From TNR, Drew Westen on how the media marginalizes opposition to the Iraq war by parroting Republican talking points. The damage done: Anne Applebaum on how the war in Iraq has hurt America. An accident waiting to happen: The actual federal budget costs due to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will continue to be far in excess of what the numbers show. Things are looking up: Statistics indicate a brighter tomorrow afternoon in Iraq. Christopher Hitchens on something to give thanks for: Good news from Iraq. From Foreign Policy, here are five reasons to be thankful this Thanksgiving: From Baghdad to Islamabad, doom and gloom dominate today’s headlines — and yet, a peek beneath the daily drumbeat reveals a world that may never have been better. The opposite of Thanksgiving: The modern holiday would horrify the Puritans, who observed a tradition that was quiet, deeply religious, and concerned with betterment, not bounty.
