Nov. 4, 2009 Tom Hamburger and Kim Geiger: Should prayers be covered? JWisdom.com When God played peacemaker With Rabbi Sroy Levitansky (5 minutes) Nov. 3, 2009 Martin Peretz: Beware, Barack. Beware, Rahm. Beware, Axelrod JWisdom.com Are you are closet idolater? With Sara Yoheved Rigler (10 minutes) Nov. 2, 2009 Paul Greenberg: The Holocaust is now on Facebook JWisdom.com Abraham's Strange Change With Rabbi Yitzchok Fingerer (5 minutes) Oct. 30, 2009 Rabbi David Aaron: Secret to Immortality Caroline B. Glick Silencing dissent in America Oct. 29, 2009 Lini S. Kadaba: Do tactics avert flu or reduce humanity? JWisdom.com We Must Revamp our Religious Vocabulary With Gavriel Aryeh Sanders ( 10 minutes) Oct. 28, 2009 Rabbi Yonason Goldson: Atheists in Bubbleland JWisdom.com Why what we wear impacts who we are With Rabbis Mordechai Becher, Menachem Golberger and Aliza Bulow ( 10 minutes) Oct. 27, 2009 Paul Greenberg: The United Nations Is Outraged Again, Or: Department of Mideast Static JWisdom.com The Science of Love With Rabbi Jonathan Rietti ( 7 minutes) Oct. 26, 2009 The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Damaging disclosures with a twist JWisdom.com Wisdom and Wonks With Rabbi Eytan Feiner ( 7 minutes) Oct. 23, 2009 Rabbi David Aaron: Are you ready for the ultimate pleasure? JWisdom.com Watermark and oneness with Rabbi Sroy Levitansky ( 4 minutes) Caroline B. Glick Stop using limited powers in a way that expands our enemies' advantages over us Oct. 22, 2009 Steven Emerson: Terror Cases Share Desire to Kill Americans JWisdom.com No More More Family Fights --- Really? By Sarah Chana Radcliffe ( 5 minutes) Oct. 21, 2009 Tonya Alanez: Holocaust denier sues survivor, calling Auschwitz memoir 'vicious lies' JWisdom.com Meditating Jewishly: A Panacea for Success by Sarah Yoheved Rigler ( 7 minutes) Oct. 20, 2009 Dennis Prager: Obama and Dalai Lama: Why Israel Worries about U.S. President JWisdom.com Abraham was not religious By Rabbi Yitzchok Fingerer ( 6 minutes) Oct. 19, 2009 The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Q. Is nepotism kosher? JWisdom.comWhy Good People Do Bad Things By Rabbi Eytan Feiner ( 7 minutes) Oct. 16, 2009 Rabbi Yonason Goldson: The Perfect Number JWisdom.com Hearing Voices By Rabbi Sroy Levitansky ( 5 minutes) Caroline B. Glick How Turkey was lost Oct. 15, 2009 Jeff Jacoby: Peace vs. the 'peace process' JWisdom.com: Former MTV producer and stand-up comedian Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff: Taming a Control Freak (A VERY fast 15 minutes) Oct. 29, 2003 Mortimer B. Zuckerman: Graffiti On History's Walls (MUST-READ!)

Jewish World Review Sept. 26, 2007 / 14 Tishrei 5768 A Failure of Politics By Mort Zuckerman http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | Who will speak for America? Nobody in the Republican or Democratic parties when we contemplate the disheartening result of the recent congressional appearances by Gen. David Petraeus. Both parties responded as if Iraq were nothing more than an item in a political debate instead of an issue of supreme national importance. Both pandered to their political base. Both were hostage to special interest groups that did their best to discourage bridging the partisan gulf, threatening primary challenges against anyone who opposed their shrill views. The result was incendiary rhetoric. Republicans attacked Democrats for advocating a "cut and run" policy. Democrats attacked the president, his policies, and even the integrity and honesty of General Petraeus ("General Betray Us," the newspaper ad described him) as if he required "a willing suspension of disbelief," in Sen. Hillary Clinton's words. No one can imagine this performance changing as we draw closer to the primaries for both parties in January and later. The major blame for this sad collapse of American political discourse lies with the president. He has lost his moral authority. He has lost the public's trust on this issue, partly because of the erroneous intelligence about weapons of mass destruction, the incompetent management of the war, and the intense partisanship of his administration. It is no surprise that a poll finds only 5 percent of the public trusts the president to wrap up the war. The equally partisan Democratic-controlled Congress does not do much better — only 21 percent trust lawmakers to do it. These support levels are tantamount to a vote of no confidence. Only the military is trusted — by some 68 percent. Public vs. political. Tragically, there is more common ground for the grand political compromise America needs and deserves. The public might well support a longer-term