|
By
July-August 2001, it was clear that something
dramatic was about to happen. Pepe Escobar, our
"Roving Eye", was traveling in Afghanistan
and the tribal areas of Pakistan. The rumor was
that US forces were about to use Pakistan to
launch a raid into Afghanistan. Escobar's
article, published by Asia Times Online on
August 30, 2001, was headlined Get Osama!
Now! Or else ... Our Karachi correspondent,
Syed Saleem Shazad, was meanwhile filing
articles like Osama
bin Laden: The thorn in Pakistan's flesh
(August 22, 2001) ...
March 2004
Afghanistan:
Return of the jihadis
Over the past
decades, many Central Asian Islamic militants -
with Pakistani and US assistance - have been
trained in Afghanistan, before being sent back
to their homelands to lie low pending a call to
arms. That call has now come. And the
destination is Afghanistan. - Syed Saleem
Shahzad (Mar 31,
'04)
Pakistan to play a pivotal
part For jihadis to operate on Pakistan's
border with Afghanistan, from where the Afghan
resistance will be launched, they need anarchy
and chaos. - Syed Saleem Shahzad (Mar 31,
'04)
With
friends like Uzbekistan ...
Uzbekistan is in the news for
all the wrong reasons: a series of terror
attacks over the past days that have left scores
of people dead, and a damning report of
widespread imprisonment, torture and repression
of dissenters. Food for thought for the
country's Western allies, of which the United
States is the most important, over their
expedient support of the regime. - Jim Lobe
(Mar 31,
'04)

Rice:
No end to controversy By
acquiescing to National Security Adviser
Condoleezza Rice giving testimony to the 9-11
Commission, President George W Bush has silenced
those who have vociferously demanded that she
appear in public. But critics of the
administration over broader issues relating to
its handling of the al-Qaeda threat and Iraq
will not be as easily mollified. - Ehsan
Ahrari
Bush's
rare reversal Bush's U-turn on
Condoleezza Rice is an unusual move by an
administration that has fiercely resisted
anything that suggests it is capable of making
mistakes. - Jim Lobe
Bush's
statement on his Rice
decision
SPEAKING
FREELY - Margie
Burns Toothless commission: Holes in the
probe (Mar 31,
'04) | Terrorism's eastward
march Uzbekistan has long been a
terror attack waiting to happen. With its
pro-United States leanings and heavy
hand on dissent - whether political or religious
- the regime of Islam Karimov has many
opponents. Just which ones are responsible for
this week's bombings, though, is an interesting
question, especially as the usually nonviolent
Hizb ut-Tahrir is being fingered. - Sergei Blagov (Mar
30, '04)
The growth of radical Islam
in Central Asia A certain consensus unites
specialists on the dubious efficacy of official
efforts to fight radical Islam in Central Asia.
Less agreement is evident in specific
recommendations to curb its spread. (Mar 30,
'04)
Newspaper ban plays into
radical's hands
By
slapping a 60-day ban on al-Hawza newspaper, the
mouthpiece of radical Iraqi Shi'ite leader
Muqtada Sadr, United States officials, far from
silencing the outspoken cleric, are likely only
to increase the number of his supporters and the
potency of his message. - Nir Rosen (Mar 30,
'04)
Iraq invaded 'to protect
Israel' - US official As Washington
steadfastly defends its decision to attack Iraq
as a means to protect the US from (non-existent)
weapons of mass destruction, remarks made by a
member of a high-level White House intelligence
group suggest otherwise: he alleges that the war
had more to do with protecting the Bush
administration's greatest Middle Eastern ally -
Israel. (Mar
30, '04)
Africa: Oil, al-Qaeda and
the US military
The
US has a keen interest in Africa's oil resources
- perhaps its only interest in the Dark
Continent. And as US military involvement and/or
cooperation with countries across the
Maghreb and Sahel regions is being
ratcheted up, so too is alleged al-Qaeda
activity. Now the Madrid bombings have put the
region firmly in the spotlight. - Ritt Goldstein (Mar
29, '04)
Musharraf left counting the
cost Relative calm
has returned to South Waziristan after the
implementation of a truce between tribals and
the Pakistan army. The military claims that its
mission to root out suspected al-Qaeda and
no/images/f_images/atime_logo1.gif /atimes/Central_Asia/FD01Ag01.html /FONT wid/trtr/STRONGth=14A href= Afghan resistance fugitives has been successful,
but it's the army and the administration of
President General Pervez Musharraf that has
received the bloody nose. - Syed Saleem Shahzad (Mar
29, '04)
Afghanistan: Lessons in
state building Although Afghanistan has
made remarkable strides over the past two years,
a number of factors, most notably rampant
insecurity and the slow pace of development,
have pushed the process to the precipice of
collapse. With a new donor conference to be held
in Berlin this week, the Afghan government and
the international community have a unique
opportunity to right the wrongs.
