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<channel><title><![CDATA[washingtonpost.com - David Ignatius -- Washington Post Columnist (washingtonpost.com)]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/linkset/2005/03/24/LI2005032401639.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</link><description><![CDATA[David Ignatius writes about international affairs and U.S. foreign policy for The Washington Post op-ed page.]]></description><language>en-us</language><ttl>15</ttl><image><title>washingtonpost.com</title><width>140</width><height>20</height><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com?nav=rss</link><url>http://media3.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/hp/image/wp_web.gif </url></image>
<item><title><![CDATA[ The Risk of the Zinger ]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/19/AR2008081902257.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/19/AR2008081902257.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</guid><pubDate>Wed, 20 Aug 2008 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[ It was February 2006 in Munich, and John McCain's eyes were flashing with the mischievous spark that comes when he's about to fire a verbal rocket. "I've got a zinger coming," he told me, referring to a speech on Russia he would give a few hours later at the annual Munich Conference on Security Policy. ]]></description><dc:creator><![CDATA[David Ignatius]]></dc:creator><category><![CDATA[The]]></category><category><![CDATA[Risk]]></category><category><![CDATA[of]]></category><category><![CDATA[the]]></category><category><![CDATA[Zinger]]></category><category><![CDATA[John McCain]]></category><category><![CDATA[Russia]]></category><category><![CDATA[Republic of Georgia]]></category><category><![CDATA[Mikhail Saakashvili]]></category><category><![CDATA[United States]]></category><category><![CDATA[Munich]]></category><category><![CDATA[Vladimir Putin]]></category><category><![CDATA[NATO]]></category><category><![CDATA[Condoleezza Rice]]></category><category><![CDATA[Mitt Romney]]></category><category><![CDATA[Peter Finn]]></category><category><![CDATA[Randy Scheunemann]]></category><category><![CDATA[Tbilisi]]></category><category><![CDATA[Tskhinvali]]></category><category><![CDATA[Berlin Wall]]></category><category><![CDATA[Bosnia and Herzegovina]]></category><category><![CDATA[Central Intelligence Agency]]></category><category><![CDATA[G-8]]></category><category><![CDATA[Munich Conference on Security Policy]]></category><category><![CDATA[U.S. Republican Party]]></category><category><![CDATA[Arizona]]></category><category><![CDATA[Eastern Europe]]></category><category><![CDATA[Kosovo]]></category><category><![CDATA[Massachusetts]]></category><category><![CDATA[South Ossetia]]></category></item>
<item><title><![CDATA[ Gates's Next Mission ]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/06/AR2008080602511.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/06/AR2008080602511.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</guid><pubDate>Thu, 07 Aug 2008 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[ Defense Secretary Bob Gates has been talking recently about how to rebuild America's national security architecture so that it fits the 21st century. The next president should think about assigning Gates to fix what he rightly says is broken. ]]></description><dc:creator><![CDATA[David Ignatius]]></dc:creator><category><![CDATA[Gates's]]></category><category><![CDATA[Next]]></category><category><![CDATA[Mission]]></category><category><![CDATA[Robert Gates]]></category><category><![CDATA[Iran]]></category><category><![CDATA[The Pentagon]]></category><category><![CDATA[Arash Alaei]]></category><category><![CDATA[U.S. Department of State]]></category><category><![CDATA[United States]]></category><category><![CDATA[Donald H. Rumsfeld]]></category><category><![CDATA[James R. Clapper]]></category><category><![CDATA[Mike Hayden]]></category><category><![CDATA[Mike McConnell]]></category><category><![CDATA[Robert Satloff]]></category><category><![CDATA[Central Intelligence Agency]]></category><category><![CDATA[Israel]]></category><category><![CDATA[Office of the Director of National Intelligence]]></category><category><![CDATA[Refugees International]]></category><category><![CDATA[The Washington Institute for Near East Policy]]></category><category><![CDATA[U.S. Armed Forces]]></category><category><![CDATA[White House National Security Council]]></category><category><![CDATA[World Health Organization]]></category><category><![CDATA[Middle East]]></category><category><![CDATA[Africa]]></category><category><![CDATA[Washington, DC]]></category></item>
<item><title><![CDATA[ 'Bomb Bomb Iran'? Not Likely. ]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/01/AR2008080102872.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/01/AR2008080102872.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</guid><pubDate>Sun, 03 Aug 2008 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[ Analysts speculate about the danger of a U.S. or Israeli military attack on Iran before the Bush administration departs office next January. But if you read the tea leaves carefully, the evidence is actually pointing in the opposite direction. ]]></description><dc:creator><![CDATA[David Ignatius]]></dc:creator><category><![CDATA['Bomb]]></category><category><![CDATA[Bomb]]></category><category><![CDATA[Iran'?]]></category><category><![CDATA[Not]]></category><category><![CDATA[Likely.]]></category><category><![CDATA[Iran]]></category><category><![CDATA[United States]]></category><category><![CDATA[Israel]]></category><category><![CDATA[Barack Obama]]></category><category><![CDATA[Michael G. Mullen]]></category><category><![CDATA[Mike McConnell]]></category><category><![CDATA[Tehran]]></category><category><![CDATA[Anthony Lake]]></category><category><![CDATA[Geoff Morrell]]></category><category><![CDATA[Mahmoud Ahmadinejad]]></category><category><![CDATA[Susan Rice]]></category><category><![CDATA[Afghanistan]]></category><category><![CDATA[Iraq]]></category><category><![CDATA[The Washington Institute for Near East Policy]]></category><category><![CDATA[The White House]]></category><category><![CDATA[U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff]]></category><category><![CDATA[Washington, DC]]></category></item>
<item><title><![CDATA[ McCain's True Voice ]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/30/AR2008073002948.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/30/AR2008073002948.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</guid><pubDate>Thu, 31 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[ In the dog days of summer, John McCain's political personality has become so fuzzy that even some Republicans are worrying about his viability. But if you want a reminder of why McCain should be a formidable candidate, take another look at his remarkable 1999 autobiography, "Faith of My Fathers."<br clear="all"/><a href="http://ad.doubleclick.net/jump/wpni.rss/opinion/columns;pos=ad9;tile=9;ad=rss;sz=479x40;ord=3419114649160" target="_blank"><img src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/ad/wpni.rss/opinion/columns;pos=ad9;tile=9;ad=rss;sz=479x40;ord=3419114649160" border="0" vspace="5"></a> ]]></description><dc:creator><![CDATA[David Ignatius]]></dc:creator><category><![CDATA[McCain's]]></category><category><![CDATA[True]]></category><category><![CDATA[Voice]]></category><category><![CDATA[John McCain]]></category><category><![CDATA[United States]]></category><category><![CDATA[Vietnam]]></category><category><![CDATA[Barack Obama]]></category><category><![CDATA[Iraq]]></category></item>
