Selected Articles

Obama’s Iraq Challenge,The Nation, December 1, 2008. Will Obama follow through on this pledge to pull out of Iraq? Read article

End of Iraq’s Awakening? The Nation, September 30, 2008. A leader of the Sunni Awakening says the movement is under siege. Read article

Obama’s Evolving Foreign Policy, The Nation, July 1, 2008. Will Obama restore the old, Cold War bipartisan consensus? Read article

Letter from Iran, The Nation, May 1, 2008. From Qom to Tehran, an itinerant reporter finds surprises and contradictions. Read article

The Lessons of Basra, The Nation, March 31, 2008. Both Bush and Maliki are humiliated by the failure of the Basra offensive. Read article

Hothead McCain, The Nation, March 24, 2008. McCain's radical vision for more war. Read article

Is Iran Winning the Iraq War?, The Nation, March 10, 2008. Iran has checkmated the U.S. occupation of Iraq. Read article

Nationalists Stirring in Iraq, The Nation, January 17, 2008. A new coalition of nationalists could change Iraqi politics, if the U.S. gets out of the way. Read article

The withering away of several enemies in Iraq, Toronto Globe and Mail, November 24, 2007. Enemies are disappearing in Iraq. Maybe it's time to leave? Read article

Scenarios for post-occupation Iraq, Mother Jones, November 1, 2007. Four scenarios for what might happen when America finally leaves Iraq. Read article

Iraq and the Democrats 2008: Uh Oh!, The Huffington Post, November 28, 2007. Can the Democrats adjust their Iraq message for 2008? Let's hope so. Read article

Who Exactly Is the Enemy in Iraq?, TomDispatch.com, November 12, 2007. Who, exactly, are we fighting in Iraq? Why are we there? Nearly five years later, there are still no answers to the most basic questions about the Iraq occupation. Read article

Iraq: The Other Surge, The Nation, October 29, 2007. The Biden plan, Blackwater, Kurdish oil deals are sparking Iraqi nationalism. Read article

Cheney Targets Iran, Rolling Stone, October 18, 2007. The vice president is angling to spark war with Iran by next spring. Read article

The GOP's Iraq Problem, The Nation, October 8, 2007. The Republicans' Pyrrhic defense of Bush's Iraq war will cost them in 2008. Read article

Surge Mentality: White House in Denial, The Nation, July 13, 2007. It's official now: the surge has failed. Will the GOP wake up? Read article

Saving Iraq, The Nation, June 27, 2007. A coalition of nationalists could hold Iraq together, but the United States is in the way. Read article

Financing the Imperial Armed Forces, TomDispatch.com, June 6, 2007. A trillion dollars for defense, and higher. Read article

Is There A Nationalist Solution in Iraq?, The American Prospect, June 5, 2007. A new coalition is emerging in Baghdad that could replace Maliki. Read article

The Shia Fellas, The American Prospect, June 1, 2007. How the neocons got into bed with Iran's agents in Iraq. Read article

Evangelicals in Exile, Rolling Stone, March 8, 2007. The Christian right lost big in November, and 2008 doesn't look like it will be much better. Read article

Iraq 101, Mother Jones, March 1, 2007. A primer on Iraq: who's who, what's what, and why. Read article

Apocalypse Not?, Washington Monthly, March 1, 2007. It's time question that assumption that a U.S. pullout from Iraq will lead to disaster. Read article

Breakdown at the Iraq Lie Factory, TomPaine.com, February 14, 2007. People are paying attention to the man behind the curtain this time. Read article

Feith-Libby Lies Exposed, The Nation, February 12, 2007. It's official: what the Pentagon cooked up on Iraq's ties to Al Qaeda was fake. Read article

Bush's Trash Talk on Iran, TomPaine.com, February 1, 2007. One wrong move could lead to war with Tehran. Read article

The Surge to Nowhere, TomDispatch, January 4, 2007. Can Bush get away with Fred Kagan's "surge"? Read article

Saddam's Death Squad Hanging, TomPaine.com, January 3, 2007. An ugly lynching makes civil war worse. Read article

The Consequences of Killing Saddam, The Nation, December 31, 2006. One war criminal hangs another. Read article

Bush v. The Two Majorities, TomPaine.com, December 13, 2006. The president is making policy for an Iraq that exists only in his imagination. Read article

The Iraq Study Group's Fatal Flaw, The Nation, December 7, 2006. Baker and Hamilton want to back Iraq's nonexistent government and strengthen its sectarian army. Read article

Bush’s Meeting with a Murderer, TomPaine.com, December 4, 2006. The ominous implications of Bush’s talks with Abdel Aziz al-Hakim. Read article

Baker to Bush: Game Over, TomPaine.com, November 30, 2006. The Iraqi Study Group opens the door to a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq. Read article

Getting Out, The Nation, November 8, 2006. Now Democrats must thunder from the pulpit, threatening to rain fire and brimstone upon Republicans who want to stay the course. Read article

The Iraq Mandate, TomPaine.com, November 8, 2006. Now Democrats must thunder from the pulpit, threatening to rain fire and brimstone upon Republicans who want to stay the course. Read article

