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Al Qaeda, Saddam By Helle Dale Published April 26, 2006 Bad news about Iraq is not hard to come by in current media coverage. Terrorist attacks on Iraqi citizens and U.S.troops are recorded day by day. Mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners by Iraqi security forces leaps to the headlines. Calls for Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's resignation are gathering steam among Democrats on Capitol Hill, with Congress set to debate the issue next week. When it comes to any good news out of Iraq, the liberal media are negligent or simply silent. And if there is new information corroborating the reasons...

    Bad news about Iraq is not hard to come by in current media coverage. Terrorist attacks on Iraqi citizens and U.S.troops are recorded day by day. Mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners by Iraqi security forces leaps to the headlines. Calls for Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's resignation are gathering steam among Democrats on Capitol Hill, with Congress set to debate the issue next week.     When it comes to any good news out of Iraq, the liberal media are negligent or simply silent. And if there is new information corroborating the reasons the United States went to war against Saddam Hussein in...

It may also be noted that another U.N. organization, the U.N. Educational and Social Committee (UNESCO) just recently awarded President HUGO CHAVEZ of Venezuela a human rights award, presented by none other than Cuban dictator FIDEL CASTRO. This would be laughable were it not so outrageous.

One of the chief charges leveled against the Bush administration and against the framers of the Iraqi constitution is that it will be a major set back for the women of Iraq. With Islam declared the state religion in the Iraqi constitution and “a major source” of its legal framework, many here have wondered critically whether we invaded Iraq so that Shi’te clerics can now issue retrograde dictates to a population of previously westernized women. This idea rests on two fallacies that deserve to be dealt with, having become part of the mantra of the anti-war critics. The first relates...

Beware what you wish for, lest it comes true. That sentiment could well be echoing through the halls of the United Nations this week. When he nominated Undersecretary of State John Bolton to the post as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, President Bush signaled that he was serious about engaging the errant world body. Bush critics have been clamoring for the administration to do exactly that, and what they are likely to get is engagement as tough love. But let's face it; tough love is better than no love at all. If the United Nations is to have any...

Could it be true that democracy -- having been given a good push by the Bush administration -- is breaking out in the Middle East? The administration has said that with Afghanistan and Iraq's elections as examples, we would see a benevolent domino effect throughout the region. With the fall of Lebanon's Syrian-backed government on Monday, after massive public protests in reaction to the assassination of popular former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, a new window on the future has been opened for the Lebanese. But those who follow public opinion in the Arab world also know that a note of...

Many of us long for simpler times, the days when you could wish your friends and family a "Merry Christmas" without a disclaimer of a hint of irony. Days of glowing lights, nativity scenes, full-throated caroling, collections for the poor, sermons about the infant Jesus bringing hope, joy and light to a world of darkness. Back then, actually not that long ago, Christmas seemed so uncontroversial. Fortunately, the above Christmas spirit has not disappeared entirely from view. It still exists in many communities across this nation. But political correctness and intolerance have done its work over the past several decades....

The political spin machines went into high gear Wednesday with the publication of the report from the Iraq Survey Group on Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction (WMD). The group’s finding that Saddam Hussein did not have a functional program for the production of weapons of mass destruction, nor any known stockpiles of the same, was treated as big news. In the context of a heated election campaign, the news was played as a devastating blow to President Bush’s case for the war in Iraq. But this represents a serious distortion. There is news in the report, to be sure,...

Cloning Castro Helle Dale August 19, 2004 Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has been called "Fidel Castro with oil." Now that description can be elaborated to "Fidel Castro with popular referendum." Unless charges of massive voter fraud by the Venezuelan are upheld, we are now stuck with another autocratic ruler in Latin America, an anti-American demagogue and an ally of Mr. Castro — with a democratic mandate. With the recall petition against him rejected by 58 percent of Venezuela's voters, Mr. Chavez pulled off a calculated gamble. He is now here to stay, possibly for a third presidential term. On the...

"Save me from my friends. My enemies I can handle myself." That used to be one of my father's favorite sayings, and I must confess that when I was a child, it did not seem to make a whole lot of sense. It's only later you realize that not all friends are true friends. On the other hand, you can always be fairly certain who your enemies are. This may be a lesson that Sen. John Kerry still has to learn when it comes to our "friends" and "allies" in Europe. And conversely, Europeans who are positively salivating at the thought of...