Armed militias challenge
Kabul The
recent fighting in the western Afghan city of
Herat has increased pressure for speedier
reforms on at least two security fronts - the
disarming of the country's rival militia
factions and the strengthening of the Afghan
National Army. (Mar 29,
'04) | New light on life and death
of John O'Neill When former Federal Bureau
of Investigation counter-terrorism expert John
O'Neill died in the Twin Towers on September 11,
questions over his abrupt departure from the FBI
and the obstacles he faced from Washington in
sounding the al-Qaeda alarm died with him. Now,
with Richard Clarke's new insider allegations of
US tardiness over al-Qaeda, questions over
O'Neill call for answers. - Tom Griffin (Mar
26, '04)
THEATER REVIEW Still embedded in
Iraq Embedded by Tim
Robbins, New York This hard-hitting satire of
the war on Iraq comes, in an election year, at a
time of intense debate in the United States over
the merits and methods of the war, and provides
both sides of the argument plenty of food for
thought. - Ashraf
Fahim (Mar 26,
'04)
India smarts
over US 'strategic partnership' Smarting over
Pakistan winning non-NATO ally status, India now
is alarmed by Washington's decision to lift
sanctions imposed on its rival. Now Islamabad
can get US defense technology and economic aid.
Democratic India wonders what happened to its
own US "strategic partnership" - and some are
calling the US the "enemy". - Sultan Shahin (Mar
26, '04)
|

(Mar 25,
'04) Al-Qaeda got it wrong, says
militant group In a startlingly frank
book, the leadership of al-Jama'ah al-Islamiyah,
an Egyptian militant group labeled by the US as
a terror outfit, has failed al-Qaeda in its
terror tactics. Al-Jama'ah's book, an
English version of which is in the hands of the
US Central Intelligence Agency, states that
al-Qaeda gives "preference to the logic of
defiance over the principle of calculations".
