Word: civilizations
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...fact, Tehran probably fears an Iraqi civil war more than it relishes calling the shots in Baghdad. One big reason is the Kurds. The more Iraq unravels, the closer Iraq's Kurds will edge toward outright secession. And the closer they get, the more likely it is that their Kurdish brethren across the border--who make up 7% of Iran's population--will try to join them. As non-Persians (and Sunnis to boot), Iran's Kurds get nothing but abuse from their Shi'ite masters in Tehran. In July 2005, Iranian police killed a Kurdish opposition figure, strapped...
Liberal Democrats and conservative Westerners have also made common cause over civil-liberties issues. In Montana last year, for example, the incumbent G.O.P. Senator Conrad Burns tried to attack Jon Tester for his opposition to the Patriot Act. Tester shot back with this ad: "Nearly all of Montana's legislators--including 51 Republicans--want to replace the Patriot Act, because it lets Federal Government agents search our bank accounts, medical records, even our gun sales--for whatever reason. So when you see Senator Burns attack Jon Tester, ask him, Why do you think we're the enemy? Where's Osama...
...fact, after the Montana state legislature passed the resolution opposing the Patriot Act, Governor Schweitzer decided to put some icing on the cake by pardoning 78 Montanans who had been convicted of sedition during World War I--a far more egregious case of the government trampling civil liberties than the Patriot Act is. "Most of them were German immigrants," Schweitzer told me. "Some of them were arrested for speaking German in public, others for refusing to buy war bonds. We had a big ceremony, and family members from 31 states came to honor their ancestors. It got pretty emotional...
...rules are different in civil cases. Since the government isn't a party, it cares less whether the victim comes forward, and so it leaves the issue of anonymity up to the judge. When Bryant's accuser sued him for damages, she was told she had to use her real name. Like Lynch, the judge in that case decided "public confidence in the results of court proceedings require[s] that they be open to observation," accuser's privacy be damned...
...Bush Administration is gearing up for a last, desperate push to pacify Baghdad. The U.S. plan calls for increasing by 21,500 the number of U.S. troops in Iraq in the months ahead, with 17,500 of them deployed to Baghdad, the bleeding heart of the country's civil war. In his Jan. 10 speech announcing the surge, President Bush said U.S. troops would have "a green light" to go into the lairs of powerful Shi'ite militias like al-Sadr's Mahdi Army, which until now have been left largely untouched by them. That hands-off policy has turned...