June 2005

COMMENTARY
Distractions of the age of Bush
President George W Bush and his top officials never hesitate to redefine reality to suit their needs. When faced with matters long defined in everyday life in terms of right and wrong, they simply reach for their dictionaries. - Tom Engelhardt (Jun 30, '05)

Pushing Islam to the extremes
Morocco, in trying to satisfy the US in the "war on terror", while at the same time dealing with the highly sensitive issue of Muslim clerics with a radical vision of Islam, risks exacerbating the very tensions it is trying to defuse. - Ilhem Rachidi (Jun 30, '05)

Bush's mission implausible When President George W Bush says "Our mission in Iraq is clear. We're hunting down the terrorists," increasing numbers of Americans are aware that the "terrorists" are actually flocking to Iraq because of the American invasion, not because they were there earlier. - Ian Williams (Jun 29, '05) Why withdrawal is possible The Bush line is that the US has to maintain an unpopular and costly occupation in Iraq because the only alternative is to hand the country over to "criminal elements and foreign terrorists". This is not the only alternative, and the fact that so few in the corridors of power can imagine anything else speaks volumes. - Mark LeVine (Jun 29, '05)

A Hobbesian hell in the making
Forget "clash of civilizations", it's the need for cheap and reliable energy sources that sets up a scenario for a devastating war between Christian developed nations and resource-rich Islamic ones. - Gaurang Bhatt (Jun 28, '05)

Revisiting the Iranian revolution
Mahmud Ahmadinejad's victory marks a revival of the spirit of the Iranian revolution. Thus, it is bound to jog American memories of the hostage crisis that sank Jimmy Carter's presidency. President George W Bush, given his policy on Iran, risks the same fate. - M K Bhadrakumar (Jun 28, '05)

SPENGLER
Iran: The living fossils' vengeance
Rural Persia voted with one voice to hold the world at bay by electing Mahmud Ahmadinejad as Iran's next president. Poverty is not the issue; the poor voted to remain in poverty. But by clinging to traditional society, the humblest Iranian farmer retains the pride of a conqueror in his heart, and he may soon have nuclear weapons to be proud of too. (Jun 27, '05)

The ayatollah's new reign
The real winner in Iran is spiritual leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who will now be able to navigate the ship of state without the impediment of a reform-minded president, especially in foreign relations. Neo-cons in the United States couldn't have wished for better. - Kaveh L Afrasiabi (Jun 27, '05)

India's Afghan nightmare
With the US toying with the idea of handing the defense of parts of Afghanistan to its allies, especially Pakistan, New Delhi fears a resurgence of anti-India Muslim groups, and there is little that can be done about it. - Ramtanu Maitra (Jun 27, '05)

MIDDLE EAST  Condoleezza Rice's harangues show how distant she is from the realities of the Middle East. Sami Moubayed and Ramzy Baroud analyze her recent visit. (Jun 27, '05)

THE ROVING EYE
War in Iraq: The first throes
The heated hearings in Washington in which Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld came under withering fire may be just the tip of the iceberg. The Bush administration's doggedly optimistic line on Iraq is simply not tenable, and in Baghdad, the writing is literally on the wall. - Pepe Escobar (Jun 24, '05)

Tokyo in the firing line
Pressure has returned to Tokyo with Japanese forces being targeted by a bomb in Iraq. The attack, the first on the troops outside their heavily fortified camp, is a troubling development for Prime Minister Koizumi and his plans for Japan. - J Sean Curtin (Jun 24, '05)

What the US wants from Tehran
Even though President George W Bush has reserved some of his better rhetoric for criticizing Iran's presidential elections, Washington's problem is not so much about democracy - or the alleged lack of it - as about Tehran's steadfast commitment to follow its own agenda. - Ehsan Ahrari (Jun 24, '05)

