The New Republic

Beijing, China  READ MORE >>

Wow, has Human Rights Watch got news for us. Exactly a year after the Lebanon war ended, the organization wanted to release its report about the behavior of Hezbollah in the conflict. And it was going to tell us the militia of this vast mobilization of Shi'a had "been "firing indiscriminately and in some cases deliberately at civilians and civilian structures, in violation of international humanitarian law." This is not exactly a surprise. Most of us saw all this on television, and since the READ MORE >>

Yesterday, it was 39 people killed in Lebanon. Today, the toll reached "at least" 60. This is according to Hassan Fatah's dispatch in the Times. The antagonists are Fatah al-Islam, a group associated with Al Qaeda, and the Lebanese Army. And then there are the civilians in between. It will go on. READ MORE >>

Just to briefly follow up on Brad's post, it's worth checking out C.J. Chivers's harrowing and depressing story in this morning's New York Times on prison conditions in Kurdistan:   READ MORE >>

In late July, news surfaced that Iran had executed two gay teenagers--ostensibly for sexual assault, but most likely for the crime of being gay. READ MORE >>

It’s dangerous to generalize about this war. America's attack on Iraq is moving so fast that basic assumptions about its course can flip in the course of one day. But, as of this writing, the war's conduct suggests at least one irony: This supposedly cold-blooded administration is making a remarkable, some might even say militarily dangerous, effort to spare Iraqi lives. Conservatives once attacked Bill Clinton for being too squeamish about civilian casualties. But compared with George W. Bush--at least so far--Clinton didn't even come close. READ MORE >>

Scout's honor TO THE EDITORS: READ MORE >>

The cold war is back in vogue. For a month now, politicians and commentators have been analogizing the newly declared war on terror to America's 40-year war against communism. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, for one, says, "This campaign will be waged much like the cold war, in the sense that it will involve many fronts over a period of time." But the parallel extends beyond similarities of scope and duration. The war on terror has also revived a thorny dilemma about unsavory allies: whether America can fight alongside them without betraying its creed. READ MORE >>