Bush's Address to the Nation
January 10, 2007

Good evening. Tonight in Iraq, the Armed Forces of the United States are engaged in a struggle that will determine the direction of the global war on terror – and our safety here at home. The new strategy I outline tonight will change America's course in Iraq, and help us succeed in the fight against terror.

When I addressed you just over a year ago, nearly 12 million Iraqis had cast their ballots for a unified and democratic nation. The elections of 2005 were a stunning achievement. We thought that these elections would bring the Iraqis together – and that as we trained Iraqi security forces, we could accomplish our mission with fewer American troops.

The Weekly Standard

The Consequences of Failure in Iraq
They would be awful. But failure can still be averted.
by Reuel Marc Gerecht
01/15/2007, Volume 012, Issue 17

What would be the consequences of an American withdrawal from Iraq?
Trying to wrap one's mind around the ramifications of a failed
Iraq--of an enormous, quite possibly genocidal, Sunni-Shiite clash
exploding around American convoys fleeing south--is daunting. In
part, this is why few have spent much time talking about what might
happen to Iraq, the region, and the United States if the government
in Baghdad and its army collapsed into Sunni and Shiite militias
waging a battle to the death. Among its many omissions, the Iraq
Study Group's stillborn report lacked any sustained description of
the probable and possible consequences of a shattered Iraq.

The Wall Street Journal

REVIEW & OUTLOOK

A Heavier Iraq 'Footprint'
January 8, 2007; Page A16

President Bush is set to announce his new strategy for Iraq this week, and the early signs are that it will include both more American and Iraqi troops to improve security, especially in Baghdad. We think the American people will support the effort, as long as Mr. Bush treats this like the all-in proposition it deserves to be.

The Wall Street Journal

'Our Only Hope'
By BING WEST and ELIOT COHEN
January 8, 2007; Page A17

President Bush has appointed a new Iraq team, including one of our best counterinsurgency generals, David Petraeus, to take command in Iraq; he is also about to unveil a new Iraq strategy. The apparent problem is uncontrolled sectarian violence in Baghdad and the apparent solution is to send more American soldiers to restore order. The actual problem is a dysfunctional, sectarian Iraqi political system. Here at home, the imminent debate between the Congress and the administration about the number of American forces is a diversion. We may need more resources, but first we need a strategy.

NRO

January 05, 2007, 0:30 p.m.

The Bureaucrat Who Couldn’t
Letting John Negroponte burrow in at State won’t serve our interests.

By Frank Gaffney Jr.

As President George W. Bush struggles to resuscitate his presidency in the wake of last year’s “thumping” at the polls and the increasing assertiveness of freedom’s foes around the world, his own State Department remains one of his biggest impediments. Under Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice — even more than during the tenure of her predecessor, Colin Powell — rank insubordination and assiduous bureaucratic sabotaging of Bush’s policies has become the norm.

Time Magazine

Saturday, Nov. 11, 2006
The New Muslim-Liberal Coalition
The victory of Minnesota's Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to the Congress, shows the changing alliances that were set in motion by 9/11
By PETER SKERRY

The victory party for Minnesota's first African-American congressman, Keith Ellison, took place at a trendy nightclub in Minneapolis's downtown warehouse district. Down the block from a glitzy sex shop, Trocaderos is the kind of place where both gays and straights look to get picked up, either at the bar or on the dance floor. But on this occasion, the floor was packed with enthusiastic supporters of Ellison, who also happens to be the first Muslim elected to the U.S. Congress.

NRO

January 03, 2007, 7:00 a.m.

The Story of a Well-Lived Life
Elizabeth Fox-Genovese, R.I.P.

By Robert P. George

Elizabeth Fox-Genovese was a scholar as notable for her bravery as for her brilliance. After what she described as her “long apprenticeship” in the world of secular liberal intellectuals, it was careful reflection on the central moral questions of our time that led her first to doubt and then to abandon both liberalism and secularism. Needless to say, this did not endear her to her former allies.

Liberating Catholic Latin America

BY SAMUEL GREGG
December 29, 2006
URL: http://www.nysun.com/article/45900

Few realize it, but May 2007 could be a decisive moment for Catholic Latin America. That is when Latin America's Catholic bishops will meet in Brazil for the Fifth General Conference of Latin American and Caribbean Bishops to consider the profound challenges confronting the area. The importance attached to this event by the whole Catholic world is evident from the fact that Pope Benedict XVI will be attending.

Bethlehem's Second Coming

BY DANIEL JOHNSON
December 28, 2006
URL: http://www.nysun.com/article/45823

What's in a name? In the case of Bethlehem, a great deal. Few names on earth can compare in resonance to the birthplace of both King David and Jesus Christ. And the resonance of a place name can be a powerful weapon in the wrong hands.

Just before Christmas, the heads of the Anglican and Catholic churches in England — respectively, the archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, and the archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor — led a delegation of all the main Christian denominations in Britain on a visit to Bethlehem. Their mission was supposedly to draw attention to the plight of Christians there. Instead, they allowed themselves to become tools of Islamist propaganda. Here is how it happened.