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 War
and Terror
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Dangerous silence shrouds drone war
An outpouring of Western sympathy for Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani activist
shot for supporting girls' education, was in stark contrast to silence over the
innocent victims of United States' drone attacks. Mounting civilian casualties
from the drone war and its flaunting of international law have dire long-term
consequences for the United States, yet Americans are in the dark on the
subject.
- Fouad Pervez (Nov 26, '12)
 THE
ROVING EYE
Bomb Iran? No.
Bomb Gaza? Yes!
Frustrated with Obama's re-election and his pledges to pursue diplomacy with
Iran, Netanyahu engineered an offensive on the last place Israeli Defense
Forces can wreak havoc with total impunity. Don't expect condemnation of the
Gazan assault from Gulf Arabs or Western "Friends of Syria", but Egypt could
draw new battlelines.
- Pepe Escobar (Nov 16, '12)
The Levant braces for regional war
Israeli retaliation on Monday against a Syrian strike across the border and a
fatal exchange in Gaza over the weekend point to Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu's desire to stop the slow escalation in violence over the
past months. With the strike on Syria turning the clock back to the 1973
October War, the region could now face an incredibly destructive conflict on
several fronts. - Victor Kotsev (Nov 13, '12)
Taliban talk prospects dim, not dead
The facade has crumbled on the grand designs for political reconciliation with
the Taliban that gained traction after the 2009 "surge" of international troops
into Afghanistan, to the extent that Afghan and Western officials now view a
settlement as being years down the road. With talks suspended the Taliban is
thought to be questioning the value of re-entering negotiations. - Abubakar
Siddique (Nov 1, '12)
Bali bombings as unrealized
powder keg
Ten years after a series of bombs in Bali left more than 200 people dead,
Indonesia is an anti-terrorism success story. The record on Muslim extremism,
corruption and poverty is mixed, but things are more peaceful than many could
have expected in the smoldering aftermath on Jalan Legian a decade ago.
- Gary LaMoshi (Oct 3, '12)
Obama loses sight of Syrian reality
President Barack Obama's policy stance on the Syrian conflict stresses the US's
unwillingness to commit to military intervention while using simplified
premises such as "the future must not belong to a dictator who massacres his
people". While such a focus reassures the war-wary US public, it overlooks
major risks such as a widening regional conflict and the strengthening of
jihadist elements. - Riccardo Dugulin (Oct 3,
'12)
Moscow beckons Pakistan's Kiani
Historic rapprochement between Russia and Pakistan, seen in Pakistani army
chief Ashfaq Parvez Kiani's visit this week to Moscow, rests on mutual angst at
US plans for a long-term Afghan presence. Moscow and Islamabad know Washington
could deploy a missile defense system there that neutralizes nuclear
capabilities, and that regional rivals may welcome an extended US stay.
Elbowing the US out is growing harder by the day. - M K Bhadrakumar
(Oct 2, '12)
Afghanistan prognosis looks
gloomier
The rise in insider attacks and reduction in joint operations between Afghan
and international forces are just two signs that things are not going well for
the United States and its allies. A pessimistic report by one of the most
astute observers of the US war adds to the gloom, and even die-hard Republican
supporters of US intervention suggest throwing in the towel.
- Jim Lobe (Sep 26, '12)
Taliban outflanks US war strategy
The Taliban appear to have achieved a strategic coup with the US-NATO decision
to halt joint operations with Afghan security forces amid the rising toll of
deaths caused by locals turning on their foreign mentors. Though the killings
are not strictly a product of Taliban infiltration, the fear and mistrust the
deaths have sown may embolden the militants.
- Gareth Porter and Shah Noori (Sep
21, '12)
COMMENT
Shout 'No!' to war with Iran
Americans were coerced into war with Iraq by the myth of a mushroom cloud and
with Afghanistan through the notion of eliminating terrorists. War with Iran
using yet another manufactured reason should be spurned to avoid sparking
deadly blowback. It starts with shouting "No!".
- Adil E Shamoo (Sep 20, '12)
DISPATCHES FROM AMERICA
Waging war: A US monopoly
What Washington knows how to do best is arming for, garrisoning for, training
for, planning for, and making war. Yet Americans themselves are not a warrior
society. The vast global US military footprint, its interventions and its
special ops are rarely reported in any depth in the media, and if they were
they would go unnoticed. It is a unique disconnect between a nation's top
industry and the people of that nation.
