November 2004

Mosul attack 'an inside job'
The Iraqi military is riddled with members of the resistance, Asia Times Online has been told, and this is what enabled a suicide bomber to penetrate the heart of US security in Mosul. And whether they be Ba'athists, Islamists or jihadis, the insurgents are united behind a common goal: "freedom from foreign occupying forces". - Syed Saleem Shahzad (Dec 24, '04)

Pakistan lays down the agenda for the US
In exchange for continued cooperation in the United States' "war on terror", Pakistan is demanding a few extra carrots, including further economic aid and weapons. Pakistan's ambassador to the US laid out these expectations in a recent speech, meanwhile stressing the need to forget about nuclear kingpin A Q Khan and the "proliferation episode". - Seema Sirohi Dec 24, '04)

THE ROVING EYE
First we vote, then we kick you out
As the January 30 elections near, the majority of Iraqis have one thing on their minds: get the US occupiers out - and get them out fast. At the moment, however, the risk of post-election civil war is stronger than ever, with various factions refusing to sit back and let the Shi'ites take control of the country. - Pepe Escobar (Dec 23, '05)

  SPEAKING FREELY:
     Iranian past holds lessons

Where Osama bin Laden went wrong
Just as Washington has lamented its failure to prevent the attacks of September 11, 2001, the attackers, too, likely feel pangs of regret. Had Osama bin Laden been patient and worked to consolidate the Taliban's gains made through the assassination of the Northern Alliance leader two days earlier, his dreams for the Central Asian region might have come closer to fruition. - Vikram Sood (Dec 23, '04)

Feared group behind Mosul carnage
The attack on a US base in Mosul that killed more than a dozen American soldiers is just the latest in a series of daring strikes for which the shadowy Jaish Ansar al-Sunnah has claimed responsibility, suggesting that the hardliners' reach in Iraq's Sunni areas may be growing. Its mission: defeat the occupiers and establish Taliban-style rule. - B Raman (Dec 22, '04)

Purging Pakistan's jihadi legacy
For some time, the Pakistani army has been fighting to contain the growing dissent that has stemmed from Islamabad's post-September 11 U-turn in favor of the US. Now, military leadership has implemented a new strategy to eradicate its internal jihadi struggles - one that includes the death penalty for those found guilty of plotting against the president. - Syed Saleem Shahzad (Dec 21, '04)

Why Rummy should not go
Calls for Pentagon chief Donald Rumseld's resignation are gaining volume, as Washington's neo-cons attempt to cover their tracks in the ongoing Iraqi blame game. It is a situation best described by the oft-used phrase: "Success has many fathers; failure is an orphan." But quagmire or no quagmire, now is not the time for Rumsfeld to go. - Ehsan Ahrari (Dec 20, '04)

The US's failure in Fallujah
Fallujah has been liberated. But its citizens have not yet been allowed to return to their devastated homes. When they do, they will be finger-printed and carry ID cards at all times. They will be confined to their district, and all cars will be banned. US security checks will determine who will be allowed to join military-style reconstruction work units. As for voting in next month's elections. No chance. This is the face of the new Iraq. - Michael Schwartz (Dec 17, '04)

Neo-cons on the road to Damascus
Key neo-conservative opinion shapers in the US have launched a new campaign as part of their push for Washington to take stronger measures against Syria, possibly including military action. But applying too much pressure on Damascus may backfire, particularly where Iraq is concerned. - Jim Lobe (Dec 17, '04)

   Warning for unneighborly neighbors

COMMENT
Bin Laden: An open letter
With the release of another tape by Osama bin Laden just 10 days after the al-Qaeda attack in Jeddah, experts are impressed with the speed with which bin Laden has made his views public. B Raman wonders, though, why the US has not been able to follow the trail of the tapes to their source. (Dec 17, '04)

House of Saud shows its colors
The threat of al-Qaeda has made the Saudi regime even more determined not to loosen its grip on power, evident by this week's crackdown on anti-monarchy demonstrations. But by barring channels for expression of dissent, the House of Saud is actually strengthening the hands of militants, including Osama bin Laden. - Sudha Ramachandran (Dec 17, '04)

How Iran will fight back
Iran's development of a highly sophisticated and mobile ballistic missile system will
play a crucial role in the strategy it has devised in the event of a US or Israeli attack on its territory. An important component of this is psychological warfare, where the country's military planners have learned from the Americans. And of course there is the nuclear card. - Kaveh L Afrasiabi (Dec 15, '04) 

Odds even in 'info' war

In the past, sophisticated techniques in information warfare - propaganda and disinformation - gave advanced countries an advantage. No more. The information age has leveled the playing field, such that winning Muslim hearts and minds is an uphill battle for the US. - Ehsan Ahrari (Dec 15, '04)

