Folly's Antidote
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/01/opinion/01schlesinger.html
By ARTHUR M. SCHLESINGER Jr.
The great strength of history in a free society is its capacity for
self-correction.
Environmental Harmony
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/01/opinion/01mon2.html
The Democrats' return to power in Congress has raised hopes that
progress can be made on vital matters like global warming, oil
dependency, national parks and threatened wetlands.
Tehran Radio Lets Critics Vent Over Iran's Nuclear Plans
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/01/world/middleeast/01tehran.html?ref=world
By NAZILA FATHI
Fiery discussions over Iran's nuclear program may be setting new
boundaries for talk about one of the most important issues in Iran.
For Sunnis, Dictator's Degrading End Signals Ominous Dawn for the New
Iraq
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/01/world/middleeast/01sunnis.html?ref=world&pagewanted=all
By SABRINA TAVERNISE
As the Iraqi government becomes ever more set on protecting its Shiite
constituency, the goal of stopping the sectarian war seems to be
slipping out of reach.
Islamists Flee Last Redoubt in Somalia
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Somalia.html?ref=world
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Ethiopian-backed troops captured Kismayo, the last major stronghold of
the Somali Islamic movement.
Hard Choices Over Video of Execution
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/01/world/middleeast/01tube.html?ref=middleeast
By BILL CARTER
A second, more graphic video of Saddam Hussein's execution left TV
news executives to make "delicate editorial decisions" about what
to air.
States Take Lead on Ethics Rules for Lawmakers
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/01/us/01ethics.html?ref=politics&pagewanted=all
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
Plans by Congressional Democrats to change ethics and lobbying laws are
less sweeping than changes already adopted by many state legislatures.
Spitzer Arrives With Mandate, but Faces Challenges
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/01/nyregion/01eliot.html?ref=politics&pagewanted=all
By DANNY HAKIM
Eliot Laurence Spitzer takes the oath of office as New York's 54th
governor with a mandate to take on corruption.
Rush to Hang Hussein Was Questioned
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/01/world/middleeast/01iraq.html?ref=washington&pagewanted=all
By JOHN F. BURNS and MARC SANTORA
American officials are said to have questioned the political wisdom -
and justice - of expediting the death of Saddam Hussein.
Looking for the Next Google
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/01/technology/01search.html?pagewanted=all
By MIGUEL HELFT
Plenty of newcomers - with names like hakia, ChaCha and Snap - are
trying to beat Google at its own game.
Something Wiki Is Coming to the Web Search Market
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/01/technology/01wales.html?ref=technology
By NOAM COHEN
The voluntary collaborative "wiki" model used to create the
Wikipedia encyclopedia is being recruited for another challenge: to
build a better search engine.
A 'Surge' Faces Trouble In the Senate
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/31/AR2006123100931.html
Even in GOP, Few Back the President
By Robert D. Novak
Monday, January 1, 2007; Page A13
Sen. John McCain, leading a blue-ribbon congressional delegation to
Baghdad before Christmas, collected evidence that a "surge" of more
U.S. troops is needed in Iraq. But not all his colleagues who
accompanied him were convinced. What's more, he will find himself among
a dwindling minority inside the Senate Republican caucus when Congress
reconvenes this week.
President Bush and McCain, the front-runner for the party's 2008
presidential nomination, will have trouble finding support from more
than 12 of the 49 Republican senators when pressing for a surge of
30,000 troops. "It's Alice in Wonderland," Sen. Chuck Hagel,
second-ranking Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee, told me
in describing the proposal. "I'm absolutely opposed to sending any more
troops to Iraq. It is folly."
Bush's Nation Busting
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/31/AR2006123100930.html
By Fareed Zakaria
Monday, January 1, 2007; Page A13
The saga of Saddam Hussein's end -- his capture, trial and execution --
is a sad metaphor for America's occupation of Iraq. What might have
gone right went so wrong. It is worth remembering that Hussein was not
your run-of-the-mill dictator. He created one of the most brutal,
corrupt and violent regimes in modern history, something akin to
Stalin's Soviet Union, Mao's China or Kim Jong Il's North Korea.
Whatever the strategic wisdom for the United States, deposing him began
as something unquestionably good for Iraq.
But soon the Bush administration dismissed the idea of trying Hussein
under international law, or in a court with any broader legitimacy.
This is the administration, after all, that could see little advantage
in a United Nations mandate for its own invasion and occupation. It put
Hussein's fate in the hands of the new Iraqi government, dominated by
Shiite and Kurdish politicians who had been victims of his reign. As a
result, Hussein's trial, which should have been the judgment of
civilized society against a tyrant, is now seen by Iraq's Sunnis and
much of the Arab world as a farce, reflecting only the victors'
vengeance.
Death of a Tyrant
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16409031/site/newsweek/
He killed not only Kurds and Shiites but Baathist rivals. His end was
ignominious.
By Christopher Dickey
Newsweek
Jan. 8, 2007 issue - President George W. Bush was sleeping at 9 p.m. at
his ranch in Crawford, Texas, when Saddam Hussein's body plunged
through the trapdoor of a gallows in Kadhimiya Prison on the outskirts
of Baghdad. It was dawn in the Iraqi capital, and the 69-year-old
Butcher of Baghdad wore no blindfold. He had carried a Qur'an for the
last few steps before his death, looking uncertain, even afraid,
according to one of the witnesses close to him, but mouthing words of
defiance. He sneered at Shiite guards-the warlord Moqtada al-Sadr's
men, by one account. He praised God and, as he neared the gallows,
proclaimed, "Iraq without me is nothing."
The Bushes' Saddam Drama
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16408125/site/newsweek/
By Howard Fineman
Newsweek
Jan. 8, 2007 issue - Evil was on the loose in the world, President
George W. Bush had told the country, and on his first Thanksgiving in
office-November 2001-he was on his way to Fort Campbell in Kentucky
to dine with newly trained troops heading out to fight the (evil)
Taliban in Afghanistan. In the conference room aboard Air Force One, we
talked about evil. "Is Saddam evil?" I asked. Glancing across the table
at his aides, he demurred. I asked again; again, a demurral. We went on
to other topics. Several exchanges later, Bush interrupted an answer to
blurt out a declaration: "By the way, Saddam is evil!"
Oprah Goes to School
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16396343/site/newsweek/
By Allison Samuels
Newsweek
Jan. 8, 2007 issue - Two thousand and six was the year Africa went
Hollywood: Madonna, Clooney, Brangelina. And now, in 2007, the most
exclusive spot on the continent will undoubtedly be in the town of
Henly-on-Klip, about 40 miles outside Johannesburg. Set on 22 lush
acres and spread over 28 buildings, the complex features oversize rooms
done in tasteful beiges and browns with splashes of color,
200-thread-count sheets, a yoga studio, a beauty salon, indoor and
outdoor theaters, hundreds of pieces of original tribal art and
sidewalks speckled with colorful tiles. Julia Roberts, John Travolta,
Stevie Wonder, Nelson Mandela and the reigning African Queen
herself-Angelina Jolie-are expected to attend the grand opening
this week. By now, you're probably wondering how much a spread like
this goes for per night. Actually, it's free. There's only one
catch-you have to be a 12- or 13-year-old African girl to get in. As
spectacular as this place sounds, it's not a resort. It's a school: the
Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls.
'The Misunderstood Jew'
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/01/books/01gala.html?ref=arts
By AMY-JILL LEVINE
Reviewed by JULIE GLAMBUSH
Amy-Jill Levine shows how frequently and disastrously inaccurate
beliefs about Jesus and early Judaism produce distorted relationships
in the present.
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