- Tom Engelhardt (Sep 19, '12)
 SPENGLER
All-out Middle East war
is as good as it gets
The prospect of a unilateral Israeli strike on Iran fills the United States'
foreign policy establishment with practically unanimous horror - unreasonably
so. The spillover effects would be considerable, and bloody for numerous
countries. Yet there is no reason to expect most of the region's countries to
go quietly into irreversible decline. All-out regional war is the likely
outcome sooner or later. We might as well get on with it.
(Sep 17, '12)
THE ROVING EYE
Mr Blowback rising
The attack on the US consulate in Benghazi may have been just an out-of-control
protest against a crude movie produced by an Israeli-American certified
Islamophobe - or a determined response to the death by drone of al-Qaeda number
2 (and former "freedom fighter"), the Libyan Abu Yahya al-Libi. Either way, Mr
Blowback has his day - again. So what now? Who're you gonna bomb? Who're you
gonna drone to death next?
- Pepe Escobar (Sep 13, '12)
Tribals blame Haqqani offshoot for
blast
A bomb-blast that took the lives of at least 14 Shi'ites and injured scores
more in a busy Pakistani tribal area marketplace has left furious Shi'ite and
Sunni elders pointing the blame at an offshoot of the US-proscribed Haqqani
Network, which earlier vowed not to slaughter innocent Muslims.
- Malik Ayub Sumbal (Sep 13, '12)
 THE
ROVING EYE
Ground Zero redux
A walk in the dead of a New York night to Ground Zero, where our
post-apocalyptic modernity began 11 years ago is to hear the echoes and sense
the ghosts of when it became evident, even under a thick shroud of
as-yet-unanswered questions, that turbo-capitalism is not only in crisis;
turbo-capitalism, in shorthand, IS crisis.
- Pepe Escobar (Sep 11, '12)
Afghanistan overdoses on military
bases
The remarkable number of military bases scattered across Afghanistan makes it
probably the world's most thoroughly militarized country. All that might has
been unable to decisively defeat a rag-tag, minority insurgency of limited
popularity. That is not stopping the creation of yet more outposts, bases and
associated facilities.
- Nick Turse (Sep 11, '12)
SEPTEMBER 11 REMEMBERED
The day that didn't change a
thing
The attacks of September 11, 2001, "changed everything" for Americans - and, as
it turned out, for many non-Americans - as fear became the guiding principle
for US foreign policy and "homeland security". Yet after Anders Breivik killed,
proportionally, more Norwegians than the Americans who were killed on September
11, the response was very different. And in the US media, the pro-Zionist
diatribes in the manifesto of this white-skinned terrorist got very little
play.
- Michael Robeson (Sep 10, '12)
SPEAKING FREELY
Security vs liberty:
competition or conflict?
The raft of anti-terror measures Europe has taken to stay in step with
post-9/11 US efforts highlight the inherent tensions between security concerns
and civil rights. Once a champion of human rights and data protection, the
scant resistance Brussels has shown to US demands suggests it has abandoned
founding EU principles. - Hossein Aghaie (Sep
6, '12)
Dempsey muscle may yet force
rethink
Military muscle, in the shape of US General Martin Dempsey, has given the White
House more traction to distance itself from Israel's warlike stance on Iran.
The warning that the US won't be complicit in a strike on Iran's nuclear
facilities, and a Republican refusal to place Iran near the center of its
election strategy, is forcing Israel to rethink its campaign of belligerence. - Jim
Lobe and Gareth Porter (Sep 5, '12)
 Afghanistan's
base bonanza
A reminder of the profligate madness of war comes with news that to withdraw US
combat troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2014, the US military may have to
send in extra troops to sort out the logistics for more than $60 billion worth
of equipment in its vast network of bases. It's not so much an urge but a surge
to depart. - Nick Turse (Sep 5, '12)
US complicit in Israel war
plans for Iran
Top US generals like Martin Dempsey are adamant that they do not want to be
held "complicit" if Israel attacks Iran in a unilateral strike. But by giving
Israel the military means to do just that, the claims ring hollow. Seen from
Tehran, the attempt to jettison itself out of the equation - to protect its
forces in the region - is actually an inducement to strike, much as it is
interpreted in Israel and the West as a sign of US disapproval. - Kaveh L
Afrasiabi (Sep 4, '12)
How quickly will the US leave
Afghanistan?
