Conservative US papers yesterday on Monday condemned what they described as "appeasement" the day after the New York Times finally came out and called for the withdrawal of US troops.
The Washington Times, in its editorial, cautioned that the "appeasement caucus," into which it lumped Democratic and Republican members of Congress who support an early return as well as the New York Times and other media, "are poised to send another unmistakable message of weakness to the jihadists."
The Wall Street Journal, whose editorial page is among the most conservative of the mainstream US media, said Republicans calling for early withdrawal would get no credit from the electorate if they contribute to an ugly outcome in Iraq.
"Their best prospect for making Iraq less important in 2008 is military progress that allows for a reduction in US forces with honor and a more stable Iraqi government," it said.
Columnist Robert Novak, in his regular Washington Post slot, reported that National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley had been meeting Republican senators.
"Some senators were left with the impression that the White House still does not recognize the scope of the Iraq dilemma," Novak wrote.
The New York Times, in its editorial on Sunday, began without equivocation: "It is time for the United States to leave Iraq without any more delay than the Pentagon needs to organize an orderly exit."
It said it had lost patience with US President George W. Bush's promised breakthroughs.
"It is frighteningly clear Mr Bush's plan is to stay the course as long as he is president and dump the mess on his successor. What-ever his cause was, it is lost," the newspaper said.
A US YouTuber who caused outrage for filming himself kissing a statue commemorating Korean wartime sex slaves has been sentenced to six months in prison, a court in Seoul said yesterday. Johnny Somali, 25, gained notoriety several years ago for recording himself doing a series of provocative stunts in South Korea and Japan, and streaming them on platforms such as YouTube and Twitch. South Korean authorities indicted Somali — whose real name is Ramsey Khalid Ismael — in 2024 on public order violations and obstruction of business, and banned him from leaving the country. “The court has sentenced him to six months in
Former Lima mayor Rafael Lopez Aliaga, a Peruvian presidential hopeful, gathered hundreds of supporters in Lima on Tuesday and gave authorities 24 hours to annul the first round of the country’s election over allegations of fraud. Lopez Aliaga is locked in a tight three-way race with two other candidates for second place in Sunday’s vote. The election runner-up wins a ticket to June’s presidential run-off against front-runner Keiko Fujimori. “I am giving them 24 hours to declare this electoral fraud null and void,” said Lopez Aliaga, surrounded by a crowd of several hundred supporters. “If it is not declared null and void tomorrow,
Four contenders are squaring up to succeed Antonio Guterres as secretary-general of the UN, which faces unprecedented global instability, wars and its own crushing budget crisis. Chile’s Michelle Bachelet, Argentina’s Rafael Grossi, Costa Rica’s Rebeca Grynspan and Senegal’s Macky Sall are each to face grillings by 193 member states and non-governmental organizations for three hours today and tomorrow. It is only the second time the UN has held a public question-and-answer, a format created in 2016 to boost transparency. Ultimately the five permanent members of the UN’s top body, the Security Council, hold the power, wielding vetoes over who leads the
A humanoid robot that won a half-marathon race for robots in Beijing on Sunday ran faster than the human world record in a show of China’s technological leaps. The winner from Honor, a Chinese smartphone maker, completed the 21km race in 50 minutes and 26 seconds, said a WeChat post by the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area, also known as Beijing E-Town, where the race began. That was faster than the human world record holder, Ugandan Jacob Kiplimo, who finished the same distance in about 57 minutes in March at the Lisbon road race. The performance by the robot marked a significant step forward
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