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 War
and Terror
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Imperial errors cost US the
Middle East
Designed to demonstrate the United States' post-Cold War military dominance and
create a foothold in the Middle East, nine years later the 2003 Iraq invasion
achieved the opposite. The US's biggest error was not drawing from colonial
Britain's playbook. Rather than "regime change", free elections and withdrawal,
Washington should have rebadged the existing regime and refused to leave. - Dmitry
Shlapentokh (Jan 31, '12)
Iran well prepared for the worst
Iran has been preparing for a possible military confrontation with the United
States for decades and instead of engaging in a direct military competition,
which would be pitting its weaknesses against US strengths, it has developed an
asymmetric "hybrid" strategy that mixes advanced technology with guerilla
tactics to deny US forces access to bases and maritime freedom of maneuver. - David
Isenberg (Jan 30'12)
The consequences of war for
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabian threats that its military could join a Western-led conflict with
Iran heap more pressure on Riyadh's Shi'ite rival. However, the House of Saud
could invite isolation in the Muslim world for siding so openly with the United
States and Israel, while Tehran could strike back by arming the restive Shi'ite
minority in Saudi Arabia's oil-rich east. - Brian M Downing
(Jan 30'12)
US probe hardens Pakistani
suspicions
Pakistan has said a United States Air Force report on the US helicopter assault
along the Afghan border that killed 28 Pakistani soldiers merely deepens
suspicions the strike was intentional. Dismissing findings the attack was
"accidental" and down to a "misconfigured electronic map overlay", it asserts
that soldiers were being picked off one-by-one by gunships almost an hour and a
half after the US was warned. - Gareth Porter
(Jan 26, '12)
Hakimullah Mehsud evades US
drones, again
Reports of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan leader Hakimullah Mehsud's death in a
United States drone strike appear greatly exaggerated, with witnesses
confirming that only lesser-known militants were killed in the January 12
attack. However, the successful drone killing of a senior al-Qaeda operative
days before suggests Washington and Islamabad are still sharing some
intelligence despite bilateral tensions, with Hakimullah likely still in their
crosshairs.
- Amir Mir (Jan 26, '12)
The crash and burn of drone warfare
As the US's new drone "wonder weapons" are used with increasing frequency,
their deficiencies are becoming ever clearer. More than 70 of the multi-million
dollar robotic craft have gone down since 2000 due to "catastrophic mishaps".
This is just part of a developing record of drone disaster that includes Iraqi
insurgents hacking drone video feeds and a virulent computer virus infecting
the unmanned fleet. - Nick Turse (Jan 25,
'12)
Terror nests stir in Kazakh
clampdown
Terror group Jund al-Khilafa's swift response to a clampdown by Kazakhstan
President Nursultan Nazarbayev on rising Jihadi-Salafist sentiment signals that
the regime must tread carefully to avoid provoking small cells from striking
again. Laws to thwart religious freedom could become a propaganda boon for the
group which claims from its base on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border to have
fighters "ready to be killed in the thousands". - Jacob Zenn
(Jan 19, '12)
Worries mount over blowback of
Iran attack
A former senior adviser on the Middle East to the past four United States
presidents has warned that "the negatives far outweigh the positives" of war
with Iran. Instead, he argues, Washington should augment Israel's nuclear
weapons delivery systems to dissuade it from attacking the Islamic Republic. - Barbara
Slavin (Jan 19, '12)
US, Thailand tussle over
terror plot
 While
a raid by Thai authorities on the home of an alleged Hezbollah member found
thousands of kilograms of potential bomb-making materials, Bangkok has taken
the United States Embassy to task over a terror warning it issued for the
capital following Hussein Atris' arrest. Concerned over the impact on the
heavily tourism-dependent economy, the government decries the US's "unilateral"
approach. - Richard Ehrlich (Jan 17, '12)
In signal to Israel, US delays
war games
The postponement of a massive United States-Israeli military exercise sends a
strong message to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Defense
Minister Ehud Barak, reportedly the most aggressive advocates of a strike
against Iran in Israel's right-wing government.