Whether its a 15-year-old tea boy or 70-year-old volunteer turning their guns
on US Army trainers in Afghanistan, the message to US leaders is emphatic:
attempt a lengthy Iraq-style drawdown and you'll pay dearly in blood and
treasure. Yet instead of trying to fathom the underlying anti-colonial instinct
behind "green-on-blue" attacks, Washington sees them as a surmountable obstacle
to occupation. - Tom Engelhardt (Aug 30, '12)
Tehran summit echoes to war
chants
US-Israeli efforts to discredit Iran as it hosts the Non-Aligned Movement
summit created a brief window for consensus between Washington and Jerusalem as
bitter rhetoric intensified over Tehran's nuclear program and the options for
war. Prominent hawks now say a US-led assault before November's presidential
vote need not hurt Barack Obama's re-election hopes.
- Victor Kotsev (Aug 29, '12)
Gaps open in India's 'Iran' bomb
case
Problematic evidence and apparent witness goading undermine the case that
Delhi's police "Special Cell" is building for an Iranian government operation
in a February car bombing at the Israeli embassy. While traces of TNT were
found in the suspects' rooms, it wasn't sealed until two weeks after they left.
Intercepted communications between the suspects and Tehran also suggest there
was no bomb plot. - Gareth Porter (Aug 29,
'12)
SPEAKING FREELY
Taliban ties with al-Qaeda run deep
An internal struggle between lower tiers of the Afghan Taliban favoring
negotiations with the United States and top leaders refusing to sever links
with the al-Qaeda-linked Haqqani network will intensify as Washington steps up
its overtures. - Aasim Zafar Khan (Aug 29,
'12)
The real WMD problem
Rather than the embattled Syrian regime unleashing chemical weapons on its own
population, a greater threat lies in the aftermath of its collapse should
extremist elements gain the upper-hand. There are no guarantees rebels will not
turn weapons stockpiles on minority groups that stood by the regime - or on
enemy states like Israel.
- Richard Javad Heydarian (Aug 23, '12)
Hard talk intensifies over Iran
strike
Leaks and counter-leaks between Washington and Jerusalem suggest the US-Israel
dynamic on striking Iran's nuclear facilities isn't as simple as portrayed.
Reports that the Barack Obama administration could commit to a US attack before
2013 - if Israel abstains until after the US presidential election - underline
Obama's policy imperatives, while Israeli President Shimon Peres' warnings on
the pitfalls of a strike add another authoritative voice to the Israeli "doves"
camp. - Victor Kotsev (Aug 21, '12)
THE
ROVING EYE
War fever as seen from Iran
As war drums sound in Jerusalem and Washington, rational voices in Tehran point
out that it's the West that has been driving Iran towards toward mastering
nuclear technology. Constant rebuttals of offers to cap enrichment underline
the lack of desire for a negotiated solution, with "Bomb Iran" fever instead
stoked with the apparent aim of accelerating Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons.
- Pepe Escobar (Aug 21, '12)
The dark tragedy of Iraq's
'silent' bombs
Media now report on daily bloodbaths in Iraq blandly and without context,
suggesting the violence there transcends any level of reason. The same
desensitization to tragedy is seen in the world's response to crises whether in
Africa or the Middle East, with the lives of children used to further political
arguments or prompt "likes" on a social media page. - Ramzy Baroud
(Aug 21, '12)
Militants warn Pakistan over tribal
offensive
An attack by Pakistani Taliban militants on an airforce base in central Punjab
province has raised concerns over the consequences for Pakistan's internal
security - particularly its nuclear weapons storage - should the army go ahead
with a planned offensive in North Waziristan Agency. However, officials in
Islamabad insist the country's nukes are better protected than America's. - Malik
Ayub Sumbal (Aug 17, '12)
Al-Qaeda flags fly over rebel-held
Syria
Reports from rebel-controlled towns near Syria's Aleppo reveal that pro-regime
troops are often summarily executed, while captured Bashar al-Assad supporters
are subjected to arbitrary detention and abuse. With some insurgent units
flying the distinctive black flag used by al-Qaeda militias, it's unclear why
the West expects them to implement a fairer system of justice than the Assad
regime. - John Rosenthal (Aug 13, '12)
ISI accused of manipulating Osama
probe
Witnesses appearing at Pakistan's Abbottabad Commission into the US raid that
killed Osama bin Laden say the Inter-Services Intelligence agency has been
detaining them, with some "briefed" on what to say and others grilled on the
investigation's progress. The alleged interference feeds into suspicions the
ISI has something to hide, and that this probe will be as inconclusive as many
others.