<item><title><![CDATA[ A History For Iraqis To Write ]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/25/AR2008072502763.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/25/AR2008072502763.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</guid><pubDate>Sun, 27 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[ With characteristic self-absorption, Americans are looking at Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's recent statements about a timetable for withdrawal of U.S. troops in terms of our 2008 presidential election. We should see this issue instead in terms of Iraqi history. ]]></description><dc:creator><![CDATA[David Ignatius]]></dc:creator><category><![CDATA[A]]></category><category><![CDATA[History]]></category><category><![CDATA[For]]></category><category><![CDATA[Iraqis]]></category><category><![CDATA[To]]></category><category><![CDATA[Write]]></category><category><![CDATA[Nouri al-Maliki]]></category><category><![CDATA[United States]]></category><category><![CDATA[Iraq]]></category><category><![CDATA[Barack Obama]]></category><category><![CDATA[George W. Bush]]></category><category><![CDATA[Ba'ath Party]]></category><category><![CDATA[Baghdad]]></category><category><![CDATA[Saddam Hussein]]></category><category><![CDATA[United Kingdom]]></category><category><![CDATA[John McCain]]></category><category><![CDATA[Raad Alkadiri]]></category><category><![CDATA[Tehran]]></category><category><![CDATA[William R. Polk]]></category><category><![CDATA[Iraq Petroleum Co.]]></category><category><![CDATA[PFC Energy]]></category><category><![CDATA[Washington, DC]]></category></item>
<item><title><![CDATA[ Talking Into the Sunset ]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/23/AR2008072302902.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/23/AR2008072302902.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</guid><pubDate>Thu, 24 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[ It's the season for peace talks in the Middle East, as the region watches the clock and waits for the departure of the Bush administration. Some of what's going on is real and some of it is illusion, but to a student of diplomatic intrigue all of it is interesting. So here's a brief guide to the Syrian and Iranian negotiating tracks: ]]></description><dc:creator><![CDATA[David Ignatius]]></dc:creator><category><![CDATA[Talking]]></category><category><![CDATA[Into]]></category><category><![CDATA[the]]></category><category><![CDATA[Sunset]]></category><category><![CDATA[Iran]]></category><category><![CDATA[Bill Clinton]]></category><category><![CDATA[Damascus]]></category><category><![CDATA[Hezbollah]]></category><category><![CDATA[Israel]]></category><category><![CDATA[Middle East]]></category><category><![CDATA[Annapolis (Maryland)]]></category><category><![CDATA[Barack Obama]]></category><category><![CDATA[Barbara Slavin]]></category><category><![CDATA[Bashar Assad]]></category><category><![CDATA[Geneva]]></category><category><![CDATA[Jerusalem]]></category><category><![CDATA[Recep Tayyip Erdogan]]></category><category><![CDATA[Tehran]]></category><category><![CDATA[Sea of Galilee]]></category><category><![CDATA[Shebaa Farms]]></category><category><![CDATA[Syria]]></category><category><![CDATA[Turkey]]></category><category><![CDATA[United Nations Security Council]]></category><category><![CDATA[Golan Heights]]></category><category><![CDATA[Lebanon]]></category></item>
<item><title><![CDATA[ Paulson's View ]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/17/AR2008071702406.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/17/AR2008071702406.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</guid><pubDate>Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[ Henry Paulson was in shirt sleeves yesterday afternoon in his office at the Treasury Department, tie loose at the collar, feet propped up on the coffee table. Behind his desk, Bloomberg screens were blinking out instant price quotations from the turbulent financial markets, but Paulson wasn't focused on the short term for a change. He was discussing the long-term structural reforms he hopes will bring greater stability. ]]></description><dc:creator><![CDATA[David Ignatius]]></dc:creator><category><![CDATA[Paulson's]]></category><category><![CDATA[View]]></category><category><![CDATA[Henry M. Paulson]]></category><category><![CDATA[Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc.]]></category><category><![CDATA[Ben Bernanke]]></category><category><![CDATA[George W. Bush]]></category><category><![CDATA[U.S. Department of the Treasury]]></category><category><![CDATA[Fannie Mae]]></category><category><![CDATA[Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation]]></category><category><![CDATA[Freddie Mac Holdings]]></category><category><![CDATA[Goldman Sachs Group Inc.]]></category><category><![CDATA[U.S. Federal Reserve]]></category><category><![CDATA[Washington, DC]]></category></item>
<item><title><![CDATA[ Bailing Hard and Getting Soaked ]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/15/AR2008071502423.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/15/AR2008071502423.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</guid><pubDate>Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[ What are we taxpayers getting for our money as we bail out the geniuses who have run some of our leading financial institutions into the ground? The Treasury is extending a reported $300 billion line of credit to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, but what do we receive in return?<br clear="all"/><a href="http://ad.doubleclick.net/jump/wpni.rss/opinion/columns;pos=ad9;tile=9;ad=rss;sz=479x40;ord=3419114650948" target="_blank"><img src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/ad/wpni.rss/opinion/columns;pos=ad9;tile=9;ad=rss;sz=479x40;ord=3419114650948" border="0" vspace="5"></a> ]]></description><dc:creator><![CDATA[David Ignatius]]></dc:creator><category><![CDATA[Bailing]]></category><category><![CDATA[Hard]]></category><category><![CDATA[and]]></category><category><![CDATA[Getting]]></category><category><![CDATA[Soaked]]></category><category><![CDATA[U.S. Federal Reserve]]></category><category><![CDATA[Eugene Ludwig]]></category><category><![CDATA[Resolution Trust Corporation]]></category><category><![CDATA[Warren Buffett]]></category><category><![CDATA[Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc.]]></category><category><![CDATA[Citigroup Inc.]]></category><category><![CDATA[Enron Corporation]]></category><category><![CDATA[Fannie Mae]]></category><category><![CDATA[Freddie Mac Holdings]]></category><category><![CDATA[Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight]]></category><category><![CDATA[SunTrust Banks Inc.]]></category><category><![CDATA[The Wall Street Journal]]></category><category><![CDATA[Wachovia Corporation]]></category><category><![CDATA[Washington Mutual Inc.]]></category></item>
