Other Magazines

Hell No, We Can’t Go

Why we should stay in Iraq.

New Republic, March 6
In the cover article, Lawrence F. Kaplan stresses the importance of U.S. forces remaining in Iraq. “As the war takes a sectarian turn, the United States begins to look, even to many Iraqis, like an honest broker, more peacekeeper than belligerent,” he writes. Insurgents seized control of Tal Afar in late 2004, and the city dissolved into violence until the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment retook it in 2005. The soliders’ “professionalism in dealing with Iraqis arguably has yielded more diplomatic triumphs than the combined exertions of every Foreign Service officer in Iraq,” he writes. Joshua Hammer files a dispatch from Timbuktu, where the U.S. Special Forces are training Malian troops to destroy terrorist training camps and cooperate with their counterparts in neighboring countries. In recent years Islamists have ramped up their recruiting efforts in this arid region: “Repeating a pattern seen in other countries, such as Kenya, they are marrying into the local population … quietly spreading the message of jihad.” The United States hopes to erode that influence through military and diplomatic efforts.—S.S.

Economist, Feb. 25
Sudan’s civil battles will soon spill over into neighboring countries if tribal violence is not quelled, according to an editorial. “Darfur needs fixing. So do the international mechanisms supposed to prevent such horrors,” claims the author, who says that NATO troops should be deployed immediately, because the African Union has thrown up its hands and United Nations peacekeepers aren’t up to the task of halting the genocide and corruption. The cover story warns President Bush against making overreaching promises of nuclear collusion in trying to build a bond with India, a rapidly emerging world power. An accompanying story outlines the reasons why a strong relationship with India would pay great dividends: its strategic position between China and the Middle East, its burgeoning tech industry, and its ready labor supply, to name a few.—M.M.

New York Times Magazine, Feb. 26 The cover story follows a former Taliban mouthpiece who’s now just another Yale student—homesick, slightly lost, and trying to figure out how he can change the world. Having walked away from an increasingly fundamentalist Taliban and into the world of academia, 27-year-old Rahmatullah Hashemi wants to “be a bridge between the Islamic world and the West.” For now, he is a mysterious stranger on a strange campus. “‘I could have ended up in Guantanamo Bay. Instead I ended up at Yale,’ ” he says. Toronto is staging a musical love-in and everyone’s invited, says a piece about the city’s communelike pop collectives. Bands like Broken Social Scene have an ever-changing lineup of musicians who likely play with other bands, too. “BSS is nothing if not the warmest, most community-oriented of them all, to a degree that makes you wonder if the band isn’t pushing the family-on-Ecstasy-vibe just a little too far,” the author writes.— M.M.

New York, Feb. 27 Over the course of the Bush administration’s reign, speculation that the president would replace Vice President Dick Cheney has ebbed and flowed with each administration hiccup. The chatter has renewed in the wake of Cheney’s shooting of a hunting companion. An article assesses whether “Cheney isn’t more trouble than he’s worth.” While Cheney may be indispensable to Bush, dumping him would provide Bush with “a chance to anoint a successor in the person of his new VP,” says the author. One of the front-runners is the president’s brother Jeb, and although the Bush clan counts loyalty as an important family value, in this case family may trump loyalty. A piece profiles the New York Public Library’s Young Lions, a benefit group comprised of wealthy youngish New York parents who are giving their offspring, the organization’s Young Cubs, a jump-start in the city’s society wading pool.—Z.K.

Weekly Standard, Feb. 27 A Web-only exclusive comments on what the departure of Larry Summers means for Harvard. Applauded by many conservatives for taking on the sacred cow of political correctness, the methods he employed (what some attribute to his lack of social skills) hurt his standing with a vocal segment of the faculty. The article concludes that while only 19 percent of students supported the move, his “resignation is a sign that, at least at Harvard, the professoriate will brook no dissent on their view of the university system.” Claudia Rosett adds to her Kofi Annan pile-on by chiding the U.N. secretary-general for receiving a $500,000 environmental prize from Dubai, awarded to him by a panel that contained many of his U.N. chums.—Z.K.