- Malik Ayub Sumbal (Aug 13, '12)
Washington puts its money on
proxy war
Outsourcing is an issue in this US election year, but there is one aspect of
the phenomenon that no one is talking about - the outsourcing of war. Proxy war
is certainly not new, and its attraction is obvious: Why send American troops
to unstable countries if you can get someone else to fight and die instead? But
the scope of these programs now is huge, and the very high likelihood of
disastrous blowback is never discussed in Washington.
- Nick Turse (Aug 10, '12)
THE ROVING EYE
American (jihadi) Idol
Syria is now the ultimate Sex Pistol-inspired Holiday in the Sun (the jihadi
remix); a magnet to Libyans, Jordanians, Saudis, Algerians, Chechens, Af-Pakis,
plus some enthusiastic young Brits. If anyone doubts this, the US
establishment's Council of Foreign Relations is prepared to put them right.
- Pepe Escobar (Aug 9, '12)
THE
ROVING EYE
Bomb Iran fever
Well-informed Israelis know striking Iran's nuclear program will only delay it
by six months, while no solution exists to Israel's lack of fly-over rights,
bunker-busters and intel. As the United States is also well aware of the risks,
the only reasons behind the "bomb Iran" mantra seem to be Jerusalem's regional
ambitions and Washington's desire to revive a Persian satrapy. - Pepe Escobar
(Aug 7, '12)
Indo-Saudi alliance takes on terror
The deportation in June by Saudi Arabia of a key figure in the 2008 Mumbai
attacks marked a major shift by Riyadh away from its long-standing alliance
with Pakistan and toward India. But more than that, it was an indication that
the kingdom has finally recognized its tacit support of Salafist terrorism is a
double-edged sword. Still, Delhi can't take Saudi cooperation for granted. - Animesh
Roul (Jul 31, '12)
From Taliban arms to alms
The Taliban's congratulations to relatives on the martyrdom of dead militants
lured to fight in Pakistan or Afghanistan mean little to their families. Nor do
promises of money to the bereaved, as the international crackdown on financing
terror squeezes the Taliban of cash. Without young breadwinners, affected close
relations are forced to beg for food.
- Ashfaq Yusufzai (Jul 25, '12)
AN ATOL EXCLUSIVE
Pakistani Taliban chief warns
Islamabad
Acting Pakistani Taliban chief Mualana Wali-u-Rehman warns in an interview that
any government operations that aim to root out his outfit or the Haqqani
network from the tribal regions will be futile. Stating that this is a "war of
others" imposed upon the Pakistani people by corrupt rulers, Rehman also
reveals his group's international ambitions. - Ihsanullah Tipu Mehsud
(Jul 24, '12)
Al-Qaeda emerges as bus bomb
suspect
Israeli claims that "solid evidence" links Iran to last week's suicide bombing
of an Israeli bus in Bulgaria are contradicted by reports of a suspected
bomber's links to al-Qaeda, claims of responsibility by a militant outfit
associated with the group, and troubling discrepancies in the Israeli media. - Kaveh
Afrasiabi (Jul 24, '12)
German intelligence:
al-Qaeda among rebels
While Germany's intelligence agencies are reporting intensified al-Qaeda
activity among Syrian rebels - and the latter's complicity in "massacres" -
Berlin is singing from a different song sheet, blaming Damascus for the
violence. The contradiction is explained by a major role Germany is playing
behind the scenes on a planned "political transition".
