Lawrence Wilkerson, former Chief of Staff at the State Department and 16-year aide and friend to Colin Powell, was interviewed yesterday on Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Lateline.

(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.

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….

Today is the Persian New Year, called “Nowruz“, and inspired a note from President Bush: March 2006 I send greetings to those celebrating Nowruz. Nowruz is an ancient celebration marking the arrival of the New Year.

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.

The Philadelphia Inquirer‘s lead editorial today reflects many of the themes that TWN has been developing on the blog and at the New America Foundation where I work.

Here is what I wrote Richard Armitage and the Plame Case in November 2005: Could this insider source be Stephen Hadley? Seems odd to me. To many, Hadley still ranks fairly high as Bob Woodward’s source — and at least to my knowledge — Hadley has only “hinted” that he was not Woodward’s source.

Up at Pocantico this evening at the home and estate of the Rockefeller clan to discuss U.S. foreign policy options. The op-ed I wrote for a Japanese paper, the Daily Yomiuri, two posts below is getting a surprising amount of attention internationally. I’ve had lots of email responses. But let me leave you with this….

Finally, people are beginning to see that there is a serious gap between Condi Rice and John Bolton. Anne-Marie Slaughter sums up the state of affairs regarding America’s stance towards the new Human Rights Council beautifully.

I scribbled the following piece when in Jerusalem and sent to friends in Tokyo to consider publishing. It has just appeared in Japan’s largest English language daily, the Daily Yomiuri. Daily Yomiuri — March 18, 2006 Time for Bush to Turn Realist by Steven Clemons The various denominations that have demarcated the U.S.