Madrid, Europe is afraid. According to Brussels intelligence estimates, there may be an invisible army of up to 30,000 "holy warriors" spread around the world. How to stop them? There's no possible diplomacy, no target to attack. Al-Qaeda is not a Joint Chiefs of Staff: it is an idea. - Pepe Escobar (Mar 16, '04) The al-Qaeda franchise Al-Qaeda may be developing new alliances with radical local groups - such as ETA - and shifting away from its original, almost "corporate" structure. If this is the case, targeting the network's center of gravity will prove to be an even more difficult task. - Richard Giragosian (Mar 16, '04) 'War on terror' suffers setback in Spain The outcome of the recent terrorist attacks in Madrid has sent a message to the world: not only was the United States' optimistic rhetoric on winning the "war on terrorism" premature, but the decision by President George W Bush to take the war to Iraq might have made things worse. - Jim Lobe (Mar 16, '04) US foes set to pounce As the US offensive gets under way on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, anti-US forces are said to be preparing their own series of attacks on the US and its allies, not just on the battlefield but around the world. - Syed Saleem Shahzad (Mar 16, '04)

SPENGLER
Spain, and why radical Islam can win
Radical Islam has scored its first unambiguous victory over the West with the thrashing of pro-US Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar's party in Spanish elections Sunday. But Spain's death-knell sounded long before the bombs went off. (Mar 15, '04)

THE ROVING EYE
Al-Qaeda goes to the polls
The global jihad has directly influenced the outcome of a general election in a Western democracy. Spain's Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar opted for a vote-winning strategy of blaming Basque separatists for Thursday's train bombings - a strategy that totally backfired as he fell hook, line and sinker for the sophisticated politics masterminded by the al-Qaeda terror franchise. - Pepe Escobar (Mar 15, '04)

UN's credibility critically wounded
Following Thursday's attacks in Madrid, it took the United Nations Security Council a mere five minutes to mistakenly lay the blame on the Basque separatist group ETA. Given that council members based their resolution on the now-defeated Spanish government's wishes, more calls for the UN's "revision and renewal" are sure to be forthcoming. - Ritt Goldstein (Mar 15, '04)

Shock wave travels around the globe
The shock result of Spain's general election will have US President George W Bush and his allies like Britain's Tony Blair and Japan's Junichiro Koizumi worried. Ironically, while Bush's Iraq policy may not succeed in its stated aim of redrawing the political map of the Middle East, it is certainly doing so in Europe. - J Sean Curtin (Mar 15, '04)

Iraq: Washington spinning out of control
The Bush administration is pulling out all the stops to "spin" its Iraqi intelligence gaffes into triumphs, marked by a dramatic increase in the number of misleading statements - propaganda - making the rounds. Particularly remarkable is the shifting of responsibility for ongoing Iraq violence away from Washington's lack of foresight and planning on to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. - Ritt Goldstein (Mar 12, '04)

Bush tells it like it isn't
In his interview on Meet the Press last month, US President George W Bush had the opportunity to present an honest and clear exposition of US policy in Iraq. He did not take that opportunity, and instead made a number of unchallenged assertions that were patently false or, at the very least, misleading. (Mar 12, '04)

THE ROVING EYE
Spain's 3-11: Basques, bin Laden, or both?
Thursday's Madrid train bombings don't fit the modus operandi of the obvious suspect, the Basque ETA separatist group. On the other hand, Spain, which has troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, had been warned by al-Qaeda's highest leadership that it was a target for terrorism. After the initial - official - rush to blame ETA, doubts are emerging thick and fast. - Pepe Escobar (Mar 12, '04)

CIA chief plays dumb on Iraq intelligence
US Central Intelligence Agency director George Tenet is walking a thin line by suggesting he really was in the dark about phony pre-Iraq-war intelligence being fed to the president by a Pentagon office abounding with neo-cons. His claims could stoke the fire under one of the biggest intelligence crises in modern US history. - Jim Lobe (Mar 11, '04)

On the road to Damascus with the neo-cons
The United States is poised to impose tough sanctions on Syria, evidence that Washington's neo-conservatives have convinced President George W Bush to press on with his new Syria accountability law - all in keeping with the agenda to rid the world of "evildoers". (Mar 11, '04)

Iran: 'We won't take it anymore'
Fed up with what it calls "bullying" by the United States, Iran is now threatening to end its cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency, saying the UN watchdog is kowtowing to Washington on the issue of whether Iran is living up to its pledge of full transparency in its nuclear program. (Mar 11, '04)

  Tehran's 'right to enrich'

Afghanistan: The spring trap is sprung
United States Secretary of State Colin Powell heads for Pakistan next week, just one of many indicators that Washington is ratcheting up preparations for a spring offensive against Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Given the depth of its joint preparations with Islamabad, it's clear that the US isn't messing around this time. - Syed Saleem Shahzad (Mar 10, '04)

Taliban are still larger than life
Reports of the Taliban's death are greatly exaggerated, yet as long as those fighting the war in Afghanistan continue to read the obituary, the longer any lasting peace will be delayed. (Mar 10, '04)

THE ROVING EYE
Iraq: The civil war bogy
Even though Shi'ites are not blaming Sunnis or Kurds for the attacks on their numbers last week, the Coalition Provisional Authority and the Iraqi Governing Council, by insisting on playing the "civil war" card, have touched a raw nerve that might yet help them get their way in the country. - Pepe Escobar (Mar 10, '04)

New cross to bear for US neo-cons
The neo-conservative movement that has so successfully driven White House policy since the election of George W Bush finds itself divided on many issues these days. The latest event that sees neo-cons sitting on opposite sides of the aisle is Mel Gibson's new film The Passion of the Christ. - Jim Lobe (Mar 10, '04)

