Updated at 8:50 p.m. EST, Dec. 30, 2009 Deadly bomb attacks in two Iraqis cities overshadowed the news that a British hostage was released after two and half years in captivity. At least 41 were killed and 138 more were wounded in those explosions and in other violence across the country. Also, Iraq sent a …
Continue reading “Wednesday: 41 Iraqis Killed, 138 Wounded”
The abortive efforts of the "panty-bomber" have inspired the War Party to focus on a new front in our ongoing and seemingly permanent "war on terrorism": Yemen, a godforsaken outpost of medievalism and sun-scorched desert on the northern shores of the Red Sea, is now taking center stage as al-Qaeda’s latest purported stronghold. Taking advantage …
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The botched attempt by a Nigerian, apparently trained in Yemen by al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, to conduct a suicide bombing on a plane as it neared Detroit has highlighted the U.S. government’s overzealous, ineffective, and even counterproductive efforts to overcome terrorism. Although Homeland Security chief Janet Napolitano’s stance that "the system" worked buckled under …
Continue reading “Learning the Wrong Lessons From the Attempted Bombing”
While the government of Iran reels under the continuing pressures of a popular uprising, whose character is inexorably changing from protest at a rigged election, contrived by the ambitious and obscurantist Revolutionary Guard, into a challenge to the Islamic government itself, the American-backed campaign for further sanctions on the economy, and inevitably the people, continues, …
Continue reading “New Wars for the New Year?”
Updated at 8:50 p.m. EST, Dec. 29, 2009 At least 12 Iraqis were killed and 26 more were wounded in the latest attacks. Meanwhile, Iraq’s national security adviser reiterated claims that Ba’athists are planning new attacks ahead of national elections. National security adviser Safa Hussein told AFP that al-Qaeda in Iraq has come under increased …
Continue reading “Tuesday: 12 Iraqis Killed, 26 Wounded”
U.S. intelligence has concluded that the document published recently by the Times of London, which purportedly describes an Iranian plan to do experiments on what the newspaper described as a "neutron initiator" for an atomic weapon, is a fabrication, according to a former Central Intelligence Agency official. Philip Giraldi, who was a CIA counterterrorism official …
Continue reading “Giraldi: US Intel Found Iran Nuke Document Was Forged”
The attempted Christmas Day bombing of a U.S. airliner by a Nigerian allegedly associated with al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has propelled long-neglected Yemen into the media spotlight. The attempt, which was foiled by alert passengers who subdued the alleged bomber, 23-year-old Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, as he tried to set off explosives, could result …
Continue reading “Aborted Bombing Puts Yemen in the Limelight”
Kelley Vlahos looks back on 2009
Devotees of President Obama’s plan to escalate the war in Afghanistan hope to repeat the "success" of our surge in Iraq. That’s likely to prove easier to accomplish than even the most rabid Afghanistan surge proponent dares to hope. The Iraq surge was already in motion in January 2007, when Bush and Cheney flipped off …
Continue reading “Another Surgin’ Safari”
Violent attacks tapered off overnight, even though returning Ashura pilgrims could still be easy targets for gunmen. Only four Iraqis were killed and one more was wounded today. Curiously, all the attacks took place in or near Mosul. Approximately 40 Iranian prisoners jailed in Nasariya are on a hunger strike and demanding access to Iranian …
Continue reading “Monday: 4 Iraqis Killed, 1 Wounded” 