NUCLEAR IRAN Not off the hook just yet The European Union has secured an agreement with Iran that it will voluntarily suspend uranium enrichment and other sensitive nuclear pursuits, in exchange for incentives. But the matter does not end there - the likelihood of either overt or covert US action against the Islamic republic remains. - Ritt Goldstein US goes back to the source Since admitting to nuclear proliferation, Pakistan's Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan has been kept under close wraps. Now the US, increasingly frustrated with the International Atomic Energy Agency's efforts to expose Iran's purported nuclear ambitions, has turned to Khan for help. - Syed Saleem Shahzad (Dec 14, '04)

Fallujah, Iraq's Tora Bora
At the end of 2001, United States troops thought they had cornered Osama bin Laden and senior al-Qaeda followers in the Tora Bora area of Afghanistan. They were wrong. Similarly, the US thought that the attack on Fallujah would yield much-wanted Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and other jihadis. Again, the US was wrong, as illustrated by the recent terror attack in Saudi Arabia. - B Raman (Dec 13, '04)

Beware al-Qaeda watchers
Since September 11, there has emerged a core of al-Qaeda watchers whose writings and scare stories disturbingly remind of the Kremlin watchers of yore. (Dec 13, '04)

Japan, slumbering military giant, stirs
Japan's arms exporters, clamoring for an end to a ban on military exports, are not opening the champagne just yet, even though they can now export material and technology related to Japan-US development of a missile defense system. - Oscar Johnson (Dec 13, '04)

High alert after Philippine blast
A bomb blast at a crowded market in the Philippines has killed at least 14 people. And while no group has claimed responsibility (a business dispute has not been ruled out) the explosion has rattled nerves in an area plagued by a separatist rebellion. (Dec 13, '04)

Twelve years of CIA discontent
The long downward slide of the US Central Intelligence Agency is not just Washington's worry; for better or for worse, the US is the world's most powerful nation, and if its foreign intelligence service is dysfunctional, that spells globally destabilizing catastrophes and unnecessary wars. Congress has approved a revamp of the intelligence community, and there's a new man in charge of the CIA. Tomas Jones and Marc Erikson examine what went wrong at the CIA, and whether Porter Goss's new team can fix it.  (Dec 10, '04)

BOOK REVIEW A mainstream embrace for extremism Indonesia's Struggle: Jemaah Islamiyah and the Soul of Islam by Greg Barton While it's reassuring to believe extremists enjoy minuscule support in Indonesia, religious scholar Greg Barton's eyewitness account of spiritual and political trends there indicates that jihad may remain a growth industry in the world's largest predominantly Muslim country. - Gary LaMoshi Jihadi Islamists play a skillful PR game Author Greg Barton, whose latest book takes a look at why Indonesia continues to deny it has any problem with radical Islam, talks with Asia Times Online about religion, terrorism and the PR game jihadi Islamists play.

Spies, terrorists and Pakistan
It is touted as the biggest overhaul of US intelligence agencies in more than 50 years. But what is required is not more posts (such as the new one of national intelligence director), more money and more powers, but a spell of introspection by all intelligence officers regarding their inadequacies. Pakistan, meanwhile, must be hugely pleased with events. - B Raman (Dec 9, '04)

   Jim Lobe: Bush gets his wish, sort of 

Behind the Harkat-ul Jihad al-Islami
Preoccupied with the world's major terror hotspots, intelligence agencies view the threat posed by militant group HuJI to global security as potential, rather than imminent. But they are not paying close enough attention to the growing network and the capacity of the Bangladesh unit of this al-Qaeda-linked movement. This is the concluding article in a two-part report by Sudha Ramachandran.(Dec 9, '04)

Bangladesh treads fine terror line
India is taking terror threats against its cricketers in Bangladesh very seriously. Yet the Bangladesh government is driven by short-term political gains in refusing to counter the threat posed by Islamist and anti-India extremist outfits operating from its territory. This is the first article in a two-part report by Sudha Ramachandran (Dec 8, '04)

Al-Qaeda on the march
Al-Qaeda operates on the basis of its own version of global jihad: the overthrow of the Saudi government and to continue to harm the United States, its citizens and its assets anywhere and everywhere. Monday's attack on the US Consulate in Jeddah serves both of these purposes. The likely reaction will play further into al-Qaeda's hands - more US pressure on Saudi Arabia to tame militancy. - Ehsan Ahrari (Dec 7, '04)

Icarus (armed with vipers) over Iraq
Flight and its use for bombing entire cities into oblivion were part of the human imagination and of literature long before they became reality. Today, neither is a novelty; indeed, the air war in Iraq merits barely a mention in the media. The loosing of air power on Iraq's cities is the great missing story of the war. - Tom Engelhardt (Dec 7, '04)

More wake-up calls over Kashmir
Two recent developments should be of great concern to India. The first relates to President General Pervez Musharraf's meeting with President George W Bush in Washington, DC, and the second to the casualties suffered by the Indian security forces in Jammu and Kashmir in two terrorist strikes coinciding with his visit. - B Raman (Dec 6, '04)

Al-Qaeda and the East African threat
East Africa's large Muslim population, in addition to its many weak governments, gives al-Qaeda the opportunity to recruit and train Muslim militants for attacks against US interests. (Dec 2, '04)