<item><title><![CDATA[ An Army That Learns ]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/11/AR2008071102548.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/11/AR2008071102548.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</guid><pubDate>Sun, 13 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[ The U.S. Army has done something remarkable in its new history of the disastrous first 18 months of the American occupation of Iraq: It has conducted a rigorous self-critique of how bad decisions were made, so that the Army won't make them again. ]]></description><dc:creator><![CDATA[David Ignatius]]></dc:creator><category><![CDATA[An]]></category><category><![CDATA[Army]]></category><category><![CDATA[That]]></category><category><![CDATA[Learns]]></category><category><![CDATA[Iraq]]></category><category><![CDATA[U.S. Army]]></category><category><![CDATA[Baghdad]]></category><category><![CDATA[Douglas Feith]]></category><category><![CDATA[Saddam Hussein]]></category><category><![CDATA[Tommy Franks]]></category><category><![CDATA[U.S. Department of Defense]]></category><category><![CDATA[United States]]></category><category><![CDATA[David Petraeus]]></category><category><![CDATA[Donald H. Rumsfeld]]></category><category><![CDATA[Donald P. Wright]]></category><category><![CDATA[Eric Shinseki]]></category><category><![CDATA[George Casey]]></category><category><![CDATA[John Abizaid]]></category><category><![CDATA[L. Paul Bremer]]></category><category><![CDATA[Princeton]]></category><category><![CDATA[Timothy R. Reese]]></category><category><![CDATA[West Point]]></category><category><![CDATA[Abu Ghraib]]></category><category><![CDATA[Al Qaeda]]></category><category><![CDATA[Central Intelligence Agency]]></category><category><![CDATA[Coalition Provisional Authority]]></category><category><![CDATA[U.S. Central Command]]></category></item>
<item><title><![CDATA[ Tehran's Definite 'Maybe' ]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/09/AR2008070901935.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/09/AR2008070901935.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</guid><pubDate>Thu, 10 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[ NEW YORK -- Even in midsummer, Iran's foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, wears the three-piece suit of a traditional diplomat. But faithful to the dress code of the Iranian revolution, he doesn't wear a necktie. That mix of symbols is a good snapshot of Iran's hard-and-soft foreign policy these days. ]]></description><dc:creator><![CDATA[David Ignatius]]></dc:creator><category><![CDATA[Tehran's]]></category><category><![CDATA[Definite]]></category><category><![CDATA['Maybe']]></category><category><![CDATA[Manouchehr Mottaki]]></category><category><![CDATA[United States]]></category><category><![CDATA[Iran]]></category><category><![CDATA[Israel]]></category><category><![CDATA[Iraq]]></category><category><![CDATA[Henry Kissinger]]></category><category><![CDATA[Hossein Salami]]></category><category><![CDATA[Javier Solana]]></category><category><![CDATA[Tehran]]></category><category><![CDATA[Afghanistan]]></category><category><![CDATA[Booz Allen Hamilton Inc.]]></category><category><![CDATA[European Union]]></category><category><![CDATA[Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps]]></category><category><![CDATA[Japan]]></category><category><![CDATA[Persia]]></category><category><![CDATA[United Nations]]></category><category><![CDATA[United Nations Security Council]]></category><category><![CDATA[Middle East]]></category><category><![CDATA[Lebanon]]></category><category><![CDATA[Washington, DC]]></category></item>
<item><title><![CDATA[ Obama: Strength Out of Weakness ]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/04/AR2008070402087.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/04/AR2008070402087.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</guid><pubDate>Sun, 06 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[ During the July 4th week, Barack Obama did something that's becoming characteristic of his campaign: He took an issue on which he appeared to be vulnerable -- in this case the cluster of themes lumped together as "patriotism" -- and by going on the offensive in a powerful speech, he subtly changed the terms of the debate. ]]></description><dc:creator><![CDATA[David Ignatius]]></dc:creator><category><![CDATA[Obama:]]></category><category><![CDATA[Strength]]></category><category><![CDATA[Out]]></category><category><![CDATA[of]]></category><category><![CDATA[Weakness]]></category><category><![CDATA[Barack Obama]]></category><category><![CDATA[Jeremiah Wright]]></category><category><![CDATA[John McCain]]></category><category><![CDATA[United States]]></category><category><![CDATA[David Plouffe]]></category><category><![CDATA[Hillary Clinton]]></category><category><![CDATA[John Kerry]]></category><category><![CDATA[Michael Dukakis]]></category><category><![CDATA[Philadelphia]]></category><category><![CDATA[Ronald Reagan]]></category><category><![CDATA[Kenya]]></category><category><![CDATA[National Press Club]]></category><category><![CDATA[Vietnam]]></category></item>
<item><title><![CDATA[ Spy Games in Iran ]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/01/AR2008070102231.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/01/AR2008070102231.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</guid><pubDate>Wed, 02 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[ NEW YORK -- In the new cold war between America and Iran, the United States appears to be running some limited covert operations across the Iranian border. But according to knowledgeable sources, this effort shares the defect of broader U.S. policy toward Iran -- it is tentative and ill-coordinated, and it undermines diplomacy without bringing serious pressure on the regime.<br clear="all"/><a href="http://ad.doubleclick.net/jump/wpni.rss/opinion/columns;pos=ad9;tile=9;ad=rss;sz=479x40;ord=3419114652677" target="_blank"><img src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/ad/wpni.rss/opinion/columns;pos=ad9;tile=9;ad=rss;sz=479x40;ord=3419114652677" border="0" vspace="5"></a> ]]></description><dc:creator><![CDATA[David Ignatius]]></dc:creator><category><![CDATA[Spy]]></category><category><![CDATA[Games]]></category><category><![CDATA[in]]></category><category><![CDATA[Iran]]></category><category><![CDATA[Iran]]></category><category><![CDATA[United States]]></category><category><![CDATA[Syria]]></category><category><![CDATA[Iraq]]></category><category><![CDATA[Hamas]]></category><category><![CDATA[Hezbollah]]></category><category><![CDATA[Israel]]></category><category><![CDATA[Gaza Strip]]></category><category><![CDATA[Seymour Hersh]]></category><category><![CDATA[Bashar Assad]]></category><category><![CDATA[Damascus]]></category><category><![CDATA[Dick Cheney]]></category><category><![CDATA[Manouchehr Mottaki]]></category><category><![CDATA[Ronald Reagan]]></category><category><![CDATA[Afghanistan]]></category><category><![CDATA[Microsoft PowerPoint]]></category><category><![CDATA[Nicaragua]]></category><category><![CDATA[Quds Force]]></category><category><![CDATA[Saudi Arabia]]></category><category><![CDATA[U.S. Armed Forces]]></category><category><![CDATA[U.S.S.R.]]></category><category><![CDATA[United Nations Security Council]]></category><category><![CDATA[Kurdistan]]></category><category><![CDATA[Lebanon]]></category></item>
<item><title><![CDATA[ Why Not A Debate In Dubai? ]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/27/AR2008062702769.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/27/AR2008062702769.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</guid><pubDate>Sun, 29 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[ Here's a crazy idea that's being discussed by the rulers of the Persian Gulf city-state of Dubai: What if they were to invite Barack Obama and John McCain to come to the desert oasis for a presidential debate? ]]></description><dc:creator><![CDATA[David Ignatius]]></dc:creator><category><![CDATA[Why]]></category><category><![CDATA[Not]]></category><category><![CDATA[A]]></category><category><![CDATA[Debate]]></category><category><![CDATA[In]]></category><category><![CDATA[Dubai?]]></category><category><![CDATA[Barack Obama]]></category><category><![CDATA[John McCain]]></category><category><![CDATA[Dubai]]></category><category><![CDATA[United States]]></category><category><![CDATA[Middle East]]></category><category><![CDATA[Iran]]></category><category><![CDATA[Iraq]]></category><category><![CDATA[United Arab Emirates]]></category><category><![CDATA[Atlanta]]></category><category><![CDATA[Bill Burton]]></category><category><![CDATA[Mohammed bin Rashid]]></category><category><![CDATA[Persian Gulf]]></category><category><![CDATA[Afghanistan]]></category><category><![CDATA[DP World]]></category><category><![CDATA[Israel]]></category><category><![CDATA[Washington, DC]]></category></item>