Ironically, the US Defense Department delivered
an almost identical assessment of the Bush
administration's "war on terror". - Ritt
Goldstein
US got it wrong, says
bipartisan panel Preliminary reports issued
by an independent US commission investigating
the September 2001
attacks on America have concluded
that both the Clinton and Bush administrations
failed to take sufficient action against Osama
bin Laden and al-Qaeda before September
11. | The evangelical roots of US
unilateralism They once were thought to
be on the fringes of US politics. No longer. The
Christian Right now has the ear of a born-again
US president, and is giving him aid and comfort
as he makes his unilateralist march toward a
world order of US-defined righteousness. The
movement is indeed powerful, but it has
important weaknesses as well. (Mar
25, '04)
Method in Sistani's muscle
flexing
Grand
Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani only reluctantly gave
his approval to Iraq's interim constitution in
the first place; now he has expressed further
reservations that threaten to derail its
implementation. And lest the United States
complain, what the ayatollah is doing is all in
the name of democracy. - Ehsan Ahrari (Mar
24, '04)
The fatal flaws in Iraq's
constitution The interim constitution
was drafted under US supervision by a body
hand-chosen by the US military occupation
authorities, and built into it is a recognition
of its own impotence. (Mar 24,
'04)

The spreading flames
of war Fanned by the determination
of tribesmen in South Waziristan not to hand
over any suspected al-Qaeda members to the
Pakistani army, resistance to the military in
the region is spreading - as are rumblings
within the army itself over the wisdom of an
operation that pits countrymen against each
other. - Syed Saleem Shahzad
(Mar 24, '04)
THE ROVING EYE The al-Zawahiri
fiasco Despite confident official
claims, the thousands of troops dispatched to
Pakistan's tribal areas have failed to find
"high-value target" Ayman al-Zawahiri,
al-Qaeda's No 2. What they have found is fierce
resistance from local tribesmen who give
far greater allegiance to such "targets" than
they do to Islamabad. - Pepe Escobar (Mar
23, '04)
A Hamas blow for
Pakistan The Israelis kill a Hamas
leader in the Middle East, and as a result the
volatile situation in Pakistan's tribal areas
takes a turn for the worse, further increasing
the pressure on Pakistani President General
Pervez Musharraf, whose army is restless. - Syed Saleem Shahzad (Mar
23, '04)
SPENGLER 'You love life, we
love death' Who precisely loves life
and who loves death? Al-Qaeda's taunt comes from
a people with one of the highest birth rates in
the world, the Arabs. It is directed at a
people with one of the lowest birth rates in the
world. Al-Qaeda is saying that the
Spaniards are too soft to fight for their own
future. (Mar 22, '04)
More fuel to Pakistan's
simmering fire A ceasefire between
Pakistani troops and tribal fighters in South
Waziristan has already been broken. And now,
with powerful clerics and normally impartial
tribes joining the fray, the dangers of the
unrest on the border with Afghanistan spreading
across the country are greater than ever. -
Syed Saleem Shahzad
(Mar 22, '04)
Failures of a 'war
president' President George W Bush is
wont to refer to himself as a "war president" in
the context of the "war on terror". But
according to his former top counter-terrorism
advisor, the wars that Bush and his team chose
to fight were widely off the mark. -
Ehsan Ahrari
(Mar 22, '04)
Afghan offensive: Grand
plans meet rugged reality
The
US has a straightforward plan to rid Afghanistan
of Taliban and al-Qaeda insurgents. The
insurgents have a counter strategy, which they
have revealed toAsia Times
Online. Both plans are presently
unfolding - with renewed fighting in
Pakistan's South Waziristan being one
manifestation - and both focus on one of the
most inhospitable places in the world, a place
that makes one's "head spin". - Syed Saleem Shahzad (Mar
19, '04)
Prizes and surprises
The
elevation of Pakistan's military relationship
with the United States is a reward for President
Musharraf's support in the "war on terror" - but
India's reward for good behavior seems to have
been forgotten. (Mar 19, '04)
Pakistan as key US ally
- Ehsan M Ahrari
Powell pleased, India
perplexed - Sultan Shahin
Just another Baghdad car
bombing
Dozens died
in Wednesday night's car bombing of Baghdad's
Mount Lebanon Hotel. In Iraq, nothing changes.
The lives of the occupiers go on, the Americans
engrossed in their elections (or perhaps
with Martha Stewart since all but the most
sensitive have forgotten Janet Jackson's
breast), and the Spanish having decided this is
not their fight. - Nir Rosen (Mar
18, '04)
THE ROVING
EYE Shock, awe, from
Mesopotamia to Madrid One year
has passed since the United States
stormed into Iraq, a bleak anniversary coming to
pass amid deadly bombings in Baghdad and
hysterical cries from Washington's neo-cons
blaming Spanish voters for the ouster of the
Bush-friendly conservatives. Indeed, the US has
little to show for its Iraq endeavors. - Pepe Escobar (Mar
18, '04)
For US hawks, Madrid 2004 =
Munich 1938 The decision of the Spanish
electorate to oust its pro-George Bush
conservative government has resulted in the
shrill cry of "appeasement" in the US media. But
in their eagerness to compare Spain's Socialists
to British premier Neville Chamberlain, the
neo-cons are, as usual, ignoring important facts
- and exposing their distrust of democracy. - Jim Lobe (Mar
18, '04)
Pakistani tribes await
'full force' offensive
It's
only a matter of time before further deadly
clashes take place between Pakistani forces and
tribespeople, with troops now
mobilizing for a "full force" operation.
