After more than three months in unexplained detention, Haleh Esfandiari, the 67-year-old director of the Middle East program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, has been released from Tehran’s notorious Evin prison.
Romney v. Giuliani: The Immigration Debate Takes a New Turn
When I was traveling with Rudy Giuliani a couple of weeks ago, I asked him what he thought of Mitt Romney’s increasingly frequent digs at “sanctuary cities.” He professed to be mystified, even a little flattered:
“New York city is the safest large city in America. … So it must be doing a pretty good job of creating order and safety
…
Thompson: The Chaos Continues
Ana is off this week, but Fred Thompson manages to produce a Daily Jumble all by himself. Spokeswoman Burson Snyder becomes the latest staffer to quit before the campaign has even begun, reports Jonathan Martin in Politico. Blogger Lane Hudson, of Mark Foley scandal fame, has filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission about …
In the ArenaUncategorized
Response to Karen
The Levin-Warner reaction to their Iraq visit is certainly smarter than some others I’ve seen. They essentially confirm what I reported in June–that there’s good news in that the Sunni tribes have turned against the Salafists and really bad news about the utter inability of the Iraqis to govern themselves.
I do think they were taken a …
Glass half full?
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin, whose advocacy of limiting the U.S. mission has represented the center of the Senate’s thinking on Iraq, says the surge is showing “positive results.” Levin and ranking Republican John Warner say they are most impressed–and surprised–to hear U.S. commanders praise the progress that …
In the ArenaUncategorized
The Dangerous Imperialist Monomania of the Foreign Policy Priesthood…
…is a topic that has been obsessing Glenn Greenwald and others lately, but it hardly seems the case–especially the intimations of half-crazed hawkishness–given this survey conducted by Foreign Policy. The Priesthood seems deeply anti-surge and anti-Bush. Yes, there were liberals who favored the war way back in 2002–and a few lonely …
In the ArenaUncategorized
Creeping Like A Nunn
Back in the day, there were quadrennial Sam Nunn for Vice President, or maybe President, columns. I never saw it. Nunn is estimable–his work on nuclear proliferation especially–but so taciturn as to be easily mistaken for a bale of hay. In any case, now he’s opened the door to an independent run for President and Ed Kilgore, a former …
No-bama Girl
She may have generated more than 3 million internet hits, but it turns out there’s at least once place where “Obama Girl” doesn’t have many fans: Barack Obama’s house.
In the ArenaUncategorized
Who Lost Basra?
Via Andrew Sullivan. I think the Aussies are right: we’re about to see some not-so-subtle Brit bashing by unnamed sources in the Bush Administration as Basra descends into Shi’ite (Hakim) upon Shi’ite (Sadr) upon Shi’ite (Fadhila) civil war.
In fact, the entire Shi’ite south seems on the brink: For the second time in 10 days, a …
Underplayed Story of the Day
The Iraq War, apparently. The Project for Excellence in Jouralism finds that, in the second quarter, coverage of the presidential campaign is supplanting the amount of space and time being devoted to the war by news organizations. From its News Coverage Index, a survey of 48 different news outlets:
Together the three major storylines of
…
In the ArenaUncategorized
Interesting, But Wrong
David Broder has a column today in which he predicts Mike Huckabee is going to try to run a Pat Buchanan type right-wing populist campaign in New Hampshire. Basic problem with that is this: New Hampshire is a changed state, demographically, since Buchanan discovered his inner blue-collar in a meeting with about to be unemployed …
In the ArenaUncategorized
READ THIS NOW!
This is the most accurate and courageous–the authors are all non-commissioned officers–account of the war in Iraq that I’ve seen. It puts to shame–and shame is the appropriate word–all the Kristol, McCain, Lieberman, Pollack and O’Hanlon etc etc cheerleading of the past two months. I’ll have more to say about the road out of Iraq in …
Barack Taking His Ball and Going to Iowa
In an unusual Saturday announcement, the Obama campaign has declared that the candidate will not commit to any more debates before December 10 beyond those already scheduled. Articulating a feeling that I suspect is shared with many campaigns (D and R), David Plouffe writes, “We simply cannot continue to hopscotch from forum to forum,” …