<item><title><![CDATA[ A Surprise Negotiation ]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/24/AR2008062401214.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/24/AR2008062401214.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</guid><pubDate>Wed, 25 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[ What's going on between Syria and Israel? Are the indirect peace negotiations through Turkish mediators that were announced last month for real? I've been talking with sources on all sides, and they present an upbeat view of a peace process that has taken many people (including top Bush administration officials) by surprise. ]]></description><dc:creator><![CDATA[David Ignatius]]></dc:creator><category><![CDATA[A]]></category><category><![CDATA[Surprise]]></category><category><![CDATA[Negotiation]]></category><category><![CDATA[Israel]]></category><category><![CDATA[Syria]]></category><category><![CDATA[Iran]]></category><category><![CDATA[Damascus]]></category><category><![CDATA[Hezbollah]]></category><category><![CDATA[Subhi Tufaily]]></category><category><![CDATA[Bashar Assad]]></category><category><![CDATA[Ehud Olmert]]></category><category><![CDATA[Tel Aviv]]></category><category><![CDATA[Turkey]]></category><category><![CDATA[Baalbek]]></category><category><![CDATA[Ehud Barak]]></category><category><![CDATA[Gabi Ashkenazi]]></category><category><![CDATA[Hassan Nasrallah]]></category><category><![CDATA[Imad Mugniyah]]></category><category><![CDATA[London]]></category><category><![CDATA[Tehran]]></category><category><![CDATA[Al-Quds Al Arabi]]></category><category><![CDATA[Ba'ath Party]]></category><category><![CDATA[Central Intelligence Agency]]></category><category><![CDATA[France]]></category><category><![CDATA[Israeli Mossad]]></category><category><![CDATA[Saudi Arabia]]></category><category><![CDATA[United States]]></category><category><![CDATA[Bekaa Valley]]></category><category><![CDATA[Golan Heights]]></category><category><![CDATA[Middle East]]></category><category><![CDATA[Lebanon]]></category></item>
<item><title><![CDATA[ Failing Airlines, Failing Government ]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/20/AR2008062002277.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/20/AR2008062002277.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</guid><pubDate>Sun, 22 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[ Surveying the decline of the airline industry, retired American Airlines CEO Bob Crandall said something this month that both presidential candidates should take to heart: "The United States used to be good at solving problems. These days, we don't seem up to the job." ]]></description><dc:creator><![CDATA[David Ignatius]]></dc:creator><category><![CDATA[Failing]]></category><category><![CDATA[Airlines,]]></category><category><![CDATA[Failing]]></category><category><![CDATA[Government]]></category><category><![CDATA[Bob Crandall]]></category><category><![CDATA[Delta Air Lines Inc.]]></category><category><![CDATA[United States]]></category><category><![CDATA[Air Transport Association]]></category><category><![CDATA[Lufthansa AG]]></category><category><![CDATA[US Airways Group Inc.]]></category><category><![CDATA[Northwest (Washington, DC)]]></category><category><![CDATA[New York]]></category><category><![CDATA[Washington, DC]]></category></item>
<item><title><![CDATA[ The Right Iraq Footprint ]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/18/AR2008061802635.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/18/AR2008061802635.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</guid><pubDate>Thu, 19 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[ "Don't be afraid of Iraqi sovereignty," Gen. John Abizaid used to say when he was Centcom commander. And that's good advice now as Iraqis and Americans think about the new "status of forces" agreement that will shape the country next year when the Bush administration is gone.<br clear="all"/><a href="http://ad.doubleclick.net/jump/wpni.rss/opinion/columns;pos=ad9;tile=9;ad=rss;sz=479x40;ord=3419114655780" target="_blank"><img src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/ad/wpni.rss/opinion/columns;pos=ad9;tile=9;ad=rss;sz=479x40;ord=3419114655780" border="0" vspace="5"></a> ]]></description><dc:creator><![CDATA[David Ignatius]]></dc:creator><category><![CDATA[The]]></category><category><![CDATA[Right]]></category><category><![CDATA[Iraq]]></category><category><![CDATA[Footprint]]></category><category><![CDATA[Iraq]]></category><category><![CDATA[United States]]></category><category><![CDATA[John Abizaid]]></category><category><![CDATA[David Petraeus]]></category><category><![CDATA[Barack Obama]]></category><category><![CDATA[Henry Kissinger]]></category><category><![CDATA[John McCain]]></category><category><![CDATA[Osama bin Laden]]></category><category><![CDATA[U.S. Central Command]]></category><category><![CDATA[Afghanistan]]></category><category><![CDATA[Al Qaeda]]></category><category><![CDATA[Central Intelligence Agency]]></category><category><![CDATA[Germany]]></category><category><![CDATA[Hamas]]></category><category><![CDATA[Hezbollah]]></category><category><![CDATA[Iran]]></category><category><![CDATA[Palestine Liberation Organization]]></category><category><![CDATA[Philip Merrill Center for Strategic Studies]]></category><category><![CDATA[South Korea]]></category><category><![CDATA[The Taliban]]></category></item>
<item><title><![CDATA[ A Fix-It List for The Spies ]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/13/AR2008061302638.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/13/AR2008061302638.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</guid><pubDate>Sun, 15 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[ VERGENNES, Vermont -- If the U.S. intelligence community were a business, it would be obvious that there's something wrong: It's in the middle of a misguided reorganization that makes the AOL-Time Warner merger look good; its most famous brand name, "CIA," has been badly tarnished; and it has lost the confidence of its three shareholders -- the executive branch, Congress and the American public. This bear market in intelligence is not helpful for a nation that is fighting two major wars. ]]></description><dc:creator><![CDATA[David Ignatius]]></dc:creator><category><![CDATA[A]]></category><category><![CDATA[Fix-It]]></category><category><![CDATA[List]]></category><category><![CDATA[for]]></category><category><![CDATA[The]]></category><category><![CDATA[Spies]]></category><category><![CDATA[Central Intelligence Agency]]></category><category><![CDATA[United States]]></category><category><![CDATA[AOL LLC]]></category><category><![CDATA[Time Warner Inc.]]></category><category><![CDATA[Art Brown]]></category><category><![CDATA[Barack Obama]]></category><category><![CDATA[Condoleezza Rice]]></category><category><![CDATA[David Kilcullen]]></category><category><![CDATA[George Tenet]]></category><category><![CDATA[John McCain]]></category><category><![CDATA[John McLaughlin]]></category><category><![CDATA[Afghanistan]]></category><category><![CDATA[Al Qaeda]]></category><category><![CDATA[Iraq]]></category><category><![CDATA[Philip Merrill Center for Strategic Studies]]></category><category><![CDATA[The White House]]></category><category><![CDATA[Asia]]></category><category><![CDATA[Washington, DC]]></category></item>
