Month: June 2010

Doubts Grow Over Israel’s Value as US Ally

Israel’s disastrous raid in international waters Monday on a Turkish-flagged flotilla carrying humanitarian supplies to Gaza has resurrected a long-running debate over whether Washington’s close alliance with the Jewish state really serves U.S. strategic interests. Ironically, one negative answer was provided in Jerusalem Tuesday by none other than the head of Israel’s vaunted foreign-intelligence agency, … Continue reading “Doubts Grow Over Israel’s Value as US Ally”

Israel Censors News on Deadly Flotilla Raid

TEL AVIV — Attempts by media to interview some of the hundreds of Free Gaza (FG) members, who were being deported from Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion International Airport, Wednesday, were thwarted by Israeli authorities. "No you will not be able to talk to them or interview them," Shahar Ariel, a deputy-spokesman from Israel’s ministry of … Continue reading “Israel Censors News on Deadly Flotilla Raid”

Guantánamo Deaths in 2006 Won’t Go Away

A leading good-government group is asking the U.S. Justice Department to disclose details of its investigation into the deaths of three Guantánamo prisoners in 2006. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) Wednesday sent a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the Justice Department seeking information about the Criminal Division’s handling of allegations … Continue reading “Guantánamo Deaths in 2006 Won’t Go Away”

CIA Drone Operators Oppose Strikes as Helping al-Qaeda

Some CIA officers involved in the agency’s drone strikes program in Pakistan and elsewhere are privately expressing their opposition to the program within the agency, because it is helping al-Qaeda and its allies recruit, according to a retired military officer in contact with them. "Some of the CIA operators are concerned that, because of its … Continue reading “CIA Drone Operators Oppose Strikes as Helping al-Qaeda”

‘Mad Dog’ Diplomacy

Moshe Dayan, Israel’s most celebrated general, famously outlined the strategy he believed would keep Israel’s enemies at bay: "Israel must be a like a mad dog, too dangerous to bother."  Until now, most observers had assumed Dayan was referring to Israeli military or possibly nuclear strategy, an expression in his typically blunt fashion of the … Continue reading “‘Mad Dog’ Diplomacy”