Meanwhile, the fierce fighting which took place
on Tuesday has all but eradicated what little
support the United States had from anti-Taliban
tribespeople in its "war on terror". - Syed Saleem
Shahzad (Mar 18, '04)
THE ROVING EYE Return
of the Moor A Moroccan Islamist group
linked to al-Qaeda is blamed for last week's
Madrid bombings, not surprising given that
Islamists and jihadis view Spain as Islamic
territory occupied by infidels. That didn't stop
the outgoing government of premier Jose Maria
Aznar lying and manipulating information so as
to pin the bombings on Basque separatists - a
fact that has now been confirmed by the Spanish
press. - Pepe
Escobar (Mar 17, '04)
Deathly silence in
South Waziristan Villagers have fled their
homes in fear of bombing by the US planes
flying overhead, and burnt-out military vehicles
litter the landscape. Pakistan's South
Waziristan agency, scene of fierce fighting
between tribespeople and government forces
Tuesday, is bracing for more battles after the
tribals - together with insurgents of the Afghan
resistance - routed the Pakistani military.
- Syed Saleem Shahzad
(Mar 17, '04)
How Pakistan
ignited The US provided the spark
that ignited the fierce fighting inside
Pakistan, and the fire threatens to spread.
Ironically, there's only one gainer - the Afghan
resistance. - Syed Saleem Shahzad (Mar
17, '04)
| 'Liberating' Saudi's
Shi'ites (and their oil) Recent neo-con suggestions
that the US should bring Saudi Arabia to heel by
supporting independence for the country's
Eastern Province, where much of its minority
Shi'ite population - and most of its oil - is
situated, have fed growing paranoia in the
region. And unfortunately for Riyadh, the
fringes of the neo-cons often become
policymakers nowadays. - Ashraf Fahim (Mar
17, '04) Muqtada's powerful push for
prominence
Since
the US-led invasion of Iraq last year, one
radical young cleric has been steadily gaining
popularity among Iraq's Shi'ite population -
Muqtada Sadr. The son of assassinated grand
ayatollah Muhamad Sadiq Sadr, Muqtada has been
changing all the rules in his push to get the US
out of IA href=A href=raq, threatening to set ofBR
BR/Af an armed
rebellion Ayman al-Zawahiri,
al-Qaeda's No 2. What they have found is fierce
resistance from local tribesmen whoFONTA href= soon. - Nir
Rosen (Mar 17, '04)
US foreign policy is
popular - in the US A new international poll
indicates that mistrust of the US has grown
steadily in Western Europe during the course of
the Iraq war, while anti-US sentiment in the
Arab world remains pervasive, though it has
dissipated somewhat. Osama bin Laden's
popularity among Muslims, unlike George Bush's,
remains high. Overall, the gulf is widening
between how Americans and other nationalities
see the world. - Jim
Lobe (Mar 17, '04)
The emergence of
hyperterrorism
In
the wake of last week's bombing in Madrid,
Europe is afraid. According to Brussels
intelligence estimates, there may be an
invisible army of up to 30,000 "holy warriors"
spread around the world. How to stop them?
