Intervention

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THE ONGOING SAGA of Lindsay Lohan and her parents is so oddly pathetic, her family can't even get an intervention right. TMZ.com reports that Daddy Michael tried one on Friday, and when he arrived at Lindsay's Beverly Hills home, she not only didn't let him in, she called the cops on him. Mommy Dina , of course, criticized Michael's intervention plan, telling TMZ, "This sole act by my ex was not an intervention nor was this extreme antic sanctioned by...

By Harvey M. Sapolsky and Benjamin H. Friedman America's halfhearted adventure in Libya falls within a cycle of U.S. military intervention since the end of the Cold War: Success brings hubris, hubris causes overreach and failure, and failure breeds caution - though not necessarily restraint. Once another cautious intervention seems to succeed, the cycle begins anew. The first major post-Cold War U.S. military intervention was cautious. Once an American-led coalition ejected Iraqi forces from Kuwait, in 1991, the first Bush administration resisted pressure to overthrow Saddam Hussein by marching on to Baghdad or fighting alongside Shiite insurgents.

EVERYONE sitting in the waiting room at Family Court was being deliberately civilized for the sake of the child whose future was to be decided that day. Was he to return to his negligent mother or remain permanently in the custody of his paternal grandparents? The only unrelated witness there was the boy's second-grade teacher. The teacher had been asked to testify to his nearly perfect attendance and academic progress while living with his grandparents, compared to his prior year with Mom. The waiting continued.

LOS ANGELES - Leif Garrett didn't want to go to rehab - or at least not "Celebrity Rehab. " "I didn't want to have a camera stuck in my face while I was trying to kick," said Garrett, the 1970s teen idol once as famous for his singing and acting as his mane of blond hair. "I thought, 'It's nobody's freaking business.' But I finally came to the realization: It's everybody's business, because it's been in the papers. Instead of paying to go to rehab, why not get paid for it? And show the world that I am no longer using?"

The recent deaths of U.S. servicemen in Somalia, and current debate over whether, when and how deeply to involve U.S. armed forces in Haiti and the former Yugoslavia, pose difficult moral and pragmatic issues. Our standing by and watching hundreds of thousands starve or be victimized by "ethnic cleansing" without taking action seems deeply repugnant. But Americans are understandably reluctant to send their sons and daughters into war, and especially into potential quagmires. Unquestionably, peaceful solutions are preferable to military force, and even a cursory review of recent situations in which the U.S. intervened militarily, such as Grenada, Panama, the Gulf War or Somalia, would indicate that diplomacy emphasizing conflict resolution, as opposed to headline-making confrontations, might well have secured better and far less costly results.

One thing is certain: Terri Schiavo's life will come to an end one day. As will all of our lives. What's not clear is whether hers will end in the coming days, or years from now. Nor whether the brain-damaged woman who grew up in the Philadelphia suburbs will be attached to a feeding tube. Schiavo's life since her disabling illness 15 years ago has been one full of uncertainties - and a life in search of closure. The removal on Friday of her feeding tube, upon orders from a Florida judge, looked to be a step toward Schiavo finding peace.

The Vietnam War and the American Revolution were similar in that they demonstrated that a foreign power cannot suppress a war of national liberation, a Temple University military historian said yesterday. Speaking to about 75 people as part of a Pennsylvania Historical Society lecture series about the Vietnam War, Professor Russell Weigley asserted that the experience of the British in their American colonies and that of the United States in Vietnam suggest that "when confronting a national liberation movement, intervention will always be counterproductive.

WASHINGTON - President Obama on Monday declared the U.S.-led military intervention in Libya a success, saying that it had averted "a massacre" by longtime leader Moammar Gadhafi and that NATO's takeover of the multilateral mission this week means the United States can shift to a support role with less risk and cost. "Tonight, I can report that we have stopped Gadhafi's deadly advance," Obama said, speaking from the National Defense University in Washington. The address was designed to respond to criticism that he had not sufficiently explained the goals of the first major military involvement he has initiated abroad.

If the nutty set of circumstances police allege are true, Nicole Hathcock is a real ball breaker. When Hathcock, 36, staged an intervention for her brother earlier this month on High Street in Upper Providence, Montgomery County, things went "very wrong" and she ended up slicing his testicle with her fingernail, causing a gash that required seven stitches, police said. Hathcock had staged the intervention at her parents' house on Aug. 11 to address Robert Rosenberger's alleged rampant drug use, according to court documents.

PARIS - An Algeria-based al-Qaeda offshoot said in an online video on Tuesday that Muslims have an obligation to attack French interests around the world because of France's military intervention in Mali. In a message posted on YouTube, Abou Obeida Youssef Al-Annabi, a notable in the al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb group, or AQIM, said the "crusade" led by France in Mali makes its interests "legitimate targets. " French President Francois Hollande said he takes the threat seriously.

Breaking News update: ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) - Algerian official: 20 foreign hostages, including Americans, escape from their captors. More to come; the original story is below:   ALGIERS, Algeria - As Algerian army helicopters clattered overhead deep in the desert, Islamist extremists hunkered down for the night in a natural gas complex they had assaulted Wednesday morning, killing two people and taking dozens of foreigners hostage in...

Jaswant Singh is a former Indian finance minister, foreign minister, and defense minister, and the author of "Jinnah: India - Partition - Independence" In his victory speech on Nov. 6, President Obama affirmed that America's "decade-long conflict" in Afghanistan will now end. The line was greeted with prolonged applause - and understandably so. In fact, this ill-advised war has been grinding on for 11 years, making it the longest in American history....

THE ONGOING SAGA of Lindsay Lohan and her parents is so oddly pathetic, her family can't even get an intervention right. TMZ.com reports that Daddy Michael tried one on Friday, and when he arrived at Lindsay's Beverly Hills home, she not only didn't let him in, she called the cops on him. Mommy Dina , of course, criticized Michael's intervention plan, telling TMZ, "This sole act by my ex was not an intervention nor was this extreme antic sanctioned by...

DAMASCUS, Syria - Syrian opposition figures who reject foreign intervention in Syria's 18-month conflict called for the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad at a rare meeting Sunday in the nation's capital. The gathering was tolerated by the regime in an apparent attempt to lend credibility to its claims that it remains open to political reform despite its bloody crackdown on dissent. A senior former Assad ally, meanwhile, said Iran is providing massive support for the embattled Syrian regime.

IF THE NUTTY SET of circumstances is true, as police allege, Nicole Hathcock is a real ball-breaker. When Hathcock, 36, staged a drug intervention for her brother earlier this month in Upper Providence, Montgomery County, things went "very wrong" and she ended up slicing his testicle with her fingernail, causing a gash that required seven stitches, police said. Hathcock had staged the intervention at her parents' house on High Street on Aug. 11 to address Robert Rosenberger's alleged rampant drug use, according to court documents.

The murders of at least 49 children in the massacre of more than 100 villagers in the town of Houla has stoked the fires of U.S. politicians calling for this country to do more to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.   But an emotional response to what is unquestionably a heinous act is the last thing the United States can afford. Assad needs to go, but there are too many questions about what would follow his departure to take hasty steps that would only lead to regret later.

A Pennsylvania judge rejected a bid Friday from gas drillers and legislators to intervene in a legal challenge to the state's recently passed gas-drilling law. Senior Commonwealth Court Judge Keith Quigley ruled that both the industry and the legislators were already being adequately represented by the state attorney general and by documents pertaining to the passage of Act 13. The law, signed by Gov. Corbett in February, was enacted to collect...