Christian Avard Published: Friday August 4, 2006 Print This | Email This [New to RAW STORY? Be sure to check out our front page for all the latest-breaking news. Latest: Raw acquires Republican campaign plan for summer recess...] Former Ambassador to Croatia Peter Galbraith is claiming President George W. Bush was unaware that there were two major sects of Is

It looks as if Ned Lamont is riding the anti-war wave to victory in the Connecticut Democratic primary -- or so the latest polls suggest. I'm sure this will be proclaimed a major breakthrough for the anti-war wing of the Democratic Party -- tangible proof that Left Blogistan is indeed a political force to be reckoned with, instead of a windy collection of blowhards with delusions of grandeur. This no doubt will be cause for much gnashing of teeth in the bureaucratic halls of the punditburo -- particularly by David Broder, who's already being haunted by the spectre of George McGovern. And George isn't even dead yet! As for Marshall Wittman, Holy Joe's very best blog buddy, I doubt there's enough Prozac in the metropolitan Washington D.C. area to get him through the next five days. If I were Marshall, I'd put the number for the crisis

Is conservatism finished? What might have seemed an absurd question less than two years ago is now one of the most important issues in American politics. The question is being asked -- mostly quietly but occasionally publicly -- by conservatives themselves as they survey the wreckage of their hopes,...

Ending the neoconservative nightmare

Endnotes Legal Standards and Authorities Major Reports For your convenience, this report may also be access as a web document or as a word document.

A career built on what he calls “transactional lobbying” made Brent R. Wilkes a rich man but also landed him in the middle of a criminal investigation.

On Capitol Hill, Rep. Mark Kennedy (Minn.) and Sen. James M. Talent (Mo.) are known as loyal Republican soldiers, reliable votes for President Bush on tax cuts and the Iraq war. In elections past, they have aired advertisements featuring the president and have stumped with him at public rallies.

... I'll meet you 'round the bend my friend, where hearts can heal and souls can mend... Saturday, August 05, 2006 Summer of Goodbyes... Residents of Baghdad are systematically being pushed out of the city. Some families are waking up to find a Klashnikov bullet and a letter in an envelope with the words “Leave your area or else.” The culprits behind these attacks and threats are Sadr’s followers- Mahd

FARMINGTON, Conn., Aug. 5 -- The passion and energy fueling the antiwar challenge to Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman in Connecticut's Senate primary signal a power shift inside the Democratic Party that could reshape the politics of national security and dramatically alter the battle for the party's 2008...

Statistics suggest that as the U.S. has handed over responsibilities to Iraqi forces, violence has increased.

Twenty-nine Democratic senators voted in the fall of 2002 to authorize the invasion of Iraq. There isn't enough room on this page to list the Democratic foreign policy experts and former officials, including those from the top ranks of the Clinton administration, who supported the war publicly and...

The two countries reached agreement on a Security Council resolution to lay out plans for a permanent cease-fire and a long-term political settlement.

The U.S. and France agreed Saturday on a draft Security Council resolution that seeks a full halt to fighting in Lebanon, breaking a three-week impasse caused partly by Washington's refusal to press Israel to end its offensive against Hezbollah.

This morning on Fox News, Newt Gingrich claimed there is a “legitimate insurgency in Connecticut, which needs to be met head on,” made up of people who say Iraq “is so hard, it is so frightening, it’s so painful, can’t we come home and hide?” Gingrich said that if the “insurgency” wins, “it will be

One Ring to Rule Them The wholesale destruction of all of Lebanon by Israel and the US Pentagon does not make any sense. Why bomb roads, roads, bridges, ports, fuel depots in Sunni and Christian areas that have nothing to do with Shiite Hizbullah in the deep south? And, why was Hizbullah's rocket capability so crucial that it provoked Israel to this orgy of destruction? Most of the rockets were small katyushas with limited range and were highly inaccurate. They were an annoyance in the Occupied Golan Heights, especially the Lebanese-owned Shebaa Farms area. Hizbullah had killed 6 Israeli civilians since 2000. For this you would destroy a whole country? It doesn't make any sense. Moreover, the Lebanese government elected last year was pro-American! Why risk causing it to fall by hitting the whole country so hard? And, why was Condi Rice's

"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in a rather scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean, neither more nor less." "The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean so many different things." "The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be master -- that's all." Lewis Carroll Alice Through the Looking Glass It's difficult to know exactly what to make of the proposed UN Security Council resolution the Anglos and the French have finally managed to hammer out -- in part because it's really two resolutions jammed together one. It's a portmanteau, in other words, like one of Humpty Dumpty's nonsense words in Through the Looking Glass -- "slithy," "toves," "mimsy," etc.: "Well, 'slithy' means 'lithe and slimy.' 'Lithe' is the same as 'active.' You see it's like a portmanteau -- there are two meanings

The Bush administration's policy of refusing to engage with nations and groups linked to terrorism, including Syria, Iran and Palestinian factions, has sharply limited U.S. maneuvering room during the war between Israel and Hezbollah, according to former administration officials and outside experts.

Israeli planes dropped leaflets over the city of Sidon, south of here, warning people to evacuate before expected airstrikes on “terrorist infrastructure” . . . The Israeli Army also issued a statement saying it did “not consider the Lebanese people to be its enemy and does not want to harm them.” __________________ American Officer: Still no sign of Mr. Neutron, sir. American Commander: OK. We'll bomb Neutron out. Get me Moscow! Peking! and Shanklin, Isle of Wight! Cut to stock film of B52s on bombing raid. Voice Over: And so the Great Powers and the people of Shanklin, Isle of Wight, drew their net in ever-tightening circles around the most dangerous threat to peace the world has ever faced. They bombed Cairo, Bangkok, Cape Town, Buenos Aires, Harrow, Hammersmith, Stepney, Wandsworth and Enfield ... But it was

A potential “civil war” in Iraq will make it even more difficult to convince battle-weary Americans that the war in Iraq is winnable.

Heather Stewart, economics correspondent Sunday August 6, 2006 The Observer The United States faces almost a 40 per cent chance of slipping into recession in the next 12 months, according to the Federal Reserve's own market model. As Fed chairman Ben Bernanke prepares to decide whether to raise American interest rates for the 18th time on Tuesday, bond prices and the high level of borrowing costs are now

The online edition of The Blade, Toledo's only daily newspaper. The web site is the leading online source for news and information in northwest Ohio.

If Israel’s war with Hezbollah ends for Israel as badly as it has started, it could well mean a harsh coda to Ariel Sharon’s life’s work.

Fliers admit aborting raids on civilian targets as concern grows over the reliability of intelligence Inigo Gilmore at Hatzor Air Base, Israel Sunday August 6, 2006 The Observer At least two Israeli fighter pilots have deliberately missed civilian targets in Lebanon as disquiet grows in the military about flawed intelligence, The Observer has learnt. Sources say