There's no possible diplomacy, no target to
attack. Al-Qaeda is not a Joint Chiefs of Staff:
it is an idea. - Pepe
Escobar (Mar 16, '04)
The al-Qaeda
franchise Al-Qaeda may be developing
new alliances with radical local groups - such
as ETA - and shifting away from its original,
almost "corporate" structure. If this is the
case, targeting the network's center of gravity
will prove to be an even more difficult task. -
Richard Giragosian
(Mar 16,
'04)
'War on terror' suffers
setback in Spain The outcome of the recent
terrorist attacks in Madrid has sent a message
to the world: not only was the United States'
optimistic rhetoric on winning the "war on
terrorism" premature, but the decision by
President George W Bush to take the war to Iraq
might have made things worse. - Jim Lobe (Mar
16, '04)
US foes set to
pounce As the
US offensive gets under way on the
Pakistan-Afghanistan border, anti-US forces
are said to be preparing their own series
of attacks on the US and its allies, not just on
the battlefield but around the world. - Syed Saleem Shahzad (Mar
16,
'04) | SPENGLER Spain, and why radical
Islam can win Radical Islam has scored
its first unambiguous victory over the West with
the thrashing of pro-US Prime Minister Jose
Maria Aznar's party in Spanish elections
Sunday. But Spain's death-knell
sounded long before the bombs went off.
(Mar 15, '04)
THE ROVING
EYE Al-Qaeda goes to the
polls The
global jihad has directly influenced the outcome
of a general election in a Western democracy.
Spain's Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar opted
for a vote-winning strategy of blaming Basque
separatists for Thursday's train bombings -
a strategy that totally backfired as he
fell hook, line and sinker for the sophisticated
politics masterminded by the al-Qaeda
terror franchise. - Pepe Escobar (Mar
15, '04)
UN's credibility critically
wounded Following
Thursday's attacks in Madrid, it took the United
Nations Security Council a mere five minutes to
mistakenly lay the blame on the Basque
separatist group ETA. Given that council members
based their resolution on the now-defeated
Spanish government's wishes, more calls for the
UN's "revision and renewal" are sure to be
forthcoming. - Ritt
Goldstein (Mar 15, '04)
Shock wave travels
around the globe The shock result of Spain's
general election will have US President George W
Bush and his allies like Britain's Tony Blair
and Japan's Junichiro Koizumi
worried. Ironically, while Bush's Iraq
policy may not succeed in its stated aim of
redrawing the political map of the Middle East,
it is certainly doing so in Europe. - J Sean
Curtin (Mar 15, '04)
Iraq: Washington spinning
out of control The Bush administration is
pulling out all the stops to "spin" its Iraqi
intelligence gaffes into triumphs, marked by a
dramatic increase in the number of misleading
statements - propaganda - making the rounds.
Particularly remarkable is the shifting of
responsibility for ongoing Iraq violence away
from Washington's lack of foresight and planning
on to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. - Ritt Goldstein (Mar
12, '04)
Bush tells it like it
isn't In his interview on Meet the Press last
month, US President George W Bush had the
opportunity to present an honest and clear
exposition of US policy in Iraq. He did not take
that opportunity, and instead made a number of
unchallenged assertions that were patently false
or, at the very least, misleading.
(Mar
12, '04)
THE ROVING EYE Spain's 3-11: Basques, bin
Laden, or both?
Thursday's
Madrid train bombings don't fit the modus
operandi of the obvious suspect, the Basque ETA
separatist group. On the other hand, Spain,
which has troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, had
been warned by al-Qaeda's highest leadership
that it was a target for terrorism. After the
initial - official - rush to blame ETA, doubts
are emerging thick and fast. - Pepe Escobar (Mar
12, '04)
CIA chief plays dumb on
Iraq intelligence
US
Central Intelligence Agency director George
Tenet is walking a thin line by suggesting he
really was in the dark about phony pre-Iraq-war
intelligence being fed to the president by a
Pentagon office abounding with neo-cons. His
claims could stoke the fire under one of the
biggest intelligence crises in modern US
history. - Jim Lobe
(Mar 11, '04)
On the road to Damascus
with the neo-cons The United States is poised
to impose tough sanctions on Syria, evidence
that Washington's neo-conservatives have
convinced President George W Bush to press on
with his new Syria accountability law - all in
keeping with the agenda to rid the world of
"evildoers". (Mar 11,
'04)
Iran: 'We won't take it
anymore' Fed up with what it calls
"bullying" by the United States, Iran is now
threatening to end its cooperation with the
International Atomic Energy Agency, saying the
UN watchdog is kowtowing to Washington on the
issue of whether Iran is living up to its pledge
of full transparency in its nuclear program.