For all the firepower the Democratic candidates directed at President Bush for the war in Iraq during the primary campaign, you would think that the Kerry-Edwards presidential campaign would be just brimming with foreign-policy prescriptions. You would especially think so at a time when the United States is engaged militarily in two theaters, Afghanistan and Iraq. And of course in a war against terror that reaches into the American homeland. But if you expected a lot of specifics from "the two Johns," you would be wrong. The foreign-policy recommendations that have come out of the campaigns of the two senators...

The Washington Timeswww.washingtontimes.com 'Shock and bore'By Helle DalePublished July 7, 2004 OXFORD, England. -- Summer in England has many rituals. There's village cricket, a sport that is as leisurely as it is picturesque. There's Wimbleton tennis, invariably beset by pouring rain. There are college balls at Oxford and Cambridge, May balls as the festivities curiously are known in Cambridge even though they are held in June. And there's the newspaper "silly season," when everybody's on vacation and serious news stories dry up.     One good old standby on the newspaper front pages is the state of the marriage of convenience between...

<p>Certain Europeans threw a mighty snit when Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld quipped about the Germans and the French belonging to Old Europe and the new countries coming into NATO and the European Union being the New Europe.</p> <p>Now, the wisecracking Mr. Rumsfeld was probably not thinking in terms of demographics, but he did hit the nail on the head as regards Europe's population growth. Europe's population is aging and shrinking fast. For those who have found Europeans to be hostile, nagging and anti-American in recent years, this may of course not be the worst news in the world.</p>

It is so very tempting to resort to the metaphors of domestic life when discussing the state of Trans-Atlantic relations. Throughout 2003, Americans and Europeans behaved like dysfunctional family members, who just don’t seem to be able to agree on anything. Or like an old married couple who generally could not stand the sight of each other. Taking the temperature of the Trans-Atlantic relationship has become quite a growth industry; as we all know, unhappy families are far more fascinating than happy one. One such exercise in the frank exchange of views across the Atlantic took place over the weekend...

National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice’s strong performance in her appearance before the September 11 Commission should put to rest any notion that the Bush administration was complacent or inattentive to the terrorist threat facing the United States before September 11. Rice capably defended the Bush White House against the storm of controversy created by former National Security Council staffer Richard Clarke’s book Against All Enemies, as well as against Mr. Clarke’s testimony before the Commission. Dr. Rice was convincing, composed, and eloquent in her opening statement and in her answers to the Commission’s pointed — and sometimes partisan — questioning....

We are consumed today wondering about how we can defend our country against the scourge of radical, militant Islam and the terrorism it breeds, but caught up in the present as we are, we must not neglect the past. Honoring victory in past struggles, commemorating the sacrifice of human lives, will help us face today’s dangers. We can all take heart when we consider that the free world did win against the ideology of Communism, which spread its tentacles to every continent. For more than 10 years, dedicated people have working hard to give Washington a memorial to the...

<p>Clear the front page — members of the Bush administration wanted to know about any Iraqi involvement in the terrorist attacks on Washington and New York after September 11. The White House cared nothing about finding the real terrorists who took 3,000 lives, and the administration has to date done a lousy job of fighting terrorism. So says former Bush administration counterterrorism official and newly minted celebrity Richard Clarke.</p>

Ever since the chief weapons inspector David Kay told the Senate Armed Services Committee on January 28 that he has despaired of finding Iraq’s stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), the hunt has been on, not only for the still missing WMDs in Iraq, but for answers as to what on earth happened to our intelligence estimates. Mr. Kay is a credible and honorable man, and his conclusions carry weight. And when Secretary of State Colin Powell says that he might not have recommended going to war had he known a year ago what he knows now, that is...

<p>Whatever happened to the venerableBritish Broadcasting Corp.? The BBC used to be known the world over for bringing you the truth, as told by gentlemen. But it has fallen, and fallen hard. The case of the BBC vs. the Blair government reminds us why the world has moved beyond state monopolies. They are inefficient, can be blinded by arrogance and often have an exaggerated sense of their own power. Nowhere is this truer than in the world of media, a profession that is crowded with big egos in any event.</p>

Kindergarten Foreign PolicyAmericans don't normally elect their presidents on foreign policy, but in some way, the 2004 election looks as though it could depart from precedent. Iraq is constantly in the evening news, and the war has playeda major role in the Democratic primaries. President Bush placed Iraq and the war on terror front and center in this State of the Union speech last week,the kickoff for his re-election campaign. And yet, one could wish for a higher level of discourse on this undeniably important subject, and one could wish for other foreign policy issues to be discussed as...