The United States may be on the verge of involvement in yet another counterinsurgency war that, as in Iraq and Afghanistan, may make a bad situation even worse.

Now 66 years old, Robert Gates presumably has gained experience and, hopefully, some wisdom. In his 40s, he was willing to distort intelligence evidence, dissemble before congressional committees and undercut

The African and Middle Eastern Division of the Library of Congress is sponsoring a series of lectures on Iraq history and society. Jonathan Lyons, a researcher at the Global Terrorism