Beginning of the End, The Nation, November 7, 2006. Newly empowered Democrats and nervous Republicans will both welcome the Baker-Hamilton report. Read article

Talking to the Resistance, TomPaine.com, October 24, 2006. A former Iraqi official speaks about the resistance. Read article

The End of Maliki: WIll A Coup Unravel Iraq?, TomDispatch.com, October 19, 2006. A military putsch is a tempting way to create stability in Iraq--but wrong. Read article

Coup in Iraq?, TomPaine.com, October 6, 2006. How far are Bush and Co. willing to go to salvage the unsalvageable? Read article

Beware the NIE, TomPaine.com, September 26, 2006. If the war in Iraq is creating so many terrorists—where are they? Read article

The Phony War, Rolling Stone, September 21, 2006. Five things that Bush doesn't know about his own "war on terror." Read article

The Fixer Meets His Match, The American Prospect, September 20, 2006. James Baker's Iraq Study Group, and Bush 43. Read article

We're Not Going to Iran, TomPaine.com, September 20, 2006. Looks like the realists are winning on Iran. Read article

There Is No War on Terror, TomPaine.com, September 13, 2006. Ten reasons why the campaign against terrorism has been misnamed and overhyped. Read article

Iraq's Reality Sinks In, TomPaine.com, September 8, 2006. The political establishment is beginning to realize that Iraq is lost. Read article

A Higher Power, The Washington Monthly, September 1, 2006. Can anyone, even James Baker, get through to the president about the catastrophe in Iraq? Read article

Bring the War Home, TomPaine.com, August 9, 2006. The war is Iraq is ugly. But the political war at home is about to get ugly too. Read article

Maliki: Dead Man Walking, TomPaine.com, July 26, 2006. Iraq's prime minister recycles administration talking points, while Baghdad burns. Read article

Iraq's Bloody July, TomPaine.com, July 21, 2006. As hell is unleashed in a civil war, Bush refuses to see the situation for what it is. Read article

Neocons Rise from Middle East Ashes, TomPaine.com, July 17, 2006. Israel may be playing deliberately into the neoconservatives' bid to dominate global politics. Read article

Next We Take Tehran, Mother Jones, July 1, 2006. Bush, Iran, and the geopolitics of oil: the American power grab in the Gulf. Read article

An Accord in Iraq?, TomPaine.com,, June 27, 2006. Will the latest peace-feelers from the Iraqi resistance lead to progress in Iraq? Read article

Iraq’s Uncomfortable Realities, TomDispatch.com, June 20, 2006. Is Bush really failing in Iraq? Read article

Bush’s Iraq Offensive, TomPaine.com, June 14, 2006. Karl Rove’s tough talk on Iraq makes clear that the White House thinks it can trump Dems on Iraq. Read article

The Commissar's in Town, The American Prospect, June 1, 2006. Dick Cheney's not-so-secret agent at the State Department: his daughter, Liz. Read article

The Man from Haditha, TomPaine.com, June 1, 2006. For Iraq's ambassador to the U.S., Haditha is personal. Read article

The Bush-Olmert Axis, TomPaine.com, May 31, 2006. Israel's plan to annex big chunks of the West Bank gets Bush support. Read article

Vice Squad, The American Prospect, May 1, 2006. An inside look at how Dick Cheney wields his powerful staff. Read article

The Pentagon's New Spies, Rolling Stone, April 20, 2006. The Defense Department's domestic spy apparatus has been tracking anti-war activists and grandmas. Read article

Iraq War, Round Two, TomPaine.com, April 17, 2006. With the 2006 elections in mind, is Bush planning a spring offensive in Baghdad? Read article

Two Fronts in Iraq, TomPaine.com, March 29, 2006. The Bush administration's handling of the war is turning allies into enemies. Read article

Deja Vu All Over Iran, TomPaine.com, March 14, 2006. I think we've seen this movie before. Read article

Iraq: Preparing for the Worst, TomPaine.com, February 28, 2006. The final collapse of Bush's Iraq adventure. Read article

On the Brink in Iraq, TomPaine.com, February 24, 2006. The Golden Dome bombing might hurdle Iraq into the abyss. Read article

The Neocons' Long War, TomPaine.com, February 8, 2006. Rumsfeld lays out his Thirty Years' War plan. Read article

Washington's Iraq Blindness, TomPaine.com, February 3, 2006. Bush battles an imaginary enemy in Iraq. Read article

Talk to the Enemy, The American Prospect, February 1, 2006. Negotiating our way to an exit strategy in Iraq. Read article

End of the Road Map, TomPaine.com, January 27, 2006. With Hamas' victory, we're back to Square One. Read article

Civil War-Elect, TomPaine.com, January 23, 2006. The ascendance of Shiite religious parties in Iraq's election bodes ill. Read article

Syria: The Next Iraq?, The American Conservative, January 16, 2006. The neocons want to expand on their success in Iraq by going into Syria. Read article

