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) ...

Pakistan on the march again
Through some adroit and savvy maneuvering, President General Pervez Musharraf has reestablished Pakistan's position in the international fold. At the same time, the men behind the general who really set the country's agenda have devised a bold new policy to regain lost influence in Afghanistan and Kashmir. -Syed Saleem Shahzad (May 28, '04)

Iraq: Now the sovereignty muddle
There is no doubt that an important aspect of the United States' position is that the interim Iraqi government that takes over on July 1 should have no power to block military operations by US-led forces. How then is Washington going to hand over sovereignty? - Ehsan Ahrari (May 28, '04)

Muqtada's wings clipped for now
It's still shaky, but the truce negotiated among Shi'ites for rebel cleric Muqtada al-Sadr to withdraw his fighters from the holy city of Najaf is a significant breakthrough that the US has been quick to embrace as a way out of a sticky situation. Meanwhile, two Japanese journalists have been killed near Baghdad. (May 28, '04)

Iraqi dissidents: Down but far from out
US friend-to-foe Ahmad Chalabi is now being blamed for Washington's poor intelligence leading up to the Iraq war. This overlooks the fact that the leading candidate for Iraq's premiership, Hussain al-Shahristani, should also shoulder some blame, and that so quickly to dismiss the likes of Chalabi would be yet another blunder. - Kaveh L Afrasiabi (May 27, '04)

   'Premier' Shahristani hedges his bets

Chalabi: Blessed or cursed?
Ahmad Chalabi's fall from grace means that he no longer has the backing, either financial or political, of the US, but this could be a good thing. It certainly is as far as Jordan is concerned. (May 27, '04)

Iran: Invisible hands guide military ambition
The recent occupation of Iran's new international airport by the country's Revolutionary Guard suggests all is not as it seems in the Islamic Republic, leaving analysts to ponder most notably the strategic consequences this operation will have on the future of the Iranian theocracy, including the possibility of militarization of the regime. - Safa Haeri (May 27, '04)

Jogging in the twilight zone
Within the relative safety of the US-controlled Green Zone in Baghdad, Haider Hamoudi goes for a run. On his way he passes monuments to Iraq's troubled and bloody past, symbols of the present imperfect, and reminders of the tragedy that still lies ahead for the blighted country. (May 26, '04)

The US and the lessons of Chechnya
As President George W Bush's popularity slips in the face of ongoing setbacks in Iraq, the same is not true of another war president, Vladimir Putin of Russia, who is bogged down in the war in Chechnya. Is there a lesson here for Bush? (May 26, '04)

     'Heading for a far worse situation'

Palestine is dying in Iraq
With the US military encircling them and daily threats of sanctions, it is unlikely that governments in the Middle East can or will do anything to stop the escalating dislocation of Palestinians. The process has already begun. - Sadi Baig (May 26, '04)

Iraq's religious tide cannot be turned back
The underlying belief in the Bush administration is that once Iraqis are given back their sovereignty - problematical even though that is - a secular government will emerge. This is impossible. The Islamization of the country began a long time ago under Saddam Hussein, and the tide of the religious forces cannot be turned back. - Nir Rosen (May 25, '04)

Bush's vision for Iraq vs reality
While US President George W Bush desperately tried to convince increasingly skeptical Americans, Iraqis and the world that he is on the right track in Iraq, the United Nations was presented with a a US-inspired draft resolution that is intended to make Bush's vision a reality. The reality on the ground in Iraq, however, clashes head-on with American dreams and UN resolutions. - Ehsan Ahrari (May 25, '04)

'Sovereignty lite'
The draft resolution on Iraq's future, handed to the UN Monday, skirts the crucial issue of how much real sovereignty will be passed to the Iraqi people, whose country will continue to be occupied by foreign forces. (May 25, '04)

The wheels come off
A tumble from his mountain bike has left President George W Bush with minor scrapes. Potentially far more damaging is the situation in Iraq, where, although the president says that Iraqis are ready to "take the trai 74%ning wheels off" their bicycle to US-guided democracy, the situation nbsp;font class=time resembles a crash just waiting to happen. - Jim Lobe (May 24, '04)