<item><title><![CDATA[ Obama's Economic Challenge ]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/11/AR2008061103172.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/11/AR2008061103172.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</guid><pubDate>Thu, 12 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[ It was a telling sign that one of the first things Barack Obama did after clinching the Democratic presidential nomination was to hire a new economic policy director, someone who can help him move from the anti-NAFTA left of the party toward the pro-market center that traces its lineage to Clinton administration Treasury secretaries Robert Rubin and Lawrence Summers. ]]></description><dc:creator><![CDATA[David Ignatius]]></dc:creator><category><![CDATA[Obama's]]></category><category><![CDATA[Economic]]></category><category><![CDATA[Challenge]]></category><category><![CDATA[Barack Obama]]></category><category><![CDATA[Jason Furman]]></category><category><![CDATA[Rahm Emanuel]]></category><category><![CDATA[Bill Clinton]]></category><category><![CDATA[Robert Rubin]]></category><category><![CDATA[Hillary Clinton]]></category><category><![CDATA[Lawrence Summers]]></category><category><![CDATA[Lyndon Johnson]]></category><category><![CDATA[NAFTA]]></category><category><![CDATA[The Brookings Institution]]></category><category><![CDATA[United States]]></category></item>
<item><title><![CDATA[ At the Tip of Iran's Spear ]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/06/AR2008060603152.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/06/AR2008060603152.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</guid><pubDate>Sun, 08 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[ Let's try for a moment to put ourselves in the mind of Brig. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the Quds Force of Iran's Revolutionary Guard. For it is the soft-spoken Soleimani, not Iran's bombastic president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who plays a decisive role in his nation's confrontation with the United States. ]]></description><dc:creator><![CDATA[David Ignatius]]></dc:creator><category><![CDATA[At]]></category><category><![CDATA[the]]></category><category><![CDATA[Tip]]></category><category><![CDATA[of]]></category><category><![CDATA[Iran's]]></category><category><![CDATA[Spear]]></category><category><![CDATA[Iran]]></category><category><![CDATA[Iraq]]></category><category><![CDATA[United States]]></category><category><![CDATA[Baghdad Green Zone]]></category><category><![CDATA[Quds Force]]></category><category><![CDATA[Basra]]></category><category><![CDATA[Nouri al-Maliki]]></category><category><![CDATA[al-Mahdi Army]]></category><category><![CDATA[Muqtada al-Sadr]]></category><category><![CDATA[Sadr City]]></category><category><![CDATA[Tehran]]></category><category><![CDATA[Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps]]></category><category><![CDATA[Ayatollah Ali Khamenei]]></category><category><![CDATA[Baghdad]]></category><category><![CDATA[David Petraeus]]></category><category><![CDATA[Jalal Talabani]]></category><category><![CDATA[Mahmoud Ahmadinejad]]></category><category><![CDATA[Ryan Crocker]]></category><category><![CDATA[Afghanistan]]></category><category><![CDATA[Hamas]]></category><category><![CDATA[Hezbollah]]></category><category><![CDATA[Middle East]]></category><category><![CDATA[Lebanon]]></category></item>
<item><title><![CDATA[ Reining In the Kings of Tort ]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/04/AR2008060403051.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/04/AR2008060403051.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</guid><pubDate>Thu, 05 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[ In the novels of John Grisham and the real-life exploits of consumer advocates such as Ralph Nader, the plaintiff's lawyers are the good guys -- populist heroes who battle the avarice of corporate America. But that folkloric image has been battered by two recent cases that show how the plaintiffs' bar itself has been vulnerable to the greed and lawlessness it seeks to combat.<br clear="all"/><a href="http://ad.doubleclick.net/jump/wpni.rss/opinion/columns;pos=ad9;tile=9;ad=rss;sz=479x40;ord=3419114657815" target="_blank"><img src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/ad/wpni.rss/opinion/columns;pos=ad9;tile=9;ad=rss;sz=479x40;ord=3419114657815" border="0" vspace="5"></a> ]]></description><dc:creator><![CDATA[David Ignatius]]></dc:creator><category><![CDATA[Reining]]></category><category><![CDATA[In]]></category><category><![CDATA[the]]></category><category><![CDATA[Kings]]></category><category><![CDATA[of]]></category><category><![CDATA[Tort]]></category><category><![CDATA[Melvyn Weiss]]></category><category><![CDATA[Richard Scruggs]]></category><category><![CDATA[Mississippi]]></category><category><![CDATA[Alex MacDonald]]></category><category><![CDATA[Boston]]></category><category><![CDATA[Cumberland]]></category><category><![CDATA[Daniel Boones]]></category><category><![CDATA[Jamie Gorelick]]></category><category><![CDATA[John Epps]]></category><category><![CDATA[Pablo Picasso]]></category><category><![CDATA[Peter J. Boyer]]></category><category><![CDATA[Richmond]]></category><category><![CDATA[United States]]></category><category><![CDATA[MacDonald Rothweiler Eisenberg LLP]]></category><category><![CDATA[The Wall Street Journal]]></category><category><![CDATA[University of Mississippi]]></category><category><![CDATA[Long Island]]></category><category><![CDATA[Southern States]]></category></item>
<item><title><![CDATA[ Going Their Own Way in The Mideast ]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/30/AR2008053002517.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/30/AR2008053002517.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</guid><pubDate>Sun, 01 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[ What happens when a superpower becomes preoccupied by a costly war and loses some of its ability to coerce friends and enemies toward the outcomes it favors? We're seeing a demonstration of that change now in the Middle East, as Arabs and even Israel reckon with the limits of American power -- and begin to cut their own deals. ]]></description><dc:creator><![CDATA[David Ignatius]]></dc:creator><category><![CDATA[Going]]></category><category><![CDATA[Their]]></category><category><![CDATA[Own]]></category><category><![CDATA[Way]]></category><category><![CDATA[in]]></category><category><![CDATA[The]]></category><category><![CDATA[Mideast]]></category><category><![CDATA[Israel]]></category><category><![CDATA[Syria]]></category><category><![CDATA[United States]]></category><category><![CDATA[Iran]]></category><category><![CDATA[Qatar]]></category><category><![CDATA[Hezbollah]]></category><category><![CDATA[Turkey]]></category><category><![CDATA[Middle East]]></category><category><![CDATA[Al Kibar]]></category><category><![CDATA[Bashar Assad]]></category><category><![CDATA[Beirut]]></category><category><![CDATA[Doha]]></category><category><![CDATA[Nicholas Blanford]]></category><category><![CDATA[Rami Khouri]]></category><category><![CDATA[Hamas]]></category><category><![CDATA[North Korea]]></category><category><![CDATA[Persian Gulf]]></category><category><![CDATA[Saudi Arabia]]></category><category><![CDATA[The Christian Science Monitor]]></category><category><![CDATA[Lebanon]]></category><category><![CDATA[Washington, DC]]></category></item>
