Middle East expert Anthony Cordesman tells cfr.org's Bernard Gwertzman in a recent interview that US officials have exaggerated the progress made by Iraqi security forces, saying they will need US support at least one or two more years.

Downturn in U.S.-Shiite Relations

Jimmy Carter's recent "no nuke tech for India" op-ed in the Washington Post has been reprinted in a Pakistani newspaper.

Knowing for more than three decades of Indian leaders’ nuclear ambitions, I and all other presidents included them in a consistent policy: no sales of civilian nuclear technology or uncontrolled fuel to any country that refused to sign the NPT.

Camera says this op-ed is factually incorrect.

A dangerous deal with India, by Jimmy Carter | Dawn

In a region of Pakistan almost unknown to most Americans, a sort of failed ministate offering sanctuary to our greatest enemies has arisen. It is a smaller version of what Afghanistan was before Sept. 11, 2001, and it poses a direct threat to vital American national security interests.

Afghanistan: The Long Road Ahead

Iraq is divided and the insurgency is strong, but the real reason for the collapse of Iraq is the weakness of the state. Ali Allawi, the finance minister, told me that corruption had reached Nigerian levels and that the government is just a parasitic entity living on oil revenues. Allawi says the insurgency is largely financed by oil smuggling, and 40 to 50 per cent of the vast profits go to the resistance.

The moment when Iraq could be held together as a truly unified state has probably passed. The real question now is whether Iraq will break up with or without an all-out civil war.

Iraq Diary

I heard that the US was planning an embassy in Baghdad that would cost $1.5 billion, as expensive as the Freedom Tower at Ground Zero, the proposed tallest building in the world.

What I heard about Iraq in 2005

At the request of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the US Army Foreign Military Studies Office has created this portal to provide the general public with access to unclassified documents and media captured during Operation Iraqi Freedom. The US Government has made no determination regarding the authenticity of the documents, validity or factual accuracy of the information contained therein, or the quality of any translations, when available.

Includes such gems as

Title: Propaganda By Iraq TV including dancing and singing with Iraq national songs, praising Saddam Hussein's achievements for Iraq and shouting dreadful words against the United States

Operation Iraqi Freedom Documents

Defense lawyers trying to prevent the government from executing Zacarias Moussaoui for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks ended their case on Tuesday with last-minute efforts to undo the damage he had inflicted on himself with testimony in which he calmly agreed to the charges against him.

Defense Tries to Undo Damage Moussaoui Did

As long as we stay on this high ground of unconditional prohibition, we seem to know where we are. Problems begin when we descend into the particular, when we ask what exactly counts as torture.

'If torture works…' by Michael Ignatieff

''FORTUNATELY, history is not made up of daily headlines, blogs on websites, or the latest sensational attack," Donald Rumsfeld wrote in a Washington Post op-ed column last week. ''History is a bigger picture, and it takes some time and perspective to measure accurately."

Rumsfeld was arguing that any evaluation of the present catastrophe in Iraq should take a longer view, and I agree with him. Indeed, I have spent the last six years exploring two generations' worth of events and decisions that brought us here. I have written a long history of the Pentagon called ''House of War," which will be published in May. But contrary to what Rumsfeld hopes, such a ''bigger picture" in no way exonerates him or the Bush administration for its grave failures. The disaster in Iraq both recapitulates American mistakes of the past and worsens them immeasurably.

Rumsfeld and the Big Picture

As we now enter the fourth year of a seemingly endless Iraqi conflict of which the public has grown weary, it might be good to remember that no war in our history has ever engaged the undivided support of the nation. If anything, last week's sparsely attended anti-war rallies suggest that, while the opposition may be loud, it is not very deep.

I find that hard to believe -- did this guy see Los Angeles? Regardless, it misses the point. This is not about "opposition" -- at this point, it is about mutual acknowledgement of the reality of the situation.

Wars Look Different in Retrospect