In France, a parliamentary commission will soon meet to investigate whether to ban any cloak that covers most of the face. WUSTL anthropology professor John Bowen, who wrote "Why the French Don't Like Headscarves: Islam, the State and Public Space," has been asked to testify by the parliamentary commission.

References:

1. Sept. 1, 2009 — Burqa Furor Scrambles French Politics in the The New York Times

and 2 others.

Yoshio Matsumoto was among the 110,000 Japanese-Americans seemingly bound for an internment camp soon after America entered World War II when WUSTL agreed to take him in.

References:

1. Aug. 31, 2009 — Japanese-American graduate recalls wartime ordeal in the Associated Press

and 42 others.

Story on James von Brunn, the accused 88-year-old gunman with a violent and virulently anti-Semitic past, who opened fire with a rifle inside the crowded U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum on Wednesday, fatally wounding a security guard before being shot himself. According to a relative, von Brunn attended WUSTL and is an artist.

References:

1. June 10, 2009 — Gunman shoots, kills guard at Holocaust Museum in the Associated Press

and 51 others.

Nancy Benac reports on Obama's Cairo speech in which he tried to explain the American mindset to Muslims and the world of Islam to Americans. Various experts comment on the speech, including WUSTL presidential rhetoric specialist Wayne Fields.

References:

1. June 6, 2009 — Analysis: Obama tries evenhanded approach in the Associated Press

and 51 others.

Just as California under President Bush asserted itself on issues ranging from gun control to medical marijuana, a motley cohort of states — from South Carolina to New Hampshire — are presenting a foil for President Obama's national ambitions. WUSTL political science professor Steve Smith, who is director of WUSTL's Weidenbaum Center on the Economy, Government and Public Policy, comments.

References:

1. March 27, 2009 — States rebel against Washington in the The Christian Science Monitor

A Web site funded by a grant from the state of Texas, allows people around the world to watch the U.S./Mexico border for illegal activity. WUSTL immigration law professor Stephen Legomsky comments.

References:

1. March 12, 2009 — Guarding the U.S.-Mexico border, live from suburban New York in the CNN.com

and 1 others.

The arrest warrant for Sudan's president for war crimes is indicative of the mounting pressure on the International Criminal Court to show results. Includes comments by WUSTL law professor Leila Nadya Sadat, who was a delegate to the diplomatic conference at which the ICC was established.

References:

1. March 6, 2009 — Briefing: A rocky start for war crimes world court in the The Christian Science Monitor

The "War on Terror" is losing the war of words. The catchphrase burned into the American lexicon hours after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, is fading away, slowly if not deliberately being replaced by a new administration bent on repairing the U.S. image among Muslim nations. Includes comments by WUSTL English and American culture studies professor Wayne Fields, who is an expert on presidential rhetoric.

References:

1. Feb. 1, 2009 — Under Obama, 'war on terror' catchphrase fading in the Associated Press

and 18 others.

New research suggests the risk of domestic violence will rise as increasing number of veterans are diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder. The consequences on families and children in communities across the U.S. are an emerging concern says WUSTL social work professor Monica Matthieu, an expert on veteran mental health.

References:

1. Nov. 7, 2008 — PTSD Tied to Domestic Violence Among Vets in the PsychCentral.com (MA)

and 8 others.

In a series of court documents that were at turns chilling and bizarre, federal investigators said U.S. Army microbiologist Bruce Ivins misled government agents investigating the 2001 anthrax mailings, sent emails with language closely matching the handwritten letters sent to victims and had access to the strain of anthrax used in the crime. WUSTL microbial genetics expert George Weinstock, who was not involved in the investigation, comments.

References:

1. Aug. 7, 2008 — FBI Paints Chilling Portrait of Anthrax-Attack Suspect in the The Wall Street Journal

Robots are increasingly taking over more soldier duties in Iraq and Afghanistan, with predictions that as much as 30 percent of the U.S. Army will be robotic by 2020. Two WUSTL scientists, Bill Smart and Doug Few, are on the cutting edge of this new wave of technology.

References:

1. Aug. 4, 2008 — Military use of robots increases in U.S. in the Xinhua News Agency (China)

and 2 others.

