Out of Iraq How?
It started as Bush’s war, but we all own it now—and it’s time we took a hard look at what that means. Conversations with more than 50 experts, from General Petraeus’ inner circle to antiwar activists.
PLUS: Four post-pullout scenarios.
By Robert Dreyfuss
How we created Al Qaeda in Iraq.
By Peter Bergen and Paul Cruickshank

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DEPARTMENTS

1. Editors’ Note
2. Masthead
3. Contributors
4. Backtalk

OUTFRONT
The cheese bomb incident and other untrue tales of terror; how aliens started the Iraq War; prison tourism; Virginia is for haters; the cia‘s top-secret glass ceiling; the journalist and the murderer; bursting the ethanol bubble; private equity, public enemy; how green is your Christmas tree?

NOTEBOOK
You’re Not the Regulator of Me
By Marla Felcher
Dangerous games: How the Bush administration broke the toy-safety system.

PRACTICAL VALUES
The Yield of Magical Thinking
By Novella Carpenter
Forget organic—biodynamic (think sacred cows and magic potions) is the next foodie cult.
PLUS: The first-ever MoJo wine tasting.

MEDIA JONES
Jon Mooallem nails Ty Pennington for giving charity a bad name; we get a kick out of the Coup’s Boots Riley; War/Dance finds rebellious harmony in Uganda; plus more book(Gomorrah: A Personal Journey Into the Violent International Empire of Naples’ Organized Crime System, Shyness: How Normal Behavior Became a Sickness, Unmarketable: Brandalism, Copyfighting, Mocketing, and the Erosion of Integrity), film(Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soapbox, Manufactured Landscapes), and music(Bettye LaVette, Foo Fighters, Nellie McKay, Steve Earle) reviews.

P.S.
Candidates’ Christmas Cards
Drawing by Barry Blitt

FEATURES

Did I Steal My Daughter?
By Elizabeth Larsen
Searching for answers inside the labyrinthine world of global adoption.

The Anime Within
Photographs by Elena Dorfman
Character studies from the outer reaches of comic-book fandom.

The 50-Year Strategy
By Simon Rosenberg and Peter Leyden
The electoral stars may be aligning for a new progressive majority in 2008—and beyond.

Fight the Power
By Jeff Chang
Can hip-hop stop selling thuggery and reclaim its political passion?

How the West Might Be Won
By Sasha Abramsky
Get over Ohio. Western states like Nevada could be the secrets to the Democrats’ success.

Cover Photograph By Corbis
Illustration By John Hersey