- Gareth Porter and Jim Lobe (Jan 17,
'12)
Obama drags Middle East baggage to
Asia
 The
Barack Obama administration's "strategic pivot" to Asia has Pentagon chiefs
salivating at the prospect of a new theater, but narrowing options on Iran
suggest the Middle East debacle will be replayed. It's certain the president
doesn't want the corpse of an Iranian nuclear scientist as a poster child for
US foreign policy, but Tehran's head on a platter is a sure way to deliver
votes. - Peter Lee (Jan 13, '12)
JUSTICE DELAYED
Commission fails to find
Shahzad’s killers
After an initial mandate of six weeks,  the
high-level judicial inquiry commission set up to probe the murder of Syed
Saleem Shahzad has taken six months to find - nothing. According to the
commission's 140-page report, it could not unearth evidence of involvement of
any security agency, including the Inter-Services Intelligence, in the torture
and assassination of the Pakistan Bureau Chief of Asia Times Online in May last
year. - Amir Mir (Jan 13, '12)
There's more to peace than
Taliban
The United States took it for granted that the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance
groups in Afghanistan would fall into line over talks with the Taliban.
Instead, the alliance has challenged the US's monopoly of conflict resolution
and Washington's unilateralist estimation that the Taliban are the only group
that matters as protagonists on the Afghan chessboard in a peace process. - M K
Bhadrakumar (Jan 11, '12)
The war dance is in full swing
Iran is accused of crossing another red line by enriching uranium at a new
underground site, as the United States accelerates the transfer of military
equipment to Middle Eastern bases and gears up for its "largest-ever" joint
missile defense drill with Israel. While the maneuvers could be a dress
rehearsal preparing the world for full-blown war, the West is also posturing
over a looming Syrian civil conflict set to dominate the regional agenda. - Victor
Kotsev (Jan 10, '12)
Afghan forces under threat in
Helmand
Afghan troops have taken over control of more areas of Helmand province from
international forces, but some residents of the troubled southern province
worry that they are not yet up to the job. All that will happen, citizens
claim, is that the Taliban will be re-emerge stronger than ever. - Gol Ahmad
Ehsan (Jan 9, '12)
Pakistan keeps door for NATO
shut
Pakistan has given no indications that it will lift its ban on North Atlantic
Treaty Organization supply trucks entering Afghanistan. Instead, Islamabad
wants to negotiate new terms of engagement between Pakistan and United
States-led forces following the fatal incident that led to the blockade in the
first place. - Charles Recknagel and Daud Khattak
(Jan 9, '12)
The rise of al-Qaeda's
franchises
While United States agencies at the end of 2011 painted al-Qaeda's core as
"severely weakened" by losses such as Osama bin Laden, regional franchises were
suspected in a series of deadly bombings in Iraq and Syria. Drawing on
territorial disputes, illegitimate regimes and sectarian hatred, an ascendant
al-Qaeda of the peripheries is defying predictions the Arab Spring would render
the group irrelevant.
- Sreeram Chaulia (Jan 5, '12)
War of words aimed to avoid
Iran conflict
While there is always a chance for miscalculation in the crowded waters of the
Persian Gulf, a clash of words with the United States is more useful to Tehran
than actual hostilities; the escalation in Iranian threats to blockade oil
shipments and attack US Navy vessels are meant to push up the price of oil and
divert domestic opinion from an economic crisis. - Barbara Slavin
(Jan 5, '12)
Obama distances US from Iran
attack
United States President Barack Obama is attempting to distance his
administration from an Israeli attack on Iran, while at the same time making it
clear that he is not going to tell Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
that he would not countenance such an attack.
- Gareth Porter (Jan 4, '12)
Enter the year of the Taliban
The decision by the Barack Obama administration to transfer to Afghan custody
senior Taliban official Mullah Mohammed Fazl is a smart move; Fazl has the
credentials to bring Taliban leader Mullah Omar on board for launching formal
peace talks. He is also the perfect antidote to Iran's influence in
Afghanistan. Pakistan and Russia have already made their moves in response. - M
K Bhadrakumar (Jan 3, '12)
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ATol Specials
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Syed Saleem Shahzad reports on
the Afghan war from the Taliban side
(Dec '06)
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How
Hezbollah defeated Israel
By
Mark Perry and
Alastair Crooke
(Oct '06)
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Mark Perry and
Alastair Crooke
talk to the 'terrorists'
(Mar, '06)
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The evidence for and against Iran's alleged
nuclear weapons program
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Nir Rosen goes inside the Iraqi
resistance
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Nir Rosen rides with the 3rd
armored cavalry in western Iraq
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Islamism, fascism and
terrorism
by Marc Erikson
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For earlier articles go to:
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