Corrupt Afghan officials, a reluctant military and divisions over policy, as much as the Taliban, have contributed to a failing policy to fight narcotics in Afghanistan, a former Bush administration official writes in an article in The New York Times Magazine on Sunday. The author, Thomas Schweich, was the senior counternarcotics official in the U.S. Embassy in Kabul for two years. He is now a visiting professor of law at WUSTL.

References:

1. July 24, 2008 — Bush Ex-Official Says Corrupt Afghans and a Hesitant Military Hinder Drug Fight in the The New York Times

Iraq is one of several tides running against GOP candidates, driving away independent voters and some party faithful. Except for Missouri, independent voters in five Senate races polled by USA Today were swinging toward the Democrat. Party loyalty was stronger among Democrats than Republicans in every state but Ohio. Michael Minta, professor of political science in Arts & Sciences, comments on how the stem cell research issue is dividing Republicans in Missouri.

References:

1. Sept. 1, 2006 — Republicans tense as voter disillusionment sets in in the USA Today

WUSTL's Wayne Fields comments on final pitches by Democratic presidential candidates as they head into the last weeks of primary elections.

References:

1. Feb. 27, 2008 — Analysis: Debate Unlikely to Change Race in the Associated Press

and 66 others.

A Nigerian immigrant here facing deportation says he's going to be tortured and killed if he is, in fact, sent back home. Frank Enwonwu was caught smuggling heroin 22 years ago. Since then he's lived the dangerous life of an informant for federal drug authorities.
He claims part of the deal was a promise to allow him to stay in the U.S. and escape revenge from the Nigerian drug dealers. Professor Stephen Legomsky, an immigration law expert at Washington University in St. Louis, comments.

References:

1. Feb. 7, 2008 — Drug Informant Fights Deportation in the NPR Day to Day

WUSTL American culture studies Professor Wayne Fields comments on President Bush's recent Mideast trip. "President Bush believes in a religion of dramatic revelations — his conversion and 9/11 being the most notable — in which a person's life is transformed or the world is changed," said WUSTL American culture studies professor Wayne Fields. "These moments ... are the sources of the important 'truths' which inform his understanding of life and shape his behavior as well as his rhetoric."

References:

1. Jan. 11, 2008 — A faith-based stop for the president in the Chicago Tribune

and 1 others.

WUSTL English professor Wayne Fields, who is an expert on presidential rhetoric, comments on President Bush's speech on Iraq.

References:

1. Sept. 14, 2007 — Analysis: Bush recasts war rationale in the Associated Press

and 38 others.

Every summer for the past eight years, WUSTL anthropologist Michael Frachetti has come to the desert steppe that rolls like endless yellow waves across this expansive Central Asian nation of Kazakhstan searching for evidence of a vast, connected nomadic society.
His work concerns Bronze Age nomads, and his scholarship is aimed purely at a historical understanding of how a preliterate society functioned more than 3,000 years ago. But his work coincides with a geopolitical reality that has important implications for American foreign policy makers: many of the countries that most trouble the West -- like Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia -- have government institutions that reflect a nomadic past.

References:

1. Aug. 8, 2007 — Ancient Nomads Offer Insights to Modern Crises in the The New York Times

and 1 others.

House Democrats propose a measure to require that U.S. troops be withdrawn from Iraq by fall of 2008. Minnesota's delegation, regardless of party affiliation, stays on the fence, in one instance citing that people's opinions are "all over the map."
WUSTL political science professor Steven Smith comments on Nancy Pelosi's strategy.

References:

1. March 8, 2007 — To set a pullout date or not: That is the question in the Minneapolis Star Tribune online

The germ that caused the plague epidemic that ravaged medieval Europe has a weakness that could help make a particularly dangerous form easier to treat, according to a study published on Thursday.
There are periodic natural outbreaks of pneumonic plague like one that started in 2005 in the Democratic Republic of Congo. There also is acute concern terrorists could harness the bacterium as an airborne germ warfare agent to spread pneumonic plague.
Writing in the journal Science, WUSTL scientists led by molecular microbiology professor William Goldman said experiments with mice showed that the onslaught of the bacterium slows markedly when the germ cannot use a key protein.

References:

1. Jan. 25, 2007 — Scientists find potential weakness in plague germ in the Scientific American

and 3 others.