Headed for the falls
Just as President George W Bush begins a public relations campaign to create public support for "staying the course" in Iraq, a former commander-in-chief of US Central Command deals him a body blow. - Ehsan Ahrari (May 24, '04)

Stephen Cambone: Rumsfeld's henchman
Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence Stephen Cambone is Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld's right-hand man and a key figure in the right's web of militarists. He is also tagged as "Rumsfeld's henchman". (May 24, '04)

SPENGLER
Socrates the destroyer
The notion that the US can impose a rational constitution on whatever country it pleases draws credibility from the myth of Socratic statecraft as told by Leo Strauss and others. But what if Socrates was not a system-builder but a destroyer who saw that Greek culture was a failure and set out to tear down its premises? (May 24, '04)

Berg beheading: No way, say medical experts
According to both a leading surgical authority and a noted forensic expert who spoke to Asia Times Online, the video depicting the decapitation of American businessman Nicholas Berg at the hands of Muslim radicals appears to have been staged. And Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who US officials claim did the killing, was himself in all likelihood killed long before the video was made. - Ritt Goldstein (May 21, '04)

Chalabi: From White House to dog house
The precipitous fall from grace of Iraqi National Congress head Ahmed Chalabi, the darling of the neo-conservatives, signifies a State Department victory over the Pentagon. It also means that the US has made itself a bitter and dangerous enemy. - Jim Lobe (May 21, '04)

UNreformable? UN drops the ball
Clashing personalties, inept officials and classic bureaucratic obfuscation mark the United Nations' limp investigation into last year's bombing of its headquarters in Baghdad. More far-reaching, the organization has missed a golden opportunity to reinvent itself. - Alexander Casella (May 21, '04)

How Middle East is really being remade The US saw the invasion of Iraq as a transcendental moment of transformation that would bring the region to democracy and free trade. The Gulf states saw the US action purely in terms of realpolitik. But with everyone's expectations proving hopelessly wrong, the Middle East is in a state of serious readjustment. - Nir Rosen Strategic miscalculations The main strategic objectives of Washington's hawks were supposed to fall into place following the invasion of Iraq. Their miscalculation? Truly believing that the Iraqis would be grateful.  - Jim Lobe SPEAKING FREELY Chicken hawks do have a plan The cabal that drives US foreign policy is taking stick over Iraq, but the critics have got it all wrong. There is a plan, for Iraq, for Israel, for the Persian Gulf. It's just that it will take some time - and the public may not be ready to hear about it. - Joe Nichols (May 20, '04)

Pentagon's Feith finds another storm
Whenever there's controversy in the Bush administration, Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith is not far from it. This time it's the unfortunate chain of events that led to the abuse of Iraqi prisoners in Abu Ghraib prison. - Jim Lobe (May 20, '04)

Why the neo-cons lost their pin-up boy
After forking out US$335,000 a month for the past four years to Ahmad Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress, the Bush administration is pulling the plug on the group of Iraqi exiles widely blamed for supplying its Pentagon supporters - especially Douglas Feith - with dubious intelligence. But why the decision at this precise juncture? (May 20, '04)

Pakistan: After the hammer, the screws
The United States, dissatisfied with the poor results of the Pakistani army's attempts to round up Afghan resistance fighters ensconced in the tribal border areas with Afghanistan, is turning the screws on Islamabad to try again, and with more venom. The US is also taking matters much more into its own hands, as are the tribals. - Syed Saleem Shahzad (May 18, '04)

CORPORATE MERCENARIES
Part 1: Profit comes with a price
The war in Iraq has focused world attention on the role of private military companies, and the lucrative business they do in battle zones. But these "corporate mercenaries" don't have things all their own way, and the work they do is often highly dangerous. This is the first article in a two-part report by David Isenberg. (May 18, '04)

