Volume 299 No. 4 | May 2007
Articles with headlines in gray are unavailable online.
The inside story of how the interrogators of Task Force 145 cracked Abu Musab al-Zarqawi’s inner circle—without resorting to torture—and hunted down al-Qaeda’s man in Iraq
by Mark Bowden
Sodomy is punishable by death in Saudi Arabia, but gay life flourishes there. Why it is “easier to be gay than straight” in a society where everyone, homosexual and otherwise, lives in the closet
by Nadya Labi
With the collapse of the center in Israeli politics, and the growing menace of Iran, Avigdor Lieberman’s extremist views may suddenly become mainstream.
by Gershom Gorenberg
Web-only
INTERVIEWS
Gershom Gorenberg elucidates the startling politics of Avigdor Lieberman, a right-wing Israeli politician who has lately taken center stage
by Jennie Rothenberg
Why is anonymous group suicide so popular in Japan?
by David Samuels
150 YEARS OF THE ATLANTIC
This is the 15th in a series of archival excerpts in honor of the magazine’s 150th anniversary. For the full text of these articles, visit www.theatlantic.com/ideastour.
POETRY
[with audio]
by David Yezzi
COMMENT
Why we should worry about the military's increased political assertiveness
by Andrew J. Bacevich
Web-only
INTERVIEWS
Andrew J. Bacevich, author of "Warrior Politics," talks about the increased politicization of the American military and its troubling potential consequences
by Justine Isola
Immigrants on parade; Scottish pride; Korea's transgendered pop stars
Compiled by Matthew Quirk
Presidential tea leaves; open-market elves; the fine art of sword-swallowing
THE WORLD IN NUMBERS
Serious trouble is brewing in Iraq’s one quiet corner: the Kurdish north.
by Graeme Wood
POLL
The Atlantic recently asked a group of foreign-policy authorities about Iran's role in the Iraq conflict
WASHINGTON
What role will Hillary’s husband play in the campaign?
by Marc Ambinder
FIRST PRINCIPLES
The age of the dollar has been great for America—but it may end soon.
by Clive Crook
Stalin on the Eastern Front
by Benjamin Schwarz
Abortion and the bloodiness of being female
by Caitlin Flanagan
Acceptance, by Susan Coll
by Thomas Mallon
The turbulent life of Kingsley Amis
by Christopher Hitchens
READING LIST
Freeloading aesthetes and the women who kept them
by Sally Singer
A guide to additional releases: the history of the car bomb; Ralph Ellison; the annals of impotence; and more
TRAVELS
A safari by air over Namibia’s haunting sands [Web only: "Above Namibia ." A narrated photo essay.]
by Clive Crook
FOOD
An exciting new Italian bazaar makes Whole Foods look like the A&P—and it’s coming to America.
by Corby Kummer
TECHNOLOGY
New programs ease the frustration of working with others online.
by James Fallows
CONTENT
What the snobs don’t understand
by Michael Hirschorn
Web-only
THE PUZZLER
by Emily Cox and Henry Rathvon
Mockingbird blu; technological no-how
by Barbara Wallraff