<item><title><![CDATA[ A Past at Rest in Rwanda ]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/28/AR2008052802914.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/28/AR2008052802914.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</guid><pubDate>Thu, 29 May 2008 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[ KIGALI, Rwanda -- It happened just 14 years ago -- the slaughter of roughly a million people here in only 100 days. "More people had been killed more quickly than in any other mass killing in recorded history," writes Martin Meredith in his book "The Fate of Africa." ]]></description><dc:creator><![CDATA[David Ignatius]]></dc:creator><category><![CDATA[A]]></category><category><![CDATA[Past]]></category><category><![CDATA[at]]></category><category><![CDATA[Rest]]></category><category><![CDATA[in]]></category><category><![CDATA[Rwanda]]></category><category><![CDATA[]]></category></item>
<item><title><![CDATA[ Thinking Through Doomsday ]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/22/AR2008052203014.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/22/AR2008052203014.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</guid><pubDate>Fri, 23 May 2008 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[ At the headquarters of the National Counterterrorism Center, located in a bland office park in Northern Virginia, there's a unit called the "strategic analytical group" that is paid to think about the meta-questions of global terrorism: What's the nature of the threat? Is it getting worse or better? What can the United States do to bend its trajectory? ]]></description><dc:creator><![CDATA[David Ignatius]]></dc:creator><category><![CDATA[Thinking]]></category><category><![CDATA[Through]]></category><category><![CDATA[Doomsday]]></category><category><![CDATA[Al Qaeda]]></category><category><![CDATA[United States]]></category><category><![CDATA[National Counterterrorism Center]]></category><category><![CDATA[John Allen Muhammad]]></category><category><![CDATA[Lee Boyd Malvo]]></category><category><![CDATA[Osama bin Laden]]></category><category><![CDATA[Algeria]]></category><category><![CDATA[Northern Virginia]]></category><category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category><category><![CDATA[Washington, DC]]></category></item>
<item><title><![CDATA[ A Test for Obama's Promises ]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/16/AR2008051603435.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/16/AR2008051603435.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</guid><pubDate>Sun, 18 May 2008 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[ One of the most appealing but untested promises of Barack Obama's presidential campaign is that he would break down the partisan divisions in America and govern across party lines. He has a chance to make this gauzy idea of consensus politics concrete in his choice of running mate.<br clear="all"/><a href="http://ad.doubleclick.net/jump/wpni.rss/opinion/columns;pos=ad9;tile=9;ad=rss;sz=479x40;ord=3419114700122" target="_blank"><img src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/ad/wpni.rss/opinion/columns;pos=ad9;tile=9;ad=rss;sz=479x40;ord=3419114700122" border="0" vspace="5"></a> ]]></description><dc:creator><![CDATA[David Ignatius]]></dc:creator><category><![CDATA[A]]></category><category><![CDATA[Test]]></category><category><![CDATA[for]]></category><category><![CDATA[Obama's]]></category><category><![CDATA[Promises]]></category><category><![CDATA[Barack Obama]]></category><category><![CDATA[John McCain]]></category><category><![CDATA[U.S. Republican Party]]></category><category><![CDATA[United States]]></category><category><![CDATA[Michael Bloomberg]]></category><category><![CDATA[Iraq]]></category><category><![CDATA[Chuck Hagel]]></category><category><![CDATA[Hillary Clinton]]></category><category><![CDATA[U.S. Democratic Party]]></category><category><![CDATA[Vietnam]]></category><category><![CDATA[Illinois]]></category><category><![CDATA[Nebraska]]></category><category><![CDATA[New York]]></category><category><![CDATA[Washington, DC]]></category></item>
<item><title><![CDATA[ The Squeeze on the Middle East's Moderates ]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/14/AR2008051403088.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/14/AR2008051403088.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</guid><pubDate>Thu, 15 May 2008 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[ Watching the news from Lebanon, it's poignant to read the title of a new memoir by Jordan's former foreign minister, Marwan Muasher, "The Arab Center: The Promise of Moderation." The daily headlines tell us that centrist Arabs such as Muasher are becoming an endangered species. ]]></description><dc:creator><![CDATA[David Ignatius]]></dc:creator><category><![CDATA[The]]></category><category><![CDATA[Squeeze]]></category><category><![CDATA[on]]></category><category><![CDATA[the]]></category><category><![CDATA[Middle]]></category><category><![CDATA[East's]]></category><category><![CDATA[Moderates]]></category><category><![CDATA[United States]]></category><category><![CDATA[Iran]]></category><category><![CDATA[Middle East]]></category><category><![CDATA[Marwan Muasher]]></category><category><![CDATA[George W. Bush]]></category><category><![CDATA[Iraq]]></category><category><![CDATA[Israel]]></category><category><![CDATA[Syria]]></category><category><![CDATA[Baghdad]]></category><category><![CDATA[Beirut]]></category><category><![CDATA[Tehran]]></category><category><![CDATA[Ali Larijani]]></category><category><![CDATA[Arab Center]]></category><category><![CDATA[Ayatollah Ali Khamenei]]></category><category><![CDATA[Condoleezza Rice]]></category><category><![CDATA[Tel Aviv]]></category><category><![CDATA[Gaza Strip]]></category><category><![CDATA[Palestine]]></category><category><![CDATA[Lebanon]]></category></item>
<item><title><![CDATA[ Mr. Cool's Intensity ]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/09/AR2008050902045.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/09/AR2008050902045.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</guid><pubDate>Sun, 11 May 2008 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[ Barack Obama called himself an "imperfect messenger" in his victory speech in North Carolina last Tuesday. That was a refreshing touch of humility, but it was also a fact. The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee is far from perfect. But he has demonstrated the most mysterious and precious gift in politics, which is grace under pressure. ]]></description><dc:creator><![CDATA[David Ignatius]]></dc:creator><category><![CDATA[Mr.]]></category><category><![CDATA[Cool's]]></category><category><![CDATA[Intensity]]></category><category><![CDATA[Barack Obama]]></category><category><![CDATA[Jeremiah Wright]]></category><category><![CDATA[United States]]></category><category><![CDATA[Chicago]]></category><category><![CDATA[North Carolina]]></category><category><![CDATA[Albert Murray]]></category><category><![CDATA[Hillary Clinton]]></category><category><![CDATA[John F. Kennedy]]></category><category><![CDATA[Harvard Law Review]]></category><category><![CDATA[Harvard Law School]]></category><category><![CDATA[Harvard University]]></category></item>
