Updated at 8:55 p.m. EDT, Sept. 9, 2010
Iraqis are awaiting the sighting of the crescent moon that will mark the end of Ramadan and the start of Eid al-Fitr celebrations. Although security forces are concerned this may trigger an increase in violence, so far attacks have remained light. At least eight Iraqis were killed and 15 more were wounded.
As President Obama pooh-poohed as old news the many WikiLeaks documents showing the sad state of the conflict in Afghanistan, the chief executive also began an entire month of crowing about keeping his campaign promise to “bring the war in Iraq to a responsible end.” But in both wars, the president’s strategies are flawed and …
Continue reading “What to Do About the Wars”
The recent WikiLeaks dump of war-related documents has brought little new to the debate over Washington’s ongoing military involvement in Afghanistan, but allegations that Pakistan’s intelligence services are aiding the Taliban has brought renewed attention to U.S. concerns over its reliance on Islamabad in battling Taliban and al-Qaeda forces in Afghanistan. New polling data released …
Continue reading “Poll: Pakistanis Dislike US, Taliban, and al-Qaeda”
The 92,000 classified U.S. government documents leaked to WikiLeaks.org didn’t reveal many new shocking truths about the U.S. military quagmire in Afghanistan. The facts on the ground have been well known publicly for some time – that the Taliban adversary is getting stronger and is being actively assisted by a faux ally (Pakistan) to whom …
Continue reading “The Main Effect of the WikiLeaks Documents Is Political”
It’s a sign of the New American times that even when we know we don’t have cogent grounds to continue our woebegone wars, we can’t invent compelling reasons to end them. In September 2009, President Obama caved to Pentagon demands to send more troops to the Bananastans* even though nobody in the Department of Defense …
Continue reading “The Stepmother of Invention”
To smooth over the stormy relationship with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, President Barack Obama is throwing out the red carpet in Washington, D.C., for Karzai and his entourage. Vice President Joe Biden, who in the past has erupted in open hostility toward Karzai, is holding a “kiss-and-make-up” dinner for the Afghan leader. All of this …
Continue reading “Feting a Fetid War”
Updated at 12:30 p.m. EDT, May 11, 2010
At least 154 Iraqis were killed and 620 more were wounded in a staggering series of attacks across the country. Some of the attacks likely were coordinated, such as those on checkpoints in Baghdad. Others seemed completely random. Security officials were quick to blame al-Qaeda or foreign nations, but the attacks crossed the sectarian lines, striking Shi’ite, Sunni and Kurd targets. In an unusual switch, the worst attacks occurred south of the capital in Hilla, Suwayra and Basra, where such attacks after tapered off. Conflicting casualty figures often follow such large and wide-ranging attacks.
The Obama administration is eager to solve the Israeli-Palestinian problem – both to make the president seem less naïve for having believed he could broker the chronic dispute quickly and to lessen the motivation for radical Islamists that attack the United States in Afghanistan, Iraq, and elsewhere. The administration is even debating internally whether to …
Continue reading “Should US Be More Involved in Israeli-Palestinian ‘Peace Process’?”
At least 11 Iraqis were killed and 28 more were wounded in the latest violence, but perhaps the worst attacks were disrupted.
We’re fighting them over there so we don’t have to fight them over here. That, you’ll recall, was the message pounded home in the early days of the Long War – essentially the same tired old cold war line trotted out by the neocons and revamped for the age of terrorism. If we don’t stop …
Continue reading “Al-Qaeda-in-America” 
