Terrorism

( Tomdispatch.com ) – It was one of the fabled rivers of history and the Marines needed to cross it. In early April 2003, as American forces sought to wrap up their conquest of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, and take strongholds to its north, the Marine Corps formed “Task Force Tripoli.” It was commanded by […]

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 […]

Iraq

In Iraqi Kurdistan, Yazidi girls box their way to a new future after Daesh terror

Juan Cole

By Roshan De Stone | – ( Middle East Monitor) – After the 2014 Daesh genocide which left them reeling from the effects of mass abduction and rape, Yazidi refugee girls are rebuilding their lives with the help of boxing, art and music classes. Emma Loffhagen and Charline Bou Mansour report from Iraqi Kurdistan In […]

Islamic State of Iraq and Syria

Final ISIS Kidnapper sentenced to Life for Role in Kayla Mueller’s Death

Cronkite News Arizona PBS

By Ryan Knappenberger | – ( Cronkite News ) – ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A second ISIS militant was sentenced to life in prison Friday for the kidnapping and killing of Prescott native Kayla Mueller, a relief to her parents who pledged to continue fighting for her memory. “Now we can set this behind us,” Carl […]

Books

In Honor of Salman Rushdie, Novelist and Stabbing Victim: Midnight’s Other Children, by Juan Cole

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Salman Rushdie, Booker Prize-winning novelist, was repeatedly stabbed on Friday at a literary event at Chautauqua Institution in western New York, where he was arguing that the U.S. should give asylum to persecuted writers. Allegedly one Hadi Matar of New Jersey, wearing a black mask, leaped up onto the stage […]

Featured

Irony Alert: Amateurish Iranian attempt to hit John Bolton may derail Nuclear Negotiations Bolton wanted Derailed

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – An attempt to hire a hit man to kill former National Security Adviser John Bolton by an alleged member of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps was revealed by the Department of Justice at a delicate time in the negotiations to bring both the US and Iran back into compliance with […]

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 […]

Afghanistan

War as Terrorism: Conflicts We Can’t Win, Suffering We Don’t See

Andrea Mazzarino

( Tomdispatch.com) – Anyone who grew up in my generation of 1980s kids remembers G.I. Joe action figures — those green-uniformed plastic soldiers you could use to stage battles in the sandbox in your backyard or, for that matter, your bedroom. In those days, when imagery of bombed-out homes, bloodied civilians, and police violence wasn’t […]

European Union

Could Europe/ NATO become Israel-Palestine if Putin Occupies parts of Ukraine for the Long Haul?

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) | – We have to begin asking the question of what will happen if Russia succeeds in implementing a long-term occupation of the Donbass region and of other Ukrainian territories down to the port of Odessa, making a land bridge to Crimea. Such a Russian occupation of land claimed by a […]