CORPORATE MERCENARIES
Part 2: Myths and mystery
The war in Iraq is testing the mettle of private military companies, faced with steadily rising insurance costs, contractual hazards and a lack of hirable personnel. But as the June 30 handover date draws nearer, their services will be required more than ever. Meanwhile, having friends in high political places always helps. This is the conclusion of a two-part report by David Isenberg. (May 19, '04)

The Taliban in Texas
There are a lot of smiles in Houston, Texas, the world oil capital, as the price of crude hits new records almost by the day. Expensive oil is good business. But Big Oil is not exactly fond of the situation in the Middle East. Iraq, for example, is terribly dangerous - ergo, bad for business. Big Oil is missing the good old days, when the Taliban visited Houston and had a ball. (May 17, '04)

US: Where have all the terrorists gone?
It has been more than two and a half years since al-Qaeda shattered the feelings of security in the United States on September 11, yet no attack has been carried out - or even foiled - since. While some analysts credit the loss of al-Qaeda's so-called "safe haven" in Afghanistan, not everyone is as optimistic, as this is an election year, an opportunity "too good to pass up". - Ashraf Fahim (May 17, '04)

SPENGLER
Does Islam have a prayer?
The common liturgy of communal prayer betrays the inner secrets of cultures, and so provides an answer to the question of why cultures clash. In one sense, the standard communal prayer of Islam may be considered an expression of jihad - the spread of Islam by means of holy war. (May 17, '04)

Torture? It's just another day at the office (May 14, '04) Torture has been common in Washington's interaction with many countries, more recently in Iran in the 1950s, through Latin America, and America's best documented direct participation in mass torture during the Vietnam War, writes Jack A Smith. This "culture" of official misconduct, says Ritt Goldstein, has its roots in the US's abuse of its own citizens by law enforcement agents. Brutality starts at home ... - Ritt Goldstein  ... And travels very well - Jack A Smith Made to be broken Long before the pictures of prisoner abuse in Abu Ghraib prison were released, a string of reports  pointed to widespread, systemic violations of the Geneva Conventions, not only in Iraq, but in Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay. - Jim Lobe

The Iraq gold rush
The dangers of working in Iraq are by now obvious to everyone, and yet Americans are lining up by the hundreds for the chance at a job there. The reason also is obvious: the desert is paved with gold, courtesy of Halliburton subsidiary KBR. (May 13, '04)

COMMENTARY
It's Bush who is in the dock
Final judgment on President George W Bush's larger moral rationale for invading Iraq - to democratize the country and then use it as an example for restructuring the Muslim Middle East - will only be made in November's presidential elections. Whether or not Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and others go before that is not the real issue. - Ehsan Ahrari (May 13, '04)

Pictures of abuse spell bad news for Bush
The latest US polls, coming on the back of Iraqi prisoner abuse photos released last week, show continued erosion in support for President George W Bush and the war in Iraq. The photos appear directly linked to the sharp loss in support, and for the first time a majority has declared that the war is not worth it. - Jim Lobe (May 13, '04)

The war of the
snuff videos
The upcoming videos and photos showing more abuse at Abu Ghraib have found their counterpart in a video of an American being beheaded. Meanwhile, the folks in Texas and elsewhere in conservative America are sick of the whole business. It will get worse. (May 12, '04)

Tale of two allies: Koizumi and Blair
Fortunes are diverging radically for America's two staunchest allies in the Iraq war. While the sun shines on Japan's Junichiro Koizumi, storm clouds gather around Britain's once invincible Tony Blair, who has lost popularity and might soon lose his job. - J Sean Curtin (May 12, '04)

Bush's cavalry joins the Indians
President George W Bush and close allies have drawn a defensive circle around embattled Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, waiting for the troops to rally to the cause. But unlike in western movies, reinforcements might not be on the way: many in the army have had enough of their civilian leader. - Jim Lobe (May 11, '04)

