John S. Williams writes: “One of the most curious comments in Incurious Boy George’s recent speech before the Veterans of Foreign War in Kansas City was his totally uninformed reference to Graham Greene’s novel about American involvement in Vietnam, The Quiet American. Perhaps the best article on the matter I’ve read thus far is one […]
Al-Maliki Threatens Journalists Al-Hashemi Plays Hard to Get
Al-Maliki tells off US pols., threatens journalists with libel lawsuits. A hint to Mr. al-Maliki: This kind of shrillness does not look prime ministerial and just hurts your cause. Muzzling criticism in the press is a contradiction of your claim to legitimacy because of a democratic victory in the polls. Tariq al-Hashimi was in Ankara […]
Who is the US Fighting in Iraq?
Who exactly is the US fighting in Iraq? Graphed by self-confessed identity of captives, it is largely Sunni Arab Iraqis, often motivated primarily by the opportunity to earn some money from the resistance leaders. Source: New York Times, 2007/08/25. The second largest group is Salafi Takfiris, i.e. fundamentalists who do not consider Shiites to be […]
Lessons from Past Western Incursions in the Middle East
The video of my appearance at the New America Foundation is now online. Many thanks again to kind host Steve Clemons. The short version, covering some of the same points, can be read at Tomdispatch.com, which is carrying my essay on Bonaparte and Bush.
Rubin on Narcotics in Afghanistan
At the Global Affairs group blog, Barnett Rubin gives us the second in a series of three posts on the effort to confront narcotics production and trafficking coming out of Afghanistan. It is an issue intimately tied up, potentially, with counter-terrorism efforts, but is often neglected by analysts. Rubin is among our foremost Afghanistan experts.
Surge in Deaths 85 percent in US custody Are Sunni Arabs
The Bush administration talking points on the Iraq War are that the troop escalation has reduced violence and made Iraq safer for Iraqis, that the major threat in Iraq is self-avowed al-Qaeda devotees, and that Iran and the Shiites are just as deadly a threat as the Sunni Arab guerrillas. The facts? The Associated Press […]
Cole on Air America with Sam Seder, Sunday
Catch my interview at Air America with Sam Seder on Sunday, August 26 at 6 pm, regarding my new book, Napoleon’s Egypt: Invading the Middle East.
Troops on Ground tune out "Happy Talk" from Bush
Tina Susman of the LAT finds that the privates and specialists among US troops in Iraq are dismissive of the ‘happy talk’ they hear from Bush and some of their commanders about the way the war is going. They see the realities on the ground, they lose friends to roadside bombings, they see evidence that […]
Ahmed on Sharif Decision, Pakistan
Don’t miss Manan Ahmed’s important comment at our Global Affairs group blog on Pakistan’s Supreme Court decision that former prime minister Nawaz Sharif may return to Pakistan. See also Sameer Lalwani’s comments at the Washington Note on the same issue.
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