BAGHDAD — Iraqi officials moved to quell rising tensions between rival Sunni Muslim Arab factions in once-restive Anbar province Wednesday by recounting some of the ballots that were cast in last Saturday's provincial elections, even before the official results are known.

We lost Afghanistan? Yeah, that's right. We lost Afghanistan because we chose to lose, or at least Washington chose to lose it.We lost Afghanistan in 2002 when no one could be bothered to send Western troops into Tora Bora to destroy the Taliban and al-Qaeda leadership. We, or at least Washington, cemented the loss in 2003 when it chose to deploy the massive American military force needed in Afghanistan to Iraq instead.The New York Times has an enlightening explanation for the resurgence of the

from TPDL 2000-Mar-22, from the Washington Post p.A31, by Michael Kelly: Anarchy in Kosovo This week marks the first anniversary of the American-led campaign to create in Kosovo, as the American soldiers stationed there have been conditioned to say, “a safe and secure environment, sir.” How safe is Kosovo, how secure? Safer and more secure than it was a year ago but still, in any real terms, not safe, not secure and becoming less so all the time. The United Nations Interim Administration Mi