Life without Rumsfeld
Assuming the sharpened knives claim Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's scalp, the obvious next question is whether his departure would be too late to make any difference to the US's troubled foreign policies. (May 11, '04)

Sorry, it does look like Vietnam
Disaffected voices within the US military have commented that "a pattern of winning battles while losing a war characterized the US failure in Vietnam". The US administration rejects any such parallels with Iraq. A former US army intelligence operative in Vietnam explains why it is wrong to do so. (May 11, '04)

SPEAKING FREELY
All going according to plan?
Forget the skeptics who say the United States did not have a plan for post-invasion Iraq. Intended or not, Washington has actually achieved as much as it could possibly hope for, both in the country and the region. But how and when to get out? - Sadi Baig (May 11, '04)

Rumsfeld and the 'beastly' Boykin 
As Pentagon chief, Donald Rumsfeld's head is ultimately on the block over the abuse of Iraqi prisoners. Somewhat down the chain of command are the uncompromising characters who conceived and implemented the techniques to "enable" the interrogation of prisoners. Chief among these is Lieutenant-General William "Jerry" Boykin, once described as a "beast-man". - Ramtanu Maitra (May 10, '04)

An American tragedy
Deep in the heart of middle America, a "don't mess with Texas" pickup heaven, Donald Rumsfeld is a misunderstood hero and the Abu Ghraib fiasco "understandable", given the link between Iraq and September 11. Meanwhile in this PR Pearl Harbor, a nation struggles to come to grips with its gulag archipelago. (May 10, '04)

Credibility boost
for the Red Cross
- Alexander Casella


SPENGLER
Mistah Kurtz, he clueless
Unable to pursue its policy of democratizing Iraq, the US is likely to embrace the next best thing - chaos. The results will be infinitely more unpleasant than Abu Ghraib, but at least Americans will slumber in peace. (May 10, '04)

Military might and moral failure
That the US has adopted a policy of moral exceptionalism, and "goes abroad in search of monsters to destroy", means that it has to produce a military that embodies the country's perceived goodness. This is why it is all the more shocking when Americans in uniform fail to meet expectations. - Jim Lobe (May 10, '04)

Rumsfeld: The fallen angel?
The vultures of Capitol Hill (most of them Democrat for now) are circling above Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, smelling blood over the Iraqi prisoner scandal. The real issue, though, is not so much the fate of Rumsfeld as the sustainability or otherwise of the occupation of Iraq. - Jim Lobe (May 7, '04)

Now Indians cry foul over Iraq
Hard on the heels of news of abuse against Iraqi prisoners, Indian workers claim that they are being press-ganged into menial jobs at US camps in Iraq. New Delhi has put Washington on notice. - Siddharth Srivastava (May 7, '04)

Not a pretty picture
By joining all the dots of darkness that have characterized the situation in Iraq over the past year, a composite picture emerges, and it is not easy on the eye. - Ian Williams (May 6, '04)

Now the desperate damage control
In addition to concerns over world reaction, the Bush administration is clearly worried over the fallout in the US domestic arena from the debacle of the abuse of Iraqi prisoners, hence the rapid and heavyweight attempts to defuse the situation. But now that the story is out, it won't be easy to make it go away. - Ehsan Ahrari (May 6, '04)
 
Iraq: Fine line between abuse and torture
The reported abuse of Iraqi prisoners has been met with universal anger, from the West to the Middle East, with critics using strong language to express their revulsion. However, debate is swirling over whether the abuse is something more - torture. (May 5, '04)

   Election process moves ahead

THIS NUCLEAR AGE
Part 1: US neo-cons and war
Driven by the neo-conservatives, a major push to create new nuclear weapons and substantively expand America's nuclear weapons complex is presently ongoing. Apart from the obvious costs of such a program, there are the dangers of using nuclear weapons to achieve political objectives. This is the first article in a three-part report by Ritt Goldstein. (May 4, '04)