<item><title><![CDATA[ Where The Wild Cards Are ]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/07/AR2008050703189.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/07/AR2008050703189.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</guid><pubDate>Thu, 08 May 2008 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[ The potentially transforming events in the 2008 campaign are matters of war and peace. Both may be in play between now and November, in ways that add extra volatility to the presidential race. ]]></description><dc:creator><![CDATA[David Ignatius]]></dc:creator><category><![CDATA[Where]]></category><category><![CDATA[The]]></category><category><![CDATA[Wild]]></category><category><![CDATA[Cards]]></category><category><![CDATA[Are]]></category><category><![CDATA[George W. Bush]]></category><category><![CDATA[United States]]></category><category><![CDATA[Iran]]></category><category><![CDATA[Israel]]></category><category><![CDATA[Iraq]]></category><category><![CDATA[Middle East]]></category><category><![CDATA[Baghdad]]></category><category><![CDATA[Hillary Clinton]]></category><category><![CDATA[Tehran]]></category><category><![CDATA[Syria]]></category><category><![CDATA[The White House]]></category><category><![CDATA[Turkey]]></category><category><![CDATA[Ankara]]></category><category><![CDATA[Bashar Assad]]></category><category><![CDATA[Damascus]]></category><category><![CDATA[Jimmy Carter]]></category><category><![CDATA[John McCain]]></category><category><![CDATA[Michael G. Mullen]]></category><category><![CDATA[Richard Nixon]]></category><category><![CDATA[Afghanistan]]></category><category><![CDATA[Cambodia]]></category><category><![CDATA[Egypt]]></category><category><![CDATA[Ottoman Empire]]></category><category><![CDATA[Saudi Arabia]]></category><category><![CDATA[U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff]]></category><category><![CDATA[U.S. Republican Party]]></category><category><![CDATA[United Nations Security Council]]></category><category><![CDATA[Lebanon]]></category></item>
<item><title><![CDATA[ An Enemy on the Run ]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/02/AR2008050203444.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/02/AR2008050203444.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</guid><pubDate>Sun, 04 May 2008 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[ JALALABAD, Afghanistan -- The most interesting discovery during a visit to this city where Osama bin Laden planted his flag in 1996 is that al-Qaeda seems to have all but disappeared. The group is on the run, too, in Iraq, and that raises some interesting questions about how to pursue this terrorist enemy.<br clear="all"/><a href="http://ad.doubleclick.net/jump/wpni.rss/opinion/columns;pos=ad9;tile=9;ad=rss;sz=479x40;ord=3419114702700" target="_blank"><img src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/ad/wpni.rss/opinion/columns;pos=ad9;tile=9;ad=rss;sz=479x40;ord=3419114702700" border="0" vspace="5"></a> ]]></description><dc:creator><![CDATA[David Ignatius]]></dc:creator><category><![CDATA[An]]></category><category><![CDATA[Enemy]]></category><category><![CDATA[on]]></category><category><![CDATA[the]]></category><category><![CDATA[Run]]></category><category><![CDATA[Al Qaeda]]></category><category><![CDATA[Iraq]]></category><category><![CDATA[Afghanistan]]></category><category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category><category><![CDATA[The Taliban]]></category><category><![CDATA[United States]]></category><category><![CDATA[U.S. Department of State]]></category><category><![CDATA[Osama bin Laden]]></category><category><![CDATA[Alison Blosser]]></category><category><![CDATA[Basra]]></category><category><![CDATA[Hamid Karzai]]></category><category><![CDATA[Jalalabad]]></category><category><![CDATA[Kabul]]></category><category><![CDATA[Lashkar Gah]]></category><category><![CDATA[Mark Johnstone]]></category><category><![CDATA[Pete Benchoff]]></category><category><![CDATA[NATO]]></category><category><![CDATA[U.S. Armed Forces]]></category><category><![CDATA[Federally Administered Tribal Areas]]></category><category><![CDATA[Helmand Province]]></category><category><![CDATA[Nuristan Province]]></category></item>
<item><title><![CDATA[ Building Bridges in the Back of Beyond ]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/30/AR2008043003253.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/30/AR2008043003253.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</guid><pubDate>Thu, 01 May 2008 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[ NARAY, Afghanistan -- This remote, mountainous patch of Afghanistan is near where Rudyard Kipling set his famous story "The Man Who Would Be King." And as you listen to Lt. Col. Chris Kolenda rattle off the names of the region's tribes and subtribes, you realize that he and other Americans here might be Kipling characters themselves. ]]></description><dc:creator><![CDATA[David Ignatius]]></dc:creator><category><![CDATA[Building]]></category><category><![CDATA[Bridges]]></category><category><![CDATA[in]]></category><category><![CDATA[the]]></category><category><![CDATA[Back]]></category><category><![CDATA[of]]></category><category><![CDATA[Beyond]]></category><category><![CDATA[Alison Blosser]]></category><category><![CDATA[United States]]></category><category><![CDATA[Afghanistan]]></category><category><![CDATA[Rudyard Kipling]]></category><category><![CDATA[Asadabad]]></category><category><![CDATA[Dan McNeill]]></category><category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category><category><![CDATA[Chris Kolenda]]></category><category><![CDATA[Gertrude Bell]]></category><category><![CDATA[Jalalabad]]></category><category><![CDATA[Kabul]]></category><category><![CDATA[Peshawar]]></category><category><![CDATA[British Colonial Office]]></category><category><![CDATA[Iraq]]></category><category><![CDATA[Kunar River]]></category><category><![CDATA[The Ohio State University]]></category><category><![CDATA[U.S. Armed Forces]]></category><category><![CDATA[U.S. Army]]></category><category><![CDATA[U.S. Department of State]]></category><category><![CDATA[UH-60 Black Hawk Helicopter]]></category><category><![CDATA[Hindu Kush]]></category><category><![CDATA[Kunar Province]]></category><category><![CDATA[Nebraska]]></category></item>
<item><title><![CDATA[ Two Fronts, Same Worries ]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/25/AR2008042502779.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/25/AR2008042502779.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</guid><pubDate>Sun, 27 Apr 2008 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[ KABUL -- For many Americans who are weary of Iraq, Afghanistan is the "good war" in which the United States and its European allies are destroying what's left of al-Qaeda and the Taliban. That view certainly holds with the Democratic presidential candidates, who talk of adding troops in Afghanistan next year even as they pull troops out of Iraq. ]]></description><dc:creator><![CDATA[David Ignatius]]></dc:creator><category><![CDATA[Two]]></category><category><![CDATA[Fronts,]]></category><category><![CDATA[Same]]></category><category><![CDATA[Worries]]></category><category><![CDATA[Dan McNeill]]></category><category><![CDATA[United States]]></category><category><![CDATA[Afghanistan]]></category><category><![CDATA[Iraq]]></category><category><![CDATA[David Petraeus]]></category><category><![CDATA[Hamid Karzai]]></category><category><![CDATA[Al Qaeda]]></category><category><![CDATA[The Taliban]]></category><category><![CDATA[William Wood]]></category><category><![CDATA[Afghan Parliament]]></category><category><![CDATA[U.S. Marine Corps]]></category><category><![CDATA[Yonus Qanooni]]></category><category><![CDATA[U.S. Armed Forces]]></category></item>
