I admit that I find myself struggling to find a way or a phrase to summarize the sorry state of affairs in the Middle East in 2006; they seem to defy not only logic but the instinct to survive. How do you describe a region that has gone mad, setting itself on a self-destructive path and racing headlong toward the precipice?

To prevent genocide in Iraq on the scale of the genocide in Rwanda between the Tutsis and the Hutus, the Bush administration must move swiftly to divide Iraq into three main self-rule entities with loose federal ties. Neither the insurgency nor the sectarian killing will end unless the Sunnis can govern themselves…

It is time for the Bush administration to disabuse itself of three myths if it wishes to find a way out of the Iraq quagmire: Contrary to what the administration believes, there will be no victory in Iraq, there will be no Western-style democracy, and Iraq is not center stage but a transit station in the fight against terrorism. To succeed, any policy recommendations the Baker-Hamilton…

There should be no doubt that the United States has waged two Gulf wars largely, if not solely, for oil. To ensure that the Iraq war is the last Gulf war, the administration and the Democratic majority in the new Congress must work together to enact an energy-independence bill to address the root-causes of these wars and free America from the shackles of foreign oil.

Whereas the Iraq war has not achieved any of its stated objectives, it has dramatically and irreversibly changed the geopolitical landscape in the Middle East, ushering in new conflicts that may rage for decades. The war has handed Iran an historic windfall, and it has given rise to its long-historic ambitions to dominate the region and establish…

Although President Bush, in his most recent press conference, provided a more somber assessment about the horrifying situation in Iraq, he still insisted that the United States can win in Iraq by remaining committed to staying the course, albeit with some tactical changes. With the civilian carnage escalating and American casualties mounting…

The administration may praise the UN resolution, arguing that even a weaker resolution strongly signals international condemnation. But since when has North Korea worried about international condemnation? The truth is that the sanctions will neither have an immediate nor a crippling effe

Whatever the circumstances and regardless of the Palestinians' internal struggle, Israel must recognize that continued occupation is not only non-sustainable but insidiously eroding rather than enhancing its own national security. This is why a responsible Israeli government must develop a framework for withdrawal and implement it in stages…

The failure of Fatah and Hamas to reach an agreement on a unity government that recognizes Israel and begins to deal with the desperate needs of their people is just another in a string of failures that have come to characterize the Palestinian situation. For nearly sixty years, the Palestinians hav