Word: elemental
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...follow the advice of those, like his Defense Minister Amir Peretz, who insist that Israel's security ultimately requires a peace agreement with the Palestinians. The latter, of course, means dealing with a credible Palestinian government - and for the foreseeable future, Hamas would likely be the leading element of such a government. As remote as the possibility of an Israel-Hamas government peace agreement may seem right now, the alternative of a unilateral "peace" has already proven itself to be an illusion...
...objective of Maliki's "national unity" policy, strongly backed by U.S. ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, involves trying to draw the Sunnis, including some mainstream insurgent groups, into the political process. (Though the Al-Qaeda in Iraq element grabs much of the media attention, it accounts for no more than about 10% of the insurgency.) U.S. interests both in stabilizing Iraq and in limiting Iranian influence there depend on drawing the majority of the Sunni community into a new national consensus. But unless the bulk of the insurgents who are mounting most of the daily attacks on Coalition forces are offered...
...might even prefer these brief snippets of "stolen time" to the long stretches of authorized vacation. We find it more fun--and more satisfying--to goof off when we're supposed to be working or running errands. It's our way of getting even. This subversive element is what makes the time stolen more pleasurable...
...death of Qaeda leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi last week allows both the government and the insurgent mainstream to adopt a new narrative in which sectarian bloodletting can be blamed on a foreign element that is being liquidated, leaving Iraqis to resolve their differences politically and forge a new consensus. In fact, Zarqawi's elimination - and claims that U.S. and Iraqi forces have followed up with a damaging crackdown on Qaeda cells around Baghdad - has coincided with Maliki's moves towards reconciliation with the Sunnis, including the release of some 2,500 prisoners suspected of aiding the insurgents...
...Fort Benning, Georgia, was responsible for helping to educate such military men as Panamanian dictator and convicted drug trafficker Manuel Noriega, the late Argentine junta leader imprisoned for human rights abuses Leopoldo Galtieri, and Salvadoran right-wing militia leader Maj. Roberto D'Aubuisson. Despite adding a "human rights" element to its curriculum in recent years, the school has engendered so much suspicion and hostility that it was dubbed the School of Assassins...