Free Republic

In a November 3 column in the Washington Post, Jim Hoagland confirmed that the Joseph Wilson affair was a CIA plot against President Bush.

There are moments in war that strip away the maneuvering, the rhetoric and the confusion that inevitably surround any conflict. One such moment occurred this week in the town of Samarra when Iraqi bandits ambushed a U.S. convoy and were repulsed with heavy losses. Initial news accounts rushed past the obvious to focus on the guerrilla death toll, the tactics of the brief but bloody battle and disputes over civilian casualties. All important, yes. But the most revealing thing in this snapshot of conflict was the motive of these gunmen: They were after the money that U.S. troops were carrying...

The United States and Saudi Arabia have arrived at a familiar moment in a love-hate relationship based on oil and cultural incompatibility. The two governments normally take a deep breath and decide that the benefits their strategic entanglement brings outweigh the problems it creates. But that stock-taking is not happening this time. Problems are proliferating instead of being quietly disarmed by adroit diplomacy. Washington and Riyadh are slipping toward new confrontations over the future of Iraq, democracy in the Middle East and U.S. objections to Saudi financing and support for Arab terrorist groups. These explosive issues already spin beyond the...

Three commandments drive the Bush administration's big-power strategy beyond Iraq: Punish France, ignore Germany, and forgive Russia. That vivid formula was reportedly suggested in policymaking councils recently by Condoleezza Rice, President Bush's national security adviser. That approach is good as an easy-to-remember slogan and largely justified as an emotional response to the problems those three "partners" have created for Bush. But it is unlikely to be effective in the furious international logrolling that lies ahead. It might be wiser to herd the three miscreants rather than pick them off one by one. The views of Rice, an expert on the...

In the long months of planning Operation Iraqi Freedom, Gen. Tommy Franks had a ready answer when challenged on his unorthodox concept of starting his attack with light, fast-moving forces and augmenting them while the battle grew. "Speed kills -- the enemy," Franks said several times at the secret planning sessions, a colleague recalls. But for all his foresight, Franks did not anticipate beginning the war in Iraq exactly as he did, or becoming the target of controversy and criticism over his battle plans. Franks's surprise is understandable on the first point. But he should have been better prepared for...