Time, Feb. 27 Women are not officially permitted to engage in offensive combat during wartime, but female soldiers in Iraq are seeing their fair share of action, an article reports. Women’s “supportive” combat roles now include manning a Humvee’s machine gun and rescuing downed colleagues amid whizzing snipers’ bullets. Since 2003, 48 female GIs have died and 300 have been wounded in Iraq. A female soldier says “‘a bullet doesn’t have the gender marked on it.’” On top of quiet disagreement about how to handle Vice President Cheney’s hunting mishap last week, Republicans are beset by squabbles over the Hurricane Katrina response, the war in Iraq, and warrantless NSA surveillance, making the ideological divide between “Bushland” and “Cheneyland” clearer. “Many on Cheney’s staff see Bush’s aides as too liberal, while some Bush aides view the vice-presidential staff as wing nuts,” say the writers.— M.M.

Newsweek, Feb. 27 The cover story explores Dick Cheney’s disposition and unique management style. “Cheney can seem taciturn, self-contained, a little gloomy; in recent years, his manner has been not just unwelcoming but stand-offish,” says the article, which details how the vice president keeps family crises quiet and moves in exclusive circles. “He remains by far the most powerful vice president in history, and one of the most secretive and mysterious public officials to ever hold such high office in America.” An article questions whether the mother-friendly labor policies of European nations are hurting women’s chances to move up the corporate ladder. Generous maternity leave, inflexible hours, and a pervasive boy’s club mentality result in fewer women in management positions than in America and more in the service sector, according to the story. “For all the myths of equality that Europe tells itself, the Continent is by and large a woeful place for a woman who aspires to lead,” claims the author.— M.M.

The New Yorker, Feb. 27 David Sedaris’ eye for fine art goes wide shut when it comes to coveting a tacky lawn ornament that symbolizes home and family. As an adolescent with visions by Klimt and Miró dancing on his walls, the humorist and NPR commentator fancied himself a true collector —especially compared to his folks’ pedestrian kitsch. “The allure of art had always been that my parents knew nothing about it,” he writes. Their tastes didn’t improve much, he says, but Sedaris still admires the canny toadstool that watched over the yard. “Five thousand years ago, much of southern Louisiana did not exist. A hundred years from now, it is unclear how much of it will remain,” says an article that looks at how the region’s volatile topography is at the mercy of the increasingly harsh elements. While some local officials would like to rebuild from Hurricane Katrina at all costs, environmental experts are warning that the southern part of the state is sinking “at the rate of a football field every 38 minutes.” And it’s been happening for years, even without help from hurricanes.— M.M.

Economist, Feb. 18 The cover story wonders what will happen when baby boomers retire. “Some companies are already complaining of a shortage of skills, even before they have started to dole out carriage clocks and fountain pens by the barrow-load,” the author writes, suggesting that replacements may be found in foreign labor, improved equipment, and a better-educated work force. But some boomers yearn to keep on truckin’. “Baby-boomers say they want to stay in the workforce for more than money. Many also want to carry on working beyond the standard retirement age for the mental stimulation.” The Russian homelessness crisis is revealed in exposure deaths dubbed “snowdrops,” according to an article, which describes how runaways, convicts, addicts, and little old ladies are forced to “sleep rough.” Meanwhile, migrant workers have their own set of problems. “Nearly half its homeless have come to the city from outside Russia. … They come looking for work, then run out of money and can’t get home,” the author writes.— M.M.

New Republic, Feb. 27, 2006 The cover article by Amartya Sen explores multiculturalism and its unforeseen implications. Drawing upon his own immigrant experience, he finds that “plural monoculturalism” might be a more apt way of describing how multiculturalism has evolved in Britain. “Does the existence of a diversity of cultures, which might pass one another like ships in the night, count as a successful case of multiculturalism?” he asks. Slate contributor Andrew Rice reports from Ugandan President Yoweri K. Museveni’s cattle ranch. Museveni, a former darling of the West, has recently shown his authoritarian and kleptocratic stripes. Museveni’s main opposition in this month’s presidential race was arrested in January, but he was released after Western aid groups made cuts in their foreign-assistance packages. “Whatever happens, fraud charges, court challenges, and public unrest are sure to ensue. But few Ugandans doubt who will remain in charge when the tear gas clears,” Rice writes.—S.S.