Articles from the author

The battle over whether or not the United States should militarily act against Iraq is now in full bloom. After Senator Joseph Biden forced the question by calling for three days of congressional hearings on the issue, the discussion has exploded into a rather sharp debate.

Appearing a short while ago on an important U.S. television news programme, President Bush's National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice described the Administration's position with regard to the performance of the Palestinian leadership as follows: "Arafat is somebody who…failed to lead when he had a chance…

At a time when the U.S.-Saudi relationship is being challenged and tested, a leader in the effort to build bridges between the United States and the Arab world has passed away. Suliman Saleh Olayan died on July 4 in the United States.

Americans are frequently asked by public opinion pollsters to give their evaluations of other countries. Most often, respondents are asked whether they have a favourable or unfavourable attitude toward these other nations.

By now the world knows that Republican Senator Trent Lott is in trouble because of the comments he made at a December 5, 100th birthday party for retiring Senator Strom Thurmond of South Carolina. At the party, Lott noted that in 1948 when Thurmond ran for U.S. president as the candidate of the "States' Rights Party" Lott's state of Mississippi had voted for Thurmond.

Less than one month remains before Israeli voters go to the polls for their third national election in four years. This, in itself, is a sign of the divisions and instability that have come to characterise Israeli politics - a dangerous situation that has made peace difficult to achieve.

For Arab Americans the 2002 elections produced much good news, some bad news and, in other instances, no news at all.

The Republican takeover of the United States Senate is widely credited to the remarkable 10-day effort made by President George W. Bush. In the last few weeks of the campaign, the president made visits to 18 key states in an effort to rally support for Republicans Senate aspirants engaged in especially close contests.

The U.S.-Saudi relationship, while still strong on the official end, is nevertheless in grave danger. Just how grave was brought home last week by the near hysterical press reaction to what was, in fact, a non-story.

President Bush's April 4th speech, on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, represented but one round in a long internal fight raging within this Administration.

After President George W. Bush proclaimed Ariel Sharon a "man of peace" and praised his withdrawal from the West Bank, I was inundated by questions from U.S. reporters. Many were indignant, others were just confused. "What", they asked, "was he doing?"

U.S. public opinion is shifting, some members of Congress are developing a clearer understanding of Middle East realities, but extremist ideologies and fear of political pressures continue to hold sway on Capitol Hill.