December 18, 2006 Issue

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December 18, 2006 Issue

Cover art by: Cover by Gene Case & Stephen Kling/Avenging Angels, photo by Ho New/Reuters

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Features

The Iraq Study Group: A Fatal Flaw

The Iraq Study Group report is a stunning rebuke of Bush's Iraq policy. But its central premise--that the US can support the nonexistent Iraqi government and bolster its viciously sectarian armed forces--is fatally flawed.

Bob Dreyfuss
A Fair and Square Vote in Venezuela

A New York judge, invited to observe the Venezuelan presidential election, discovers a functional democracy, reliable electronic-voting technology and a passionate, engaged electorate.

Emily Jane Goodman
John Bolton’s Greatest Hits

Exactly how much damage did John Bolton do during his tenure at the United Nations? Let us count the ways.

Ian Williams
Draining the Gene Pool

A plant gene that could protect organic crops from contamination from genetically engineered seeds is out of reach to most organic farmers, thanks to an agribusiness patent.

Lisa M. Hamilton
Latinos Lean Left: Bringing Down the GOP’s Big Tent

Latino voters walked away from the GOP in the midterm elections, a payback for the party's ruthlessly anti-immigrant stance.

Roberto Lovato
Breathing While Black

A young black man and an elderly black woman each die in a hail of police bullets; a comedian invokes the era of lynching--suddenly it feels like a crime to be caught breathing while black.

Christopher Rabb
Mad Mel and the Maya

Mel Gibson's violent new film Apocalypto exploits Maya culture and perpetuates racist stereotypes.

Earl Shorris
Getting Out

The foreign policy establishment knows the Iraq War is lost, but the search for an acceptable exit strategy has only just begun.

Bob Dreyfuss
Beginning of the End

The Iraq Study Group report comes too late for the 600,000 people who died in carnage that is likely to worsen. It won't satisfy the antiwar movement because it sets no timetable for withdrawal. But it does mark the beginning of the end of America's criminal war of aggression.

Bob Dreyfuss

Editorials

Show Me the Money

A man can be rich, but only a nation can be wealthy. And if anyone suffers from poverty, our whole country bears the shame.

Walter Mosley
The ‘Seattle Senators’

Newly elected advocates of fair trade in the House and Senate could reverse the free-trade absolutism of the Clinton and Bush years.

John Nichols
Olbermann’s Hot News

News flash: Dissent sells! And the American public does have a taste for serious, high-minded news.

Daphne Eviatar
Stranger Than Truth

A plethora of inside histories of Bush and the war have helped shape the political debate in recent months.

the Editors
Revote and Verify

Now that 18,000 electronic ballots have vanished in the flawed 13th Congressional District election in Sarasota, Florida, it's time for a revote.

the Editors
Time to Leave

If the Iraq Study Group faces reality, it will conclude that the only feasible option for America is to leave Iraq--as quickly as possible.

the Editors
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Columns

Jose Padilla’s Ordeal

The systematic abuse of an American citizen charged with vague crimes related to terror has destroyed his sanity and made us into what we despise.

Robert Scheer
Double, Double Toil and Trouble

"Is it just my imagination, or are women wreaking more evil than usual these days?"

Katha Pollitt
Gaza and Darfur

There's no political risk for US media to sound off over genocide in Darfur, but challenging Israel's shameful seige of Gaza is quite a different story.

Alexander Cockburn
An Analysis of the War by the Newly Rehabilitated Trent Lott

Now here's a guy who knows whereof he speaks.

Calvin Trillin

Books and the Arts

Suga Mama, Politicized

Beyoncé Knowles's sexed-up club jam B'Day is also an odd, urgent, dissonant and disruptive personal and political statement.

Daphne A. Brooks
Unhappy Meal

Stuart Klawans reviews Fast Food Nation, a film that aspires to activism as it undermines its own anticorporate message.

Stuart Klawans
In Palestine, a Dream Deferred

Two new books explore fundamental Palestinian and Israeli concerns: The Iron Cage by Rashid Khalidi considers the Palestinians' failure to achieve sovereignty, and One Country by Ali Abunimah puts forth a moral case for binationalism.

Bashir Abu-Manneh
Mad Mel and the Maya

Mel Gibson's violent new film Apocalypto exploits Maya culture and perpetuates racist stereotypes.

Earl Shorris
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Letters

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December 18, 2006 Issue

Features

The Iraq Study Group report is a stunning rebuke of Bush's Iraq policy. But its central premise--that the US can support the nonexistent Iraqi government and bolster its viciously sectarian armed forces--is fatally flawed.

A New York judge, invited to observe the Venezuelan presidential election, discovers a functional democracy, reliable electronic-voting technology and a passionate, engaged electorate.

Exactly how much damage did John Bolton do during his tenure at the United Nations? Let us count the ways.

A plant gene that could protect organic crops from contamination from genetically engineered seeds is out of reach to most organic farmers, thanks to an agribusiness patent.

Latino voters walked away from the GOP in the midterm elections, a payback for the party's ruthlessly anti-immigrant stance.

A young black man and an elderly black woman each die in a hail of police bullets; a comedian invokes the era of lynching--suddenly it feels like a crime to be caught breathing while black.

Mel Gibson's violent new film Apocalypto exploits Maya culture and perpetuates racist stereotypes.

The foreign policy establishment knows the Iraq War is lost, but the search for an acceptable exit strategy has only just begun.

The Iraq Study Group report comes too late for the 600,000 people who died in carnage that is likely to worsen. It won't satisfy the antiwar movement because it sets no timetable for withdrawal. But it does mark the beginning of the end of America's criminal war of aggression.

Editorials

A man can be rich, but only a nation can be wealthy. And if anyone suffers from poverty, our whole country bears the shame.

Newly elected advocates of fair trade in the House and Senate could reverse the free-trade absolutism of the Clinton and Bush years.

News flash: Dissent sells! And the American public does have a taste for serious, high-minded news.

A plethora of inside histories of Bush and the war have helped shape the political debate in recent months.

Now that 18,000 electronic ballots have vanished in the flawed 13th Congressional District election in Sarasota, Florida, it's time for a revote.

If the Iraq Study Group faces reality, it will conclude that the only feasible option for America is to leave Iraq--as quickly as possible.

GET THE NATION IN YOUR INBOX EVERY MORNING

Columns

The systematic abuse of an American citizen charged with vague crimes related to terror has destroyed his sanity and made us into what we despise.

"Is it just my imagination, or are women wreaking more evil than usual these days?"

There's no political risk for US media to sound off over genocide in Darfur, but challenging Israel's shameful seige of Gaza is quite a different story.

Now here's a guy who knows whereof he speaks.

Books and the Arts

Beyoncé Knowles's sexed-up club jam B'Day is also an odd, urgent, dissonant and disruptive personal and political statement.

Stuart Klawans reviews Fast Food Nation, a film that aspires to activism as it undermines its own anticorporate message.

Two new books explore fundamental Palestinian and Israeli concerns: The Iron Cage by Rashid Khalidi considers the Palestinians' failure to achieve sovereignty, and One Country by Ali Abunimah puts forth a moral case for binationalism.

Mel Gibson's violent new film Apocalypto exploits Maya culture and perpetuates racist stereotypes.

Get a Digital Subscription for just $9.50!

Letters

OH, GOD... Rochester, NY

OH, GOD...

Rochester, NY