On “The Lobby”

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My posting on the Stephen Walt/John Mearsheimer zinger article that is sweeping around is premature as I want to write something more coherent than I can do at this moment (now rushing to catch plane). But in the mean time, read this — by Daniel Levy of the Geneva Initiative.

Ask John Bolton a Question

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Today, John Bolton is manning the “Ask the State Department” desk. I have just submitted a couple of questions to Bolton. Here is your chance to do the same. — Steve Clemons Travel Update: I am flying to Orlando this morning and will be speaking to the Orlando Area Committee on Foreign Relations this evening….

“Face to Face” between Steve Clemons and Norm Ornstein on 2006 Race in <em>Washington Examiner</em>

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What follows below (this is pdf) ran in today’s local Washington Examiner, which has a surprisingly strong roster of diverse op-ed writers producing good content. For some bizarre reason, however, the Examiner is completely failing to link any of this great content to its webpage.

Flynt Leverett Calls It Civil War; James Woolsey Calls It “BLEEDING KANSAS”

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(Flynt Leverett on the News Hour with Jim Lehrer) Margaret Warner, Senior Correspondent on the News Hour with Jim Lehrer, had a great segment last night on President Bush and whether the character and degree of Iraq’s sectarian convulsions, or “civil war” in the view of most. Leverett affirms that a civil war is underway….

The Cheney-led Civil War-Deniers

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(Markos Moulitsas Zuniga when in US Army, 1989-1992) Former National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft said on January 6, 2005 that we may be seeing “incipient civil war” in Iraq. David Frum misquotes Scowcroft and wrestles with TWN over the difference between imminent civil war and incipient civil war in early January 2005.

Don Rumsfeld’s Pentagon Investigating Another U.S. Military Atrocity

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When will Rumsfeld be held accountable and fired? ABC News is reporting that the Pentagon is now investigating another alleged serious atrocity. One question is why is the Pentagon investigating? Why not the FBI or Attorney General, or prosecutors empowered by Congress? The Pentagon is proving to be an incapable investigator of its own offenses….

IRAQ SCORECARD: Cordesman Picture Bleak

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My own views were captured in this lead editorial today in the Philadelphia Inquirer, but I think that this roster of benchmarks that CSIS’s Anthony Cordesman sent TWN is extremely useful. It ought to become the “mantra card” for serious political opponents of this administration’s Cheney-led national security team.