<item><title><![CDATA[ Running on Sweet Nothings ]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/23/AR2008042302981.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/23/AR2008042302981.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</guid><pubDate>Thu, 24 Apr 2008 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[ Maybe it's in the nature of politics to sugarcoat reality, but this year's political campaign is becoming an escape to Fantasy Island, rather than a real exploration of the serious problems facing the United States. ]]></description><dc:creator><![CDATA[washingtonpost.com]]></dc:creator><category><![CDATA[Running]]></category><category><![CDATA[on]]></category><category><![CDATA[Sweet]]></category><category><![CDATA[Nothings]]></category><category><![CDATA[Barack Obama]]></category><category><![CDATA[John McCain]]></category><category><![CDATA[United States]]></category><category><![CDATA[Iraq]]></category><category><![CDATA[Hillary Clinton]]></category><category><![CDATA[George W. Bush]]></category><category><![CDATA[Medicare]]></category><category><![CDATA[NAFTA]]></category><category><![CDATA[South Korea]]></category><category><![CDATA[U.S. Democratic Party]]></category><category><![CDATA[Ohio]]></category><category><![CDATA[Pennsylvania]]></category></item>
<item><title><![CDATA[ Obama and the Chicago Insider ]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/18/AR2008041802707.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/18/AR2008041802707.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</guid><pubDate>Sun, 20 Apr 2008 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[ The trial of Barack Obama's wheeler-dealer friend, Antoin "Tony" Rezko, was back in the news last week because of a disagreement over whether Obama did or didn't attend a party at Rezko's house for an Iraqi-born billionaire named Nadhmi Auchi.<br clear="all"/><a href="http://ad.doubleclick.net/jump/wpni.rss/opinion/columns;pos=ad9;tile=9;ad=rss;sz=479x40;ord=3419114704479" target="_blank"><img src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/ad/wpni.rss/opinion/columns;pos=ad9;tile=9;ad=rss;sz=479x40;ord=3419114704479" border="0" vspace="5"></a> ]]></description><dc:creator><![CDATA[David Ignatius]]></dc:creator><category><![CDATA[Obama]]></category><category><![CDATA[and]]></category><category><![CDATA[the]]></category><category><![CDATA[Chicago]]></category><category><![CDATA[Insider]]></category><category><![CDATA[Barack Obama]]></category><category><![CDATA[Tony Rezko]]></category><category><![CDATA[Chicago]]></category><category><![CDATA[Tribune Company]]></category><category><![CDATA[Illinois]]></category><category><![CDATA[Alasdair Pepper]]></category><category><![CDATA[Chicago O'Hare International Airport]]></category><category><![CDATA[Chicago Sun-Times]]></category><category><![CDATA[Elijah Muhammad]]></category><category><![CDATA[Harvard Law School]]></category><category><![CDATA[Jabir Herbert Muhammad]]></category><category><![CDATA[Jeremiah Wright]]></category><category><![CDATA[Muhammad Ali]]></category><category><![CDATA[Nation of Islam]]></category><category><![CDATA[Wilmette]]></category></item>
<item><title><![CDATA[ A Blast Still Reverberating ]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/16/AR2008041602900.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/16/AR2008041602900.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</guid><pubDate>Thu, 17 Apr 2008 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[  ]]></description><dc:creator><![CDATA[David Ignatius]]></dc:creator><category><![CDATA[A]]></category><category><![CDATA[Blast]]></category><category><![CDATA[Still]]></category><category><![CDATA[Reverberating]]></category><category><![CDATA[Rebecca McCullough]]></category><category><![CDATA[U.S. Marine Corps]]></category><category><![CDATA[United States]]></category><category><![CDATA[Office of Military Cooperation]]></category><category><![CDATA[The Wall Street Journal]]></category><category><![CDATA[U.S. Embassy in Lebanon]]></category><category><![CDATA[Beirut]]></category><category><![CDATA[Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps]]></category><category><![CDATA[Mount Lebanon]]></category><category><![CDATA[PEN/Faulkner Foundation]]></category><category><![CDATA[U.S. Department of State]]></category><category><![CDATA[Lebanon]]></category><category><![CDATA[Washington, DC]]></category></item>
<item><title><![CDATA[ Bailout Nation ]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/11/AR2008041103253.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/11/AR2008041103253.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</guid><pubDate>Sun, 13 Apr 2008 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[ As every parent knows, the danger of cutting a special break for one child is that all the other children will demand the same thing. "It's not fair," goes the inevitable refrain. "You said Susie could eat ice cream and watch TV until midnight, so why can't I?" The parents start caving, and family discipline is shot. ]]></description><dc:creator><![CDATA[David Ignatius]]></dc:creator><category><![CDATA[Bailout]]></category><category><![CDATA[Nation]]></category><category><![CDATA[International Monetary Fund]]></category><category><![CDATA[Henry M. Paulson]]></category><category><![CDATA[Afghanistan]]></category><category><![CDATA[Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc.]]></category><category><![CDATA[British Bankers' Association]]></category><category><![CDATA[Economist Group Ltd.]]></category><category><![CDATA[Enron Corporation]]></category><category><![CDATA[Iraq]]></category><category><![CDATA[The World Bank Group]]></category><category><![CDATA[U.S. Federal Reserve]]></category><category><![CDATA[United States]]></category><category><![CDATA[Washington, DC]]></category></item>
<item><title><![CDATA[ The Iran Problem ]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/08/AR2008040802901.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/08/AR2008040802901.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns</guid><pubDate>Wed, 09 Apr 2008 00:00:00 EDT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[ The language that Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker used yesterday to describe the Iranian role in Iraq was extreme -- and telling. They spoke of Tehran's "nefarious activities," its "malign influence" and how it posed "the greatest long-term threat to the viability" of the Baghdad government. ]]></description><dc:creator><![CDATA[David Ignatius]]></dc:creator><category><![CDATA[The]]></category><category><![CDATA[Iran]]></category><category><![CDATA[Problem]]></category><category><![CDATA[Iran]]></category><category><![CDATA[Iraq]]></category><category><![CDATA[United States]]></category><category><![CDATA[Baghdad]]></category><category><![CDATA[Tehran]]></category><category><![CDATA[al-Mahdi Army]]></category><category><![CDATA[Abdul Aziz al-Hakim]]></category><category><![CDATA[Barack Obama]]></category><category><![CDATA[Basra]]></category><category><![CDATA[Hillary Clinton]]></category><category><![CDATA[John McCain]]></category><category><![CDATA[Middle East]]></category><category><![CDATA[Muqtada al-Sadr]]></category><category><![CDATA[Nouri al-Maliki]]></category><category><![CDATA[Qom]]></category><category><![CDATA[Saddam Hussein]]></category><category><![CDATA[Al Qaeda]]></category><category><![CDATA[Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps]]></category><category><![CDATA[U.S. Armed Forces]]></category></item>
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