Bush administration’s stance against Iran fails with the capture of the 15 British soldiers and strengthens its hardliner counterparts in Iran…
- U.S. Strategy on Iran May Have Backfired (LA Times)
- Iran’s New Hostage Crisis (Salon.com)
…yet the administration persists–even at the risk of threatening UK–Iranian negotiations to release the sailors:
- Washington Hurting British Bid to Free Crew (Toronto Globe and Mail)
Caught between Sadr’s orders for restraint, daily indiscriminate attacks by Sunni militants and alleged enticements from Iranian agents, members of the Mahdi Army defect and reinsert themselves into the sectarian carnage:
- Cracks in Sadr’s Army (LA Times)
US-Iraqi plans for reconciliation and Sunni entry into the government workforce hit a major snag as Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani opposes reform of the De-Baathification law:
- Shiite Cleric Opposes U.S. Plan to Permit Former Baath Party Members to Join Government (New York Times)
“The Niger uranium matter was not uppermost in the minds of the CIA analysts. Some of them had to deal with the issue in any case, largely because Cheney, his aide Libby and some aides at the National Security Council had repeatedly demanded more information and more analysis.â€
- How Bogus Letter Became a Case for War (Washington Post)
Five years after 9/11, diminished security and pervasive abuses of authority powers, civil liberties advocates begin waging a legal counteroffensive:
- Privacy Advocates Fight for Ground Lost After 9/11 (Christian Science Monitor)
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