Gareth Porter

Despite President Barack Obama’s statement at Camp LeJeune, North Carolina Feb. 27 that he had “chosen a timeline that will remove our combat brigades over the next 18 months,” a number of Brigade Combat Teams (BCTs), which have been the basic U.S. Army combat unit in Iraq for six years, will remain in Iraq after … Continue reading “Despite Obama’s Vow, Combat Brigades Will Stay in Iraq”

U.S. Special Operations forces in Afghanistan, whose commando raids and airstrikes against suspected Taliban targets have caused large numbers of civilian casualties that have angered Afghans, have quietly been put under the "tactical control" of the commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, Gen. David McKiernan, for the first time. An order issued Tuesday … Continue reading “McKiernan Gets Control of Disputed Raids”

Advanced reports on the Barack Obama administration’s strategy to "peel off" a majority of insurgent commanders from the "hard core" of Taliban suggest that it will be presented as a political route to victory in Afghanistan that would not require U.S. and NATO troops to win militarily. But experts warn that the strategy is unlikely … Continue reading “Plan to Split Taliban Lures Obama Deeper Into War”

After Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called in October 2005 for an end to the state of Israel, Israeli leaders began stepping up talk of an "existential threat" to the country. Likud Party leader Binyamin Netanyahu, who is now forming a new government, has even used it support his argument that the Iranian president is threatening … Continue reading “Iran’s Anti-Israel Rhetoric Aimed at Arab Opinion”

The arguments for maintaining a major U.S. combat force in Iraq at least through 2011, escalating U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan and assuming a confrontational stance toward Iran appear to assume that the United States remains the dominant military power in the region. But the pattern of recent history and current developments in the region … Continue reading “US Military Dominance in Mideast Proven a Costly Myth”

President Barack Obama has given military commanders a free hand to determine the size and composition of a residual force in Iraq up to 50,000 troops, apparently including the option of leaving one or more combat brigades or bringing them from the United States, after the August 2010 deadline for the ostensible withdrawal of all … Continue reading “Drawdown Plan May Leave Combat Brigades in Iraq”

President Barack Obama decided to approve only 17,000 of the 30,000 troops requested by Gen. David McKiernan, the top commander of U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan, and Gen. David Petraeus, the CENTCOM commander, after McKiernan was unable to tell him how they would be used, according to a White House source. But Obama is … Continue reading “Obama Nixed Full Afghan Surge After Quizzing Brass”

CENTCOM Commander Gen. David Petraeus and Multinational Force Iraq (MNF-I) Commander Gen. Ray Odierno have submitted assessments of Iraq combat-troop withdrawal plans to President Barack Obama based on the premise that his 16-month withdrawal plan would pose significantly greater risk to "security gains" than the 23-month plan they favor. But a senior commander in Iraq … Continue reading “Commanders in Iraq Challenge Petraeus on Pullout Risk”

President Barack Obama and Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair did not appear to be on the same page this week when they talked about Iran’s nuclear intentions. Obama referred in his news conference to Iran’s "development of a nuclear weapon or their pursuit of a nuclear weapon," but Blair said "we do not know … Continue reading “Intel Estimate Muddied Iran’s Nuclear Intent”

The political maneuvering between President Barack Obama and his top field commanders over withdrawal from Iraq has taken a sudden new turn with the leak by CENTCOM commander Gen. David Petraeus – and a firm denial by a White House official – of an account of the Jan. 21 White House meeting suggesting that Obama … Continue reading “Petraeus Leaked Misleading Story on Pullout Plans”