Gareth Porter

Gareth Porter is an investigative historian and journalist specializing in U.S. national security policy. The paperback edition of his latest book, Perils of Dominance: Imbalance of Power and the Road to War in Vietnam, was published in 2006.

Crackpot Anti-Islam Activists, ‘Serial Fabricators,’ and the Tale of Iran and 9/11

Behind a mysterious Dec. 22 Associated Press story about “finding of fact” by a district judge in Manhattan Friday that Iran assisted al-Qaeda in the planning of the 9/11 attacks is a tapestry of recycled fabrications and distortions of fact from a bizarre cast of characters. The AP story offers no indication of the nature … Continue reading “Crackpot Anti-Islam Activists, ‘Serial Fabricators,’ and the Tale of Iran and 9/11”

How Maliki and Iran Outsmarted the US on Troop Withdrawal

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta’s suggestion that the end of the U.S. troop presence in Iraq is part of a U.S. military success story ignores the fact that the George W. Bush administration and the U.S. military had planned to maintain a semi-permanent military presence in Iraq. The real story behind the U.S. withdrawal is how … Continue reading “How Maliki and Iran Outsmarted the US on Troop Withdrawal”

Rejecting Apology, U.S. May Hasten End of Pakistan as Client

President Barack Obama has sided with U.S. military and Defense Department officials in rejecting a proposal by the U.S. ambassador to Pakistan for a U.S. apology for last weekend’s attack on two Pakistani border posts, and approving an investigation into the attack that won’t be completed until Dec. 23 at the earliest. The White House … Continue reading “Rejecting Apology, U.S. May Hasten End of Pakistan as Client”

Pak Border Post Attack a Big Loss for US War Policy

The U.S. military and the Barack Obama administration have been thrown into confusion by the attack on two Pakistani military posts near the border with Afghanistan Saturday morning, even as the attacks provoked the Pakistani government and military leadership into much stronger opposition to U.S. policy in the region. The decision to attack by helicopter … Continue reading “Pak Border Post Attack a Big Loss for US War Policy”

Ex-Inspector Rejects IAEA Iran Bomb-Test-Chamber Claim

A former inspector for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has repudiated its major new claim that Iran built an explosives chamber to test components of a nuclear weapon and carry out a simulated nuclear explosion. The IAEA claim that a foreign scientist – identified in news reports as Vyacheslav Danilenko – had been involved … Continue reading “Ex-Inspector Rejects IAEA Iran Bomb-Test-Chamber Claim”

IAEA’s ‘Soviet Nuclear Scientist’ Never Worked on Weapons

The report of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) published by a Washington think tank Tuesday repeated the sensational claim previously reported by news media all over the world that a former Soviet nuclear weapons scientist had helped Iran construct a detonation system that could be used for a nuclear weapon. But it turns out … Continue reading “IAEA’s ‘Soviet Nuclear Scientist’ Never Worked on Weapons”

Debunking the Iran ‘Terror Plot’

At a press conference on October 11, the Obama administration unveiled a spectacular charge against the government of Iran: The Qods Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had plotted to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the United States, Adel al-Jubeir, right in Washington, DC, in a place where large numbers of innocent bystanders could … Continue reading “Debunking the Iran ‘Terror Plot’”

ISAF Data: Night Raids Killed Over 1,500 Afghan Civilians

U.S. Special Operations Forces (SOF) killed well over 1,500 civilians in night raids in less than 10 months in 2010 and early 2011, analysis of official statistics on the raids released by the U.S.-NATO command reveals. That number would make U.S. night raids by far the largest cause of civilian casualties in the war in … Continue reading “ISAF Data: Night Raids Killed Over 1,500 Afghan Civilians”

UN Tally Excluded Most Afghan Civilian Deaths in Night Raids

WASHINGTON/KABUL — A July United Nations report asserting that only 30 civilians died in targeted raids in Afghanistan during the first six months of 2011 reflected only a very small fraction of night raids in which civilians were killed, according to officials of the independent Afghan commission that co-produced the 2010 report on civilian casualties … Continue reading “UN Tally Excluded Most Afghan Civilian Deaths in Night Raids”

US May Have Concealed Deterrent Aim of Iranian Plan

Skepticism about the US allegation of an Iranian plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador has focused on doubts that high-level Iranian officials would have used someone like used car salesman Monssor Arbabsiar to carry out the mission. But when the scanty evidence in the FBI account about what Arbabsiar actually proposed is interpreted in the … Continue reading “US May Have Concealed Deterrent Aim of Iranian Plan”