The Bush Who Cried Wolf, TomPaine.com, January 11, 2006. The White House's prevarication on Iraq makes Iran a lot harder to solve. Read article

The Twin Crises of 2006, TomPaine.com, January 3, 2006. Attacking Iran might not be the best way to stabilize Iraq. Read article

Cold War, Holy Warrior, Mother Jones, January 1, 2006. How Ike aligned the United States with the Muslim Brotherhood. Read article

The Three Conversions of Walter B. Jones, Mother Jones, January 1, 2006. From freedom fries to Marine funerals, a Southern Republican's road to Damascus. Read article

Iraq: Game Over, TomPaine.com, December 22, 2005. The Iraqi election will spark civil war in 2006. Read article

Negotiate Now, TomPaine.com, December 20, 2005. A leading Iraqi Baathist speaks, on peace talks with the U.S. and about Zarqawi. Read article

Iraq's Tipping Point, TomPaine.com, December 15, 2005. Things don't look good for post election Iraq. Read article

Iraq's Last Small Hope, TomPaine.com, December 7, 2005. There's a chance, just a chance, that the elections in Iraq next week will open a door to peace talks. Read article

The Insurgencies Are Winning, TomPaine.com, December 2, 2005. Anti-war Democrats are flexing their muscle, but beware the Liebermensheviks. Read article

Getting Out of Iraq, Rolling Stone, December 1, 2005. The only remaining question is not how to win the war, but how to end it. Read article

Political Islam v. Democracy, TomDispatch.com, November 30, 2005. Bush has created an Islamist theocracy in Iraq. Are Syria and Egypt next? Read article

Peace Talk, The American Prospect, November 22, 2005. The Arab League's Iraq conference opened the door to peace. But the White House was pushing the other way. Read article

Our Monsters in Iraq, TomPaine.com, November 18, 2005. We created the men who built Iraq's torture prisons. Read article

The Arab League Tackles Iraq, TomPaine.com, November 16, 2005. The first serious diplomatic effort to end the war in Iraq is underway. Read article

Bush’s Spook, The American Prospect, November 1, 2005. A year or so ago, Porter Goss started work at the CIA. So far, he's nearly wrecked the place. Read article

Keep Investigating, Fitz, TomPaine.com, October 28, 2005. Ken Starr didn't stop with Whitewater. So why should Pat Fitzgerald stop with I. Lewis Libby? Read article

Iraqi Votes Lights the Fuse, TomPaine.com, October 26, 2005. Iraq's constitution solidifies sectarian enmity in Iraq. Next stop: civil war. Read article

Syria: The Next Iraq, TomPaine.com, October 24, 2005. neocons never give up. With all eyes on Iraq, they're looking hungrily at Syria. Read article

Tenet’s Revenge, The American Prospect, October 7, 2005. Porter Goss can’t afford to rattle any more skeletons at the CIA. Read article

Reverse Ba’athism, TomPaine.com, September 27, 2005. Death squads in Iraq? Sunnis are under attack by American-trained militias. Read article

Iraq: No Exit?, TomPaine.com, September 15, 2005. There’s a faint light at the end of the tunnel—exit plans for Iraq are starting to emerge. Read article

The Tipping Point on Iraq, TomPaine.com, September 6, 2005. Political pressure in building on members of Congress to seek a way out of Iraq. Read article

Bigger Than AIPAC, TomPaine.com, August 9, 2005. The Larry Franklin Pentagon spy scandal is a lot bigger than AIPAC. Read article

Bush’s War on Pot, Rolling Stone, July 28, 2005. Inside the White House’s all-out assault on marijuana. Read article

The Quagmire, Rolling Stone, May 5, 2005. As the war in Iraq drags on, it’s beginning to look a lot more like Vietnam. Read article

Agents of Influence, The Nation, October 4, 2004. Did Ariel Sharon run a covert program to influence U.S. decision-making on Iraq? Read article

Still Dreaming of Tehran, The Nation, April 12, 2004. With Laura Rozen. The neocons haven’t given up on spreading the Iraq war into its neighbor. Read article

An Idea Factory for the Democrats, The Nation, March 1, 2004. A new thinktank in Washington wants to be the Democrats’ “brain.” The jury’s out. Read article

Reverend Doomsday, Rolling Stone, January 28, 2004. According to Tim LaHaye, author of the Left Behind series, the Apocalypse is now. Read article

The Lie Factory, Mother Jones, January 1, 2004. With Jason Vest. The only complete account of the inside workings of the Pentagon’s Office of Special Plans. Read article

Humpty Dumpty in Baghdad, The American Prospect, April 30, 2003. The Pentagon is rumbling into Baghdad utterly unprepared for what comes next. Read article

Just the Beginning, The American Prospect, April 1, 2003. For the neocons, Iraq is just the opening salvo in a war to remake the world. Read article

The Pentagon Muzzles the CIA, The American Prospect, December 16, 2002. The Pentagon’s second front in its war plans for Iraq is its war against the CIA. Read article

Tinker, Banker, Neocon, Spy, The American Prospect, November 18, 2002. The first account of Ahmed Chalabi’s ties to American neocons. Read article