PART 1: Besieged in Shawal As the US net closes around al-Qaeda, Taliban and Afghan resistance fighters holed up in the remote Shawal areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan, tribal leaders are being pressured to help catch them. And they are not happy. This is the first in a series of reports from what is likely to become a key frontier. (May 2, '04) PART 2: The 'al-Qaeda' cleric In the sweep for al-Qaeda suspects in the Shawal area of Pakistan, Maulana Salahuddin was rounded up, and spent some weeks as a "guest" of the authorities. But it soon became obvious that the humble Sufi cleric had nothing to do with al-Qaeda and the Afghan resistance. Not that he is short on ideas in tackling the issue, though. (May 3, '04) PART 3: Through the eyes of the Taliban The US, in an attempt to both exploit splits in the Taliban and restore peace to Afghanistan, has made numerous overtures to one of the key figures in the resistance movement - Jalaluddin Haqqani. But the legendary mujahideen leader and former Taliban minister refuses all overtures. His son explains why. (May 4, '04) PART 4: Return of the royalists The US plan to press Afghan warlords into service to fill the political vacuum created by the demise of the Taliban has failed, with many wily commanders turning against their would-be benefactors. Subsequently, Afghan royalists have been pushed into the limelight, an exercise many see as equally futile. One senior royalist with high ambitions begs to differ. (May 5, '04) Part 5: Jihadis pay the ultimate price Foreign fighters were an integral part of the Afghan resistance against the Soviets in the 1980s, and now they play a pivotal role in the guerrilla war against US-led forces in the country. In an ultimate irony, though, these very symbols of jihad may yet be offered as sacrificial pawns to bring peace to Afghanistan. (May 12, '04)

US intelligence faltering on N Korea nukes
The price of US intelligence failures regarding terrorism and WMD in Iraq has been staggering. Now the US administration's politicized, inconsistent use of new intelligence from Pakistan on North Korea's nuclear program is complicating an already difficult assessment. (May 4, '04)

Confronting the demons of urban warfare
In the siege of Fallujah, US forces were drawn into urban warfare, something they had wanted to avoid because of the high casualty rates and unique fighting methods involved, and the fact that much of the technology that they normally use in battle is rendered useless. - David Isenberg (May 4, '04)

  The dreaded 's' word

Japan to polish tarnished Mideast image
After a solid display of support for US moves in Iraq, Japan's once glittering Middle East image has been tarnished. Now, Tokyo is pursuing a more independent, pro-Arab foreign policy, and though Japanese troops will remain in Iraq, attempts to distinguish Japanese policy from that of the US could lead to a rift in relations with Washington. - J Sean Curtin (May 4, '04)

Thailand's tinderbox: Foreign links feared
Crack troops who earned their spurs in East Timor have been sent into Thailand's restive south, and trigger-happy police are quickly being pulled out of the region in a bid to keep the non-violent majority from joining the militants. But violence continues, and if progress isn't made soon and links are forged with foreign Islamist  elements, senior officials warn that it is Bangkok that will feel the pain. - David Fullbrook (May 4, '04)  

SPENGLER
Has Islam become the issue?
Until now, neo-conservatives have carefully toed the White House line that "this is a war against terrorism, not against Islam". But now, as Washington's visions for Iraq's future vanish like a desert mirage, this line is in danger of being crossed, with Islam itself becoming the issue. The neo-cons have already fired the first salvo. (May 3, '04)

The dehumanizing nature of occupation
The seeds of prisoner abuse in Iraq were sown in the very act of invasion and occupation of the country. The manifestation of Iraqi anger through acts of resistance and insurgency to the occupation was bound to create an equally brutal response from the occupying forces. - Ehsan Ahrari (May 3, '04)

EDITORIAL
Who let the dogs out?
The fact that war is horrible seems to have come as a nasty shock to US television viewers. Why? (May 3, '04)

Staying the course - but which one?
With UN special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi's influence on the rise in Iraq, US neo-conservatives are increasingly being sidelined with regard to major decisions. But whether this will save Washington's minimum goals for the region is another matter. - Jim Lobe (May 3, '04)