al-Qaeda

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The responsibility for the bombing in Kerman, Iran, on Wednesday that killed at least 84 people and wounded another 284, has been claimed by the ISIL (Daesh, ISIS) terrorist group. The worst terrorist bombing in Iran since the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK) blew up the Iranian leadership in 1981 struck at […]

al-Qaeda

When Foreign Policy Elites Manipulate the Public into War, the First Amendment is the First Casualty

Ali Abootalebi

Eau Claire, WI (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – United States presidents have repeatedly waged wars with tacit congressional approval and distorted narratives at the expense of citizens’ political participation in the political process and to the detriment of their first amendment rights. the seemingly popular support for such interventions is constructed and deprives millions […]

al Qaeda in the Arabian Penisula

The End of the “Global War on Terror”: Biden takes out Ayman al-Zawahiri (1951-2022)

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – President Joe Biden announced on Monday evening that a CIA-operated drone had killed Ayman al-Zawahiri, the second leader of al-Qaeda after Usama Bin Laden, on Saturday while he stood on the balcony of a Taliban safe house in Kabul. He was allegedly hosted by the Haqqani clan, one of whose […]

al-Qaeda

Bin Laden and Trump: Two Bookends to America’s Imperial Decline

Foreign Policy in Focus

By Walden Bello | – The end of 2021 and the beginning of a new year is a convenient time to take stock of the causes of America’s decline. This past year saw both Washington’s inglorious exit from Afghanistan after 20 years in the country that had served as the launching pad for its direct […]

al-Qaeda

All the Ways the Oath Keeper Militiamen, just Jailed, are Like al-Qaeda

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Department of Justice reports that the FBI arrested 11 top members of the fascist militia, the Oath Keepers, on Thursday. They are charged with seditious conspiracy. Among those jailed was Elmer “Stewart” Rhodes, a former paratrooper in the US military and a Yale Law School graduate, who heads the […]

Afghanistan

Under Harsh Taliban Rule and Boycotted by International Donors, Afghanistan is becoming Hell on Earth

contributors

By Liam Felloni | – Bristol, UK (Special to Informed Comment) – Ninety days into the Taliban takeover, the situation in the country is worsening by the minute. Since Afghanistan is no longer backed by Western governments, and the Taliban government is heavily sanctioned, the country is on the verge of famine. As hunger rises […]

al-Qaeda

Failures of 9/11 and the 20-year ‘War on Terror’: Being in the Washington Elite means Never Having to Say You’re Sorry

Karen J. Greenberg

( Tomdispatch.com) – The anniversary of the 9/11 attacks was marked by days of remembrances — for the courageous rescue workers of that moment, for the thousands murdered as the Twin Towers collapsed, for those who died in the Pentagon, or in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, fighting off the hijackers of the commercial jet they were in, […]

al-Qaeda

No, Saudi Arabia wasn’t behind the 9/11 Attacks; That is a conspiracy Theory

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The FBI released documents from its investigation of ties of personnel at the Saudi embassy in Washington, D.C., to al-Qaeda. The Saudi government was not behind the September 11 attacks, and these documents don’t indicate that it was. The Saudis are heavily invested in the U.S. stock market, and it […]

al-Qaeda

9/11 survivors’ exposure to toxic dust and the chronic health conditions that followed offer lessons that are still too often unheeded

The Conversation

By Roberto Lucchini | – ( The Conversation) – The 9/11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York resulted in the loss of 2,753 people in the Twin Towers and surrounding area. After the attack, more than 100,000 responders and recovery workers from every U.S. state – along with some 400,000 residents […]