War: Just whose business is it anyway?
US company Halliburton's role in Iraq has been deeply scrutinized in the past few months, but the implications go far beyond one company or one conflict. The real issue is the increasingly pervasive use by the US military of private companies, particularly with respect to logistics and support functions that involve being in the midst of combat and occupation operations. (Mar 9, '04)

Iraqis learn red tape, the Indian way
For a nation that has elevated bureaucracy almost to an art form, India could hardly refuse a US request to train Iraqi officials in the mysterious workings of red tape in a democratic society, at the same time squeezing out a few benefits for itself. - Arun Bhattacharjee (Mar 9, '04)

Iran demands entry to nuclear club
In a surprise move that is likely to achieve the exact reverse of what is intended, Iran, warning of a "big showdown" should its wishes not be accommodated, has demanded entry into the world's club of nuclear-empowered nations, and further, that the International Atomic Energy Agency stop prying into its nuclear program. - Safa Haeri (Mar 8, '04)

COMMENTARY
Iraq Act II: Toward transfer of sovereignty
Key issues still to be decided in Iraq, including the role of Islam, the status of Kurds and the viability of democracy, will not only determine the future of the country, but also, quite possibly, the future of President George W Bush. - Ehsan Ahrari (Mar 8, '04)

Blame game and the Ba'athists
Almost across the spectrum, al-Qaeda and alleged affiliate, Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, have been blamed for masterminding the attacks on Shi'ites in Iraq on Tuesday with the aim of fomenting trouble between Shi'ites and Sunnis. But remember the Ba'athists? They still have much to fight for. - Syed Saleem Shahzad (Mar 5, '04) 

Complications in the 'war on terror'
"Evidence" is mounting against extremist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi for his part in unrest in Iraq, exposure that could have important ramifications for the strategy in the "war on terror". (Mar 5, '04)

Fear and fortitude in Baghdad
In the tense atmosphere after Tuesday's attacks on Shi'ite mourners in Iraq, a Sunni mosque comes under attack in a Shi'ite area of Baghdad. Yet despite the apparent attempts to stir sectarian unrest, there is a pervasive spirit of solidarity between the two sects, as Nir Rosen finds out, almost at the cost of his life. (Mar 4, '04)

THE ROVING EYE
Get Osama - but where, and when?
He's here, there and everywhere according to which reports one chooses to believe, the latest of which place Osama/FONTFONT size=2 bin Laden in Pakistan's South Waziristan and close to capture. But even if he isThe Bush administration is pulling out all the stops to /A caught any time soon, will the world get to hear of it, given that the US presidential elections are still eight months away? - Pepe Escobar (Mar 4, '04)

A new constitution drenched in blood
Any jubilation generated by the Iraqi Governing Council finally agreeing on a draf/FONTWIDTH: 95px; HEIGHT: 121px/FONTwart constitution quickly evaporated with the multiple attacks on Shi'ites in Baghdad and Karbala. Now the mood is one of deep gloom, and equally deep fear that the aspirations of the Iraqi people will be determined in blood. - Pepe Escobar (Mar 3, '04)
 
Shi'ite attacks pave way for rapid responses
The relationship between Shi'ites and Sunnis differs vastly between Iraq and Pakistan, as do the motives of those who attack Shi'ites. Yet following Tuesday's killings of Shi'ite worshippers in the two countries, security forces can be expected to respond in a similar manner. - Syed Saleem Shahzad (Mar 3, '04)

Shi'ites hit at most sensitive moment At the height of Shi'ite blood-drawing rituals in Karbala to mark the martyrdom of 7th century Hussein, the bombs went off on Tuesday, killing scores of worshippers. The attacks also come at a crucial stage for Shi'ites as they struggle to define their political future. - Nir Rosen PHOTO ESSAY Bloody rites and body parts Nir Rosen was in Karbala to report on the climax of Iraqi Shi'ites' Ashura observances on Tuesday, and in Baghdad when the bombs went off. (Mar 3, '04)

Entangling the American Gulliver
Through sustained attacks, insurgents hope to demoralize Iraqi security personnel, thereby creating mass desertions, which, they anticipate, will result in the heightened exposure of American troops, who are the primary targets. - Ehsan Ahrari (Mar 3, '04)

New lease on life for the insurgency
To reduce casualties, the Bush administration has begun to pull US troops out of central Baghdad and place them on the outskirts of the city. But by doing this, the insurgency is being given time to better organize and plan new and more innovative methods of attack. (Mar 3, '04)

Shi'ite bombings: Civil war a step closer
The multiple explosions in Baghdad and the holy city of Karbala on Tuesday, in which more than 120 Shi'ite pilgrims were killed, make imminent the danger that should retaliation occur, against Sunnis as well as Americans, the phantom of civil war in Iraq will finally become a bloody reality. Story and photos by Nir Rosen (Mar 2, '04)

Iraq's draft dodgers buy time
Iraq's US-appointed governing council, in agreeing on an interim constitution, has established an operating framework for the sovereign government due to take power by June 30. After that date, the problematical part becomes addressing the highly contentious issues that the drafters conveniently avoided. (Mar 2, '04)

US military spending soars, security suffers
Since September 11, 2001, the United States military budget has ballooned to a level comparable to that of the world's next 25 biggest military spenders combined. But according to a new study written by nine national security experts, such steep increases in spending are doing little to strengthen US security. - Jim Lobe (Mar 2, '04)

Iraq civil war: Rumors and reality
One aspect of the Bush administration's response to talk of civil war in Iraq has been to essentially deny the latent factional forces that have been exposed, concurrently working to legitimize the war itself via accusations against non-Iraqi "terror groups". - Ritt Goldstein (Mar 1, '04)