The USG Open Source Center surveys the Middle Eastern press reaction to the US raid on Abu al-Kamal in Syria, finding it mostly negative and based on Syrian reports. Lesson: If the US had just gotten word out about its side of the story more quickly and effectively, it might have blunted the generally negative […]
The hypocrisiy of the ‘One-Party Rule’ Gambit
Ooops, typo in title. Go here for “The Hypocrisy of the ‘One Party Rule’ Gambit”
Two Daring Attacks on US Troops in Afghanistan
In Baghlan in northern Afghanistan, a suicide bomber killed two US troops while meeting at a local police station. Baghlan, a center of sugar beet production, is largely Tajik (Sunni Persian-speakers) but has a Pushtun minority, some of whom are anti-American and anti-Karzai government. In November of 2007, Taliban there hit a sugar factory during […]
More on Syria Raid
More on the US raid on a house in Syria: The LAT wonders if the attack will derail US-Syrian steps toward rapprochement. Syrian officials are complaining that the raid, which left 8 Syrians dead, was ‘irrational’ and contravened international law. Other Syrian denunciations are given in Arabic by al-Sharq al-Awsat. Farmhouse raided in Abu Kamal […]
Pakistani Military Takes Towns in Bajaur; If this is So Central to US Security, Why isn’t it News? US Strike Kills 20 in S. Waziristan
Although both candidates tie the resurgence of the Taliban in Pakistan and Afghanistan to US domestic security, I personally have difficulty understanding exactly how that works. The September 11, 2001, attacks on the US were planned by Arab expatriates in Hamburg, Germany, and Pushtun tribespeople had almost nothing to do with them (did the Taliban […]
Helman: US has all but Committed to Leaving Iraq
Ambassador Gerald B. Helman writes: Absent the unexpected, it is unlikely that a security agreement in the form of a Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) between Iraq and the US will be in place before our Presidential elections and almost as unlikely before the end of the year when the present UN Security Council mandate […]
US Raid inside Syria Kills 8
US troops made a raid inside Syrian territory near Iraq, according to Syrian media, which left 8 persons (the Syrians say civilians) dead. What is odd is that the Bush administration did not behave that way when the infiltration of fundamentalist vigilantes from the Syrian side was a more significant problem. I don’t know if […]
Obama and McCain on Iraq
Although the US public trusts Sen. Barack Obama to handle the economy far more than it does Sen. John McCain, the two are viewed as equally able with regard to handling Iraq and the ‘war on terrorism.’ Of course, given that the public in earlier years had tended to give the edge to Republicans on […]
Sunni Party Cuts off US in Iraq;
The Iraqi Islamic Party, led by Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi, said it was suspending further high-level contact with the United States on Saturday. The Sunni fundamentalist group is angry about a raid in Fallujah in which US troops killed a member of the IIP. The US military contends that the man opened fire on […]
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