International Politics and Economy

Excerpted from a report by Jack Serle and Chris Woods for the Bureau of Investigative Journalism: Pakistan The only drone strike reported to hit Pakistan in May killed Wali Ur Rehman, second-in-command of the Pakistan Taliban (TTP). It was the first US attack in Pakistan for 42 days and came less than a week after […]

Drones

President Obama and Counter-Terrorism: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Juan Cole

Here are the good, the bad and the ugly things in President Obama’s important speech on counter-terrorism Thursday, and in the off-stage steps he has announced that mysteriously did not appear in the speech: The Good: President Obama seems determined to give responsibility for drone strikes to the Department of Defense, taking it away from […]

Afghanistan

Obama: US will Continue its Targeted Killing with Drones (Woods)

Juan Cole

Chris Woods writes at the Bureau of Investigative Journalism Barack Obama has made it clear that the US will continue with its controversial targeted killing programme. In a major speech the US president also announced that he has signed into force a new – and secret – rule book for lethal action that provides ‘clear […]

Islam

Pot and Partying: Top Ten Signs the Tsarnaev Brothers Weren’t Pious Muslims

Juan Cole

Recent press revelations have confirmed my initial suggestion that members of the Tsarnaev family were secular ex-Soviets rather than observant Muslims Only a few years ago did the late Tamerlan start exhibiting signs of fanaticism (he was thrown out of his mosque in Boston last January when he stood up to denounce the preacher there […]

Islamophobia

CNN Fail: Imaginary “Dark Males,” “Accents,” and “Arrests” Haunt Reporters

Juan Cole

Between about 1:00 pm and 2:40 pm ET on Wednesday, April 17, the CNN news team was at the worst I’ve ever seen them. The afternoon began well, with the exciting revelation that the FBI now had recovered video of a suspect from a security camera at Lord & Taylor Department Store. But things went […]

Islam

Top Ten Ways Islamic Law forbids Terrorism

Juan Cole

Erik Rush and others who hastened to scapegoat Muslims for the Boston Marathon bombing are ignorant of the religion. I can’t understand why people who have never so much as read a book about a subject appoint themselves experts on it. (Try this book, e.g.). We don’t yet know who carried out the attack, but […]

Afghanistan

US Drone Campaign in Pakistan: Amazing Infographic (Serle)

Juan Cole

Jack Serle writes at the Bureau of Investigative Journalism Pitch Interactive have visualised every CIA drone strike and every casualty in Pakistan. A new interactive graphic, which uses the Bureau’s drone data, has brought a fresh perspective to the CIA’s nine-year drone campaign in Pakistan. A team of developers has pulled together every known drone […]

Drones

Air Power is horribly Expensive and Inefficient, and Drones are no Different (Astore)

Juan Cole

William J. Astore writes at Tomdispatch.com: Today’s unmanned aerial vehicles, most famously Predator and Reaper drones, have been celebrated as the culmination of the longtime dreams of airpower enthusiasts, offering the possibility of victory through quick, clean, and selective destruction. Those drones, so the (very old) story goes, assure the U.S. military of command of […]

CIA

‘At least 400 civilians’ killed by US drone strikes: Pakistani Gov’t

Juan Cole

Alice K. Ross writes at the Bureau of Investigative Journalism: The Pakistani government estimates at least 400 civilians have been killed in drone strikes – a figure close to the Bureau’s own findings. In evidence to Ben Emmerson QC, UN special rapporteur on counter-terrorism, the Pakistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said that CIA drones […]