effort in Iraq if it had some sense of the boundaries. The leading Democrats are coming to understand that even when the direct U.S. combat role is diminished, a mission remains: to train Iraqi forces, guard the borders, and hunt down terrorists. More and more Republicans know that the United States cannot indefinitely spend blood and treasure to install "democracy." They recognize that our ambitions have to be readjusted, our mission gradually changed. The fact that for the first time in four years the president and our senior military officials in Iraq have proposed a reduction in forces should have provided the basis for a dialogue. How then do we find a sustainable position? By that, I mean one that reduces our exposure but minimizes the damage to the United States, its allies, and Iraq itself. And one that has to form while the political clock in Washington is ticking faster than the pace of our counterinsurgency strategy. Surely how we diminish our role can't become another humiliating withdrawal, perceived as reflecting a weak America. That would unnerve those allies who rely on us for security in the face of a growing Islamist threat. As former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger aptly wrote, "An abrupt withdrawal from Iraq would not end the war, it would only re-direct it," and might well cause the United States "to lose the ability to shape events, either within Iraq, on the anti-jihadist battlefield, or in the world at large." Many experts share this view, including both General Petraeus and Gen. James Jones, head of the special congressional Iraq commission. The risks of a reduced American presence are multiple. Iraqis who supported us might be targeted; we have a moral obligation to those people. Outside Iraq, Hezbollah might well be inspired by a surging Iran to attempt a Lebanese takeover. The Taliban would gain new energy in Afghanistan. A crucial but fragile political ally, Pakistan, a possessor of nuclear weapons, would face increased radical pressures at home. Instability would shake the oil markets. At home, any move seen as failure would undermine American domestic support for an activist international role. So leaving has huge risks and costs. And so does staying. The Iraqi government is becoming more precarious, the Sunnis want far more than the Shiite government is willing to grant, and the Shiites seem more concerned with their coreligionists than with the nation. No one knows for sure whether absent a commanding American presence, Iraq will divide along sectarian lines or whether Iran and al Qaeda will take over different parts. There is certainly a clear risk that we might have to return at some later day to confront an even more dangerous enemy. Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here. JWR contributor Mort Zuckerman is editor-in-chief and publisher of U.S. News and World Report. Send your comments to him by clicking here. ARCHIVES © 2005, Mortimer Zuckerman

Arnold Ahlert  Mitch Albom  Michael Barone   Dave Barry  Tony Blankley  Andy Borowitz  David Broder  Stratfor Briefing  Mona Charen  Linda Chavez  Ann Coulter  Greg Crosby  Larry Elder  Suzanne Fields  John Fund  Frank J. Gaffney  Lloyd Garver  Jonah Goldberg  Julia Gorin  Jonathan Gurwitz  Paul Greenberg  Lewis Grossberger  Victor Davis Hanson  Betsy Hart  Nat Hentoff  David Horowitz  Laura Ingraham  Cheri Jacobus Jeff Jacoby  Paul Johnson  Jack Kelly  Ed Koch  Ch. Krauthammer  Michael Ledeen  John Leo  David Limbaugh  Kathryn Lopez  Rich Lowry  Michelle Malkin  Jackie Mason  Dick Morris  Bill O'Reilly  Jim Mullen  Clarence Page  Kathleen Parker  Dennis Prager  Wesley Pruden  Tom Purcell  Jonathan Rauch  Celia Rivenbark  Robert Robb  Cokie & Steve Roberts  Pat Sajak  Debra J. Saunders  Culture Shlock  Roger Simon  Michael Smerconish  Thomas Sowell  Mark Steyn  John Stossel  Cal Thomas  Bob Tyrrell  Diana West  Dave Weinbaum  George Will  Walter Williams  Byron York  Mort Zuckerman  Robert Arial  Chuck Asay  Baloo  Chip Bok  Dry Bones   Lisa Benson  John Branch  Gary Brookins  John Cole  J. D. Crowe  John Deering  Brian Duffy  Everything's Relative  Mallard Fillmore  Jake Fuller  Bob Gorrel  Joe Heller  David Hitch  Jerry Holber  Steve Kelley  Jeff Koterba  Dick Locher  Chan Lowe  Ranan R. Lurie  Jimmy Margulies  Rick McKee  Michael Ramirez  Kevin Siers  Jeff Stahler  Ed Stein  Danna Summers  John Trever  Gary Varvel  Kirk Walters  How 2  Lori Borgman  The Savvy Consumer  Elder matters  Fixit  Dr. Peter Gott  GET A JOB! by Marty Nemko  Richard Lederer  Tech Maven  Every Monday Matters  Nutrition Myths  Bookmark These  Bruce Williams  How Stuff Works