By his own admission, U.S. Ambassador John W. Limbert's ordeal as a captive during the Iranian hostage crisis began with a monumental failure of negotiation. "In 1979, somebody thought it would be a good idea to the let the shah [of Iran] into the U.S. for...
Annapolis Hopes Withered by Gaza Crisis
As President George W. Bush returned from his visit last month to Israel to reinvigorate the Annapolis process, the international media was dominated by reports of Palestinian militants firing rockets into Gaza, and Israel's response an unprecedented blockade...
Ahmadinejad Caught Between Reformists and Hardliners
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has garnered headlines around the world for his defiance of Washington, as well as his rhetorical grandstanding on Palestinian issues, the existence of Israel, and his government's alleged support of Shi'ite militias in Iraq....
Al-Qaeda in Iraq Records Shed Light on Foreign Recruits
Twenty-six-year-old Muhammad 'Abd-al-Qadir bil-Qasim began his journey in Darnah, Libya. He traveled to Egypt and arrived in Syria, where he paid a man named Abu Umar 2,000 Syrian pounds to smuggle him across the Iraqi border. Qasim was an Arabic language teacher and...
Pentagon’s Islam ‘Expert’ Hoisted by His Own Jihad
Neoconservative hawks lamented the latest casualty in the war on terror last Friday, as the ax fell on Stephen Coughlin's job. The Pentagon decided not to renew the contract of its "foremost" specialist on Islamic law and Islamic extremism when it ends in...
Assassination Jars Nascent US Détente With Syria
When the George W. Bush administration asked Damascus to attend last month's Annapolis conference, Emad Moustapha, the Syrian ambassador to the United States, was stunned, he admits. "[The U.S.] was really obsessed with making wars. Then we heard that it's not...
‘Laptop of Death’: Revising the NIE on Iran
Nearly one week after a U.S. intelligence report revealed that Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003, the saber-rattling inside the Washington Beltway appears to have receded for the moment, and with it, the George W. Bush administration's strongest pretext...
Why Annapolis Is About Iran
It was initially billed as a "peace conference" to decisively address the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. But as President George W. Bush's ambitious Annapolis gathering approached his most intensive effort to restart peace talks in seven years ...
The Nuclear Cowboys
What do the current Pakistani political crisis, Israel's September air strike against Syria, and Iran's continued pursuit of nuclear enrichment all have in common? All three events reflect the aggressive policies adopted by the George W. Bush administration to deal...
Nuke Watchdog Report No Brake on Sanctions
The United Nations atomic watchdog issued a report Thursday saying that Iran had been generally truthful about key aspects of its past nuclear activities, but warned that knowledge of Tehran's program was "diminishing." The International Atomic Energy Agency...


