Middle East & Israel

For years, we have heard about Saddam's brutal suppression of political freedoms in Iraq where free elections, free speech, and a free press were non-existent. But we have heard little about the absence in Iraq of economic freedom and opportunity. As leader of the...

With the end of war, the United States is now working rapidly to restore civil administration in Iraq and get its economy moving again. A key issue will be the Iraqi tax system, which cannot wait until all the questions about Iraq's form of government are worked out....

Who's to blame for the destruction of Iraqi museums, libraries and archives, amounting to what The New York Times calls "one of the greatest cultural disasters in recent Middle Eastern history"? The Bush administration, say academic specialists on the Middle East....

Many commentators have remarked recently that the U.S. stock market has not rebounded by as much as they expected, especially given the recent, rapid U.S. military success in Iraq. But these observers fail to recognize that the market is forward-looking -- and fail to...

Having been forced to recognize that our soldiers won a brilliant military victory in Iraq, media commentators are trying to minimize that achievement by loudly proclaiming how much more difficult it will be to "win the peace" by establishing a stable and benevolent...

Estimated to cost as much as $200 billion, the plan for rebuilding post-war Iraq is astounding in its scope--from repairing roads and sewer systems to revamping the Iraqi government payroll system and printing school textbooks. Yet no one is paying attention to the...

Leaders of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund met in Washington over the weekend for their annual spring meeting. They were under great pressure from the United States to step in to Iraq and help get that country's economy back on its feet. However, if the...

Many of those who oppose military action in Iraq cite the cost as a principal reason. Before the war, they often exaggerated the monetary outlay, the loss of American lives, the danger of a long war and other concerns in order to discourage U.S. engagement. They were...

In exchange for a withdrawal of US and British troops, Saddam Hussein sends word that he is prepared to share some of his power with a senior member of his Baathist inner circle. Instead of maintaining absolute control over the Iraqi state, Saddam agrees to name Tariq...

The Bush Administration has accused Moscow of selling sensitive military equipment to Saddam Hussein in violation of U.N. Security Council sanctions. During a March 24th telephone conversation, President George W. Bush discussed the sales of night vision goggles,...

The campaign to liberate Iraq is going well, though you might not know it from the shock and awe of the media, which apparently discovered only this week that war -- even for a winning army -- is hell. As is the case in nearly every war, brave soldiers have been...

Every day, Americans watch their televisions in awe, as U.S. cruise missiles and precision bombs rain down on Baghdad. There is also much destruction going on elsewhere in Iraq. It may seem absurd, therefore, to suggest that the war in Iraq could somehow end up being...

CAP MAG EXCLUSIVE: As the U.S. military stands poised (finally) to wage war against the Iraqi regime -- merely one spoke in the "Axis of Evil" -- critics of the Bush Administration and apologists for terror regimes claim that there's been a "failure of diplomacy." The...

After months and years of unheeded ultimatums, the US stands on the brink of war with Iraq. In his television address last night, President Bush gave Saddam Hussein one last chance to save himself: he and his sons must quit Iraq within 48 hours. It is considered...

I'm in favor of war on Iraq because I don't want to be killed by terrorists who get access to weapons it's trying to develop. The World Trade Center attack dramatically alerted Americans to the fact that there are some people in the world who want us dead. I was...

Consistency and predictability are core strengths of George W. Bush as a politician. Be the issue domestic (taxes, education) or foreign (terrorism, Iraq), once he settles on a policy he sticks with it. There is no ambiguity, no guessing what his real position might...

The long-simmering Iraq crisis finally appears to be coming to a boil. Hans Blix, the chief U.N. weapons inspector, has ordered Iraq to begin destroying its prohibited Samoud 2 missiles. The Iraqis generously have offered to "study" the matter, although they know full...

In his address before the United Nations Security Council, US Secretary of State Colin Powell made it absolutely clear: instead of dismantling its weapons of mass destruction in plain sight of the world, Iraq has engaged in a deliberate program of deceit and...

The headline of an Associated Press report from Tuesday declares, "Gaps Appear to Widen over Iraq within UN Security Council." The wording is, perhaps unintentionally, precise: the gaps only appear to be widening. The report informs us -- to no one's surprise, I hope...

Even by the grim standards of recent years, the suicide bombings in Tel Aviv last week were horrific. The terrorists, members of the Al-Aqsa Martyr's Brigade (a wing of Yasser Arafat's Fatah organization), positioned themselves at opposite ends of a busy street and...

That's it. The dog ate Saddam Hussein's homework. Just as no self-respecting teacher would accept this lamest of excuses, so the U.N. Security Council surely will not accept the pathetic explanations that are being served up by Iraq's representatives to the United...