(Mar
11, '04)
Tehran's 'right to
enrich'
Afghanistan: The spring
trap is sprung
United
States Secretary of State Colin Powell heads for
Pakistan next week, just one of many indicators
that Washington is ratcheting up preparations
for a spring offensive against Taliban and
al-Qaeda fighters in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Given the depth of its joint preparations with
Islamabad, it's clear that the US
isn't messing around this time. - Syed Saleem Shahzad
(Mar 10, '04)
Taliban are still larger
than life Reports of the Taliban's
death are greatly exaggerated, yet as long as
those fighting the war in Afghanistan continue
to read the obituary, the longer any lasting
peace will be delayed. (Mar 10,
'04)
THE ROVING
EYE Iraq: The civil war
bogy Even though Shi'ites are
not blaming Sunnis or Kurds for the attacks on
their numbers last week, the Coalition
Provisional Authority and the Iraqi Governing
Council, by insisting on playing the "civil war"
card, have touched a raw nerve that might yet
help them get their way in the country. -
Pepe Escobar (Mar
10, '04)
New cross to bear for US
neo-cons The neo-conservative
movement that has so successfully driven White
House policy since the election of George W Bush
finds itself divided on many issues these days.
The latest event that sees neo-cons sitting on
opposite sides of the aisle is Mel Gibson's new
film The Passion of the
Christ. - Jim Lobe (Mar
10, '04)
War: Just whose business is
it anyway?
US
company Halliburton's role in Iraq has been
deeply scrutinized in the past few months, but
the implications go far beyond one company or
one conflict. The real issue is the increasingly
pervasive use by the US military of private
companies, particularly with respect to
logistics and support functions that involve
being in the midst of combat and occupation
operations. (Mar 9, '04)
Iraqis learn red tape, the
Indian way For a nation that has
elevated bureaucracy almost to an art form,
India could hardly refuse a US request to train
Iraqi officials in the mysterious workings of
red tape in a democratic society, at the same
time squeezing out a few benefits for itself. -
Arun Bhattacharjee
(Mar 9, '04)
Iran demands entry to
nuclear club In a surprise move that is
likely to achieve the exact reverse of what is
intended, Iran, warning of a "big showdown"
should its wishes not be accommodated, has
demanded entry into the world's club of
nuclear-empowered nations, and further, that the
International Atomic Energy Agency stop prying
into its nuclear program. - Safa Haeri
(Mar 8, '04)
COMMENTARY Iraq Act II: Toward
transfer of sovereignty Key issues still to be
decided in Iraq, including the role of Islam,
the status of Kurds and the viability of
democracy, will not only determine the future of
the country, but also, quite possibly, the
future of President George W Bush. - Ehsan Ahrari (Mar
8, '04)
Blame game and the
Ba'athists Almost across the spectrum,
al-Qaeda and alleged affiliate, Jordanian Abu
Musab al-Zarqawi, have been blamed for
masterminding the attacks on Shi'ites in Iraq on
Tuesday with the
aim of fomenting trouble between Shi'ites and
Sunnis. But remember the Ba'athists? They still
have much to fight for. - Syed Saleem Shahzad
(Mar 5,
'04)
Complications in the 'war
on terror' "Evidence" is mounting
against extremist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi
for his part in unrest in Iraq, exposure that
could have important ramifications for the
strategy in the "war on
terror". (Mar 5, '04)
Fear and fortitude in
Baghdad
In the tense
atmosphere after Tuesday's attacks on Shi'ite
mourners in Iraq, a Sunni mosque comes under
attack in a Shi'ite area of Baghdad. Yet despite
the apparent attempts to stir sectarian unrest,
there is a pervasive spirit of solidarity
between the two sects, as Nir Rosen finds
out, almost at the cost of his life.