- John Rosenthal (Jul 23, '12)
US hawks rally to defend
defense
Never mind Iran, Russia, and China, it's the specter of sequestration that's
giving hawks nightmares. With as much as $600 billion in Pentagon funding
vulnerable to cuts over the next decade, three right-wing think tanks have
joined arms manufacturers in mounting a spirited defense of the budget for
lucrative procurement contracts. - Jim Lobe (Jul
20, '12)
THE ROVING EYE
Suicide bombers of the world, unite
The brazen assassination in Damascus of Defense Minister Dawoud Rajha and his
deputy, Assef Shawkat (Bashar al-Assad's brother-in-law), has been claimed by
the Free Syrian Army as its "volcano". Godfather IV-like intrigue behind
the bombing instead suggests a "white coup" launched by the inner circle to
"decapitate" the Assads. Meanwhile, US neo-cons who believe a suicide bomber
was involved have found an unlikely hero. - Pepe Escobar
(Jul 19, '12)
US, Pakistan construct Cold War
matrix
Pakistan's politically risky revival of ties with the United States is a course
correction taken by generals in Rawalpindi who realize that pushing the Western
alliance too far works to India's advantage. Islamabad is crucial for
Washington's efforts to outflank China, and as Saudi Arabia steps in with
energy goodwill, the US is eyeing the revival of a Cold War-era trilateral
security matrix. - M K Bhadrakumar (Jul 19,
'12)
Persian Gulf primed to explode
A minor incident in the Persian Gulf this week that saw a US Navy fuel ship
open fire on an Indian fishing boat demonstrates how overcrowding by US
warships and aircraft to intimidate Iran's nuclear ambitions raises the
likelihood of a spark that ignites full-scale war. Tehran, having just
demonstrated a surprisingly improved missile capability and aware of President
Barack Obama's political pressures, has no need to act first. - Kaveh L
Afrasiabi (Jul 18, '12)
Key Pakistan area gets new
al-Qaeda chief
Farman Ali Shinwari is young, educated, Internet-savvy and strongly linked to
militant groups in his home region and in Kashmir. As al-Qaeda's leader in
Pakistan's Khyber Agency, he could prove a major hindrance to NATO supply lines
into Afghanistan. That's if he is not taken out by a US drone, as his
predecessor was.
- Jacob Zenn (Jul 13, '12)
The
military 'solution'
Sometimes by stealth but often quite openly, since the attacks of September
2001 militarization has pervaded US politics, foreign policy, the CIA and even
small-town policing. But while Americans themselves may be sleeping through
this transformation, its victims abroad are not, and countries from
impoverished Yemen to nuclear Pakistan are even more destabilized.
- Tom Engelhardt (Jul 12, '12)
It's still a MAD, MAD, MAD,
MAD world
Nuclear weapons have been largely out of the news since the collapse of the
Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War (in spite of sporadic mention of North
Korea, Israel, India and Pakistan and, of course, bombless Iran). Yet we still
live very much in a world of mutually assured destruction.
- William D Hartung (Jul 9, '12)
THE CHANGING FACE OF TERROR
Al-Qaeda loses its Arab identity
Through the creation of offshoots in the "Islamic Maghreb" and "Arabian
Peninsula" - and jihadi escalation in the Sinai and Syria - al-Qaeda hopes to
overcome the setbacks of recent years. As it does so, the Arab core of the
worldwide terrorist franchise is being diluted, though new funding sources and
alliances are developing in areas beyond its traditional reach. - Riccardo
Dugulin (Jul 9, '12)
Taliban links strengthen tribal
footholds
Jihadi outfits along the Pakistani tribal belt and Afghan border are turning to
al-Qaeda for ideological and organizational guidance, with al-Qaeda and Taliban
fighters increasingly dining and training together. Defying predictions of a
decline after Osama bin Laden's death, the organization's use of local
militants and skill at bridging differences between heterogeneous Pakistani
outfits has seen it morph into a versatile fighting force.
- Ihsanullah Tipu Mehsud (Jul 9, '12)
THE ROVING EYE
Hell to pay for NATO's Holy War
The strain of circumventing the UN Security Council in the stopover to Iran
that the war against Syria represents is beginning to show for NATO and its
Arab cohorts. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton insists Russia and China
will pay a price for blocking regime change in Damascus, but the real hell to
pay will be for America, as Holy War syndrome is accelerating the end of the US
dollar as the global currency of choice.
- Pepe Escobar (Jul 9, '12)
A portentous skirmish in Ghazni
province
Pashtuns calling themselves the National Uprising Movement are emerging as a
third force in the Afghan war after defeating local Taliban bands in a recent
skirmish in the eastern province of Ghazni. Though also opposed to the presence
of international forces, the group will probably benefit the US and Kabul, but
only if dealt with artfully. - Brian M Downing
(Jul 2, '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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