Terrorism

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – A massive explosion went off outside a mosque in the small town (pop. 2500) of Rawdah 12 miles west of El Arish on the Mediterranean coast of Egypt’s Sinai peninsula yesterday, and then the mosque congregation was targeted by gunmen, killing at least 235 and wounding […]

Counter-Terrorism

Iraq defeated ISIL, but can it defeat Extremism?

contributors

By Mustafa Habib | (Baghdad) | (Niqash.org) | – – The military campaign against the Islamic State is almost over. But now, locals and politicians alike say, the Iraqi government must work to ensure they cannot return to recruit more followers. Even as Iraq’s pro-government forces close in on Rawa, one of the very last […]

Bashar al-Assad

Syrian Army Liberates City of Deir Ezzor from ISIL

contributors

TeleSur | – – This marks a decisive defeat for the terrorist group which has seen its territory shrink at an exponential rate during 2017. The Syrian Army has declared a total military victory over the Islamic State group in Deir Ezzor city, the provincial capital of Deir Ezzor, an oil rich province that was […]

Iraq

The Fall of the House of ISIL: Reduced from State to Random Terror

contributors

John Feffer | ( Foreign Policy in Focus) | – – ISIL* is on the decline, but the catastrophic political divisions in Iraq and Syria that gave rise to it are no closer to being mended. The Middle East today is enduring a replay of World War II — with the Islamic State in the […]

al-Qaeda

CIA Cache: Bin Laden loved watching ‘Resident Evil’

contributors

TeleSur | – – The CIA released the confidential materials “in the interest of transparency and to enhance public understanding of al-Qaida.” The CIA has released previously secret files seized from Osama bin Laden’s hideout on the day he was killed, including his private journal, favourite video games and vast collection of animated kids’ films. […]

al-Qaeda

Is Bin Laden Shaping America more than our Founding Fathers?

Juan Cole

By Tom Engelhardt | ( Tomdispatch.com) | – – Honestly, if there’s an afterlife, then the soul of Osama bin Laden, whose body was consigned to the waves by the U.S. Navy back in 2011, must be swimming happily with the dolphins and sharks. At the cost of the sort of spare change that Donald […]

Africa

Sen. Lindsey Graham surprised at US Troops in Niger? He could have read Nick Turse

Juan Cole

By Jon Queally, staff writer. | ( Commondreams.org) ” – – Graham Should Read More Nick Turse, TomDispatch, and Common Dreams. What U.S. Senators Don’t Know (and Neither Do You) About What the Pentagon Is Doing in Africa Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), one of the Senate’s most outspoken military hawks and member of the powerful […]

Al-Shabab

Nearly 300 dead in Somalia Terrorist Attack (largely ignored by US TV News)

Juan Cole

TeleSur | – – “In our 10-year experience as first responders in Mogadishu, we haven’t seen anything like this,” the Aamin Ambulance service posted on Twitter. Somali officials say the death toll from Saturday’s truck bombing in Mogadishu has risen to 276, with another 300 people injured. Medical personnel in the Somali capital have described […]

Bill of Rights

Under Trump, Gitmo continues to Gnaw away at tattered US Rule of Law

Juan Cole

By Karen J. Greenberg | ( Tomdispatch.com) | – – Eight years ago, when I wrote a book on the first days of Guantanamo, The Least Worst Place: Guantánamo’s First 100 Days, I assumed that Gitmo would prove a grim anomaly in our history. Today, it seems as if that “detention facility” will have a […]