(Mar 4,
'04)
THE ROVING
EYE Get Osama - but where, and
when? He's here, there and
everywhere according to which reports one
chooses to believe, the latest of which place
Osama/FONTFONT
size=2 bin Laden in Pakistan's South Waziristan
and close to capture. But even if he isThe Bush administration is
pulling out all the stops to /A caught
any time soon, will the world get to hear of it,
given that the US presidential elections are
still eight months away? - Pepe Escobar (Mar
4, '04)
A new constitution drenched
in blood
Any
jubilation generated by the Iraqi Governing
Council finally agreeing on a draf/FONTWIDTH: 95px; HEIGHT: 121px/FONTwart constitution
quickly evaporated with the multiple attacks on
Shi'ites in Baghdad and Karbala. Now the mood is
one of deep gloom, and equally deep fear that
the aspirations of the Iraqi people will be
determined in blood. - Pepe Escobar (Mar
3, '04) Shi'ite attacks pave way
for rapid responses The relationship
between Shi'ites and Sunnis differs vastly
between Iraq and Pakistan, as do the motives of
those who attack Shi'ites. Yet following
Tuesday's killings of Shi'ite worshippers in the
two countries, security forces can be expected
to respond in a similar manner. - Syed Saleem Shahzad (Mar
3, '04)
Shi'ites hit at most
sensitive moment At the height of Shi'ite
blood-drawing rituals in Karbala to mark the
martyrdom of 7th century Hussein, the bombs went
off on Tuesday, killing scores of worshippers.
The attacks also come at a crucial stage for
Shi'ites as they struggle to define their
political future. - Nir Rosen
 PHOTO ESSAY Bloody rites and body parts
Nir Rosen was in
Karbala to report on the climax of
Iraqi Shi'ites' Ashura observances on Tuesday,
and in Baghdad when the bombs went off.
(Mar 3,
'04) | Entangling the American
Gulliver Through sustained attacks,
insurgents hope to demoralize Iraqi security
personnel, thereby creating mass desertions,
which, they anticipate, will result in the
heightened exposure of American troops, who are
the primary targets. - Ehsan Ahrari (Mar
3, '04)
New lease on life for the
insurgency To reduce casualties, the
Bush administration has begun to pull US troops
out of central Baghdad and place them on the
outskirts of the city. But by doing this, the
insurgency is being given time to better
organize and plan new and more innovative
methods of attack. (Mar 3,
'04)
Shi'ite bombings: Civil war
a step closer
The
multiple explosions in Baghdad and the holy city
of Karbala on Tuesday, in which more than 120
Shi'ite pilgrims were killed, make imminent the
danger that should retaliation occur, against
Sunnis as well as Americans, the phantom of
civil war in Iraq will finally become a bloody
reality. Story and
photos by Nir Rosen (Mar 2,
'04)
Iraq's draft dodgers buy
time Iraq's
US-appointed governing council, in agreeing on
an interim constitution, has established an
operating framework for the sovereign government
due to take power by June 30. After that date,
the problematical part becomes addressing the
highly contentious issues that the drafters
conveniently avoided. (Mar 2, '04)
US military spending soars,
security suffers Since September 11, 2001,
the United States military budget has ballooned
to a level comparable to that of the world's
next 25 biggest military spenders combined. But
according to a new study written by nine
national security experts, such steep increases
in spending are doing little to strengthen US
security. - Jim Lobe
(Mar 2, '04)
Iraq civil war: Rumors and
reality
One
aspect of the Bush administration's response to
talk of civil war in Iraq has been to
essentially deny the latent factional forces
that have been exposed, concurrently working to
legitimize the war itself via accusations
against non-Iraqi "terror groups". - Ritt Goldstein (Mar
1, '04)
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