Smokescreens in Afghanistan
Outgoing US ambassador to Afghanistan Zilmay Khalilzad's broadside on Pakistan, accusing it of not doing enough to curb the Taliban, hit a raw nerve, with Islamabad returning fire. All this, though, obscures the fact that the "war on terror" in Afghanistan is spilling into Central Asia. - M K Bhadrakumar (Jun 24, '05)

Revolution without bullets or ballots
Wherever members of the Islamic group Hizb ut-Tahrir establish a presence of any significance, especially in Central Asia and Pakistan, they are banned. They don't believe in violence and they eschew militancy. Yet they believe they can bring the Western capitalist system to its knees, a senior member tells Syed Saleem Shahzad. (Jun 23, '05)

THE ROVING EYE
Iraq, the new Afghanistan
There was blowback in Afghanistan after the US financed a jihad there against the Soviet invasion. There is now blowback in Iraq following the US occupation. And the comparisons between Iraq and basket-case Afghanistan don't end there. - Pepe Escobar (Jun 23, '05)

COMMENT
Stop groveling and wipe your nose
It's been an illuminating, though tearful, fortnight in US politics. The issue? Mistreatment of prisoners at Guantanamo? No. Not after the word "Nazi" was used on the Senate floor. That's when everyone forgot about Guantanamo. - Allen Quicke (Jun 23, '05)

SPEAKING FREELY
Making the case vs fixing it
A "smoking gun" may be needed in a court or impeachment proceedings, but for millions of disillusioned Britons and Americans, the case against George W Bush is absolutely clear. - Peter Bollington (Jun 23, '05)

COMMENTARY
Withdrawal on the agenda
With a resolution before the US Congress calling for a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq, the issue is placed on the American agenda. The belief that if the US simply hangs on in the country long enough it will be capable of solving the Iraqi crisis is no longer tenable: the US presence is planted firmly at the heart of the crisis to be solved. - Tom Engelhardt (Jun 22, '05)

'WAR ON TERROR' FOR DUMMIES Just in case you thought "war on terror" was as simple as "us vs them" or "good vs evil", Asia Times Online presents three articles (below) that expose the underbelly of the noble rhetoric. You'll find jihadi training camps in the backyard of the US "ally's" army headquarters; former heroes turned into villains; and "terrorist" pawns sacrificed as the real terrorists wage proxy wars in the name of statecraft. You'll even find Osama bin Laden, though it turns out he's untouchable for now. Osama: 'Got him! (sort of)' CIA chief Porter Goss has an "excellent idea" of where bin Laden is - he just can't lay hands on him. Politely, Goss does not mention Pakistani recalcitrance - Islamabad is an ally, after all. - B Raman  The pawns who pay as powers play A former Pakistani intelligence official and close associate of Osama bin Laden tells Syed Saleem Shahzad how terrorism starts at the top as presidents play their power games. Pakistan's lethal exports Pakistan-trained or sponsored jihadis are turning up in the oddest places. - Kaushik Kapisthalam (Jun 21, '05)

COMMENTARY                         by Spengler Why is good dumb? The United States of America is uniquely good, and thus uniquely dumb. So, against the radical evil that the US now faces, its good has no natural defenses. It can only hope that its opponents lose the war, because President George W Bush is not going to win it. (Jun 20, '05)

Smoking signposts
The overall story of American press coverage of the Bush administration and its Iraqi war is a sorry one, especially regarding the leaked British memos on the timing of the decision to go to war. Nevertheless, this news is forcing its way into public consciousness: maybe now the media scent blood. - Tom Engelhardt (Jun 20, '05)

The making of a terrorist
Myriad factors can send people on the path of militancy, terrorism, or even suicide with a bomb strapped to the body. In the very mean streets of a satellite district of Karachi, gang warfare, sectarian hatred, jihadi fervor and police excesses combine to fatefully change the course of people's lives. A young Muslim preacher tells Syed Saleem Shahzad how this happened to him. (Jun 17, '05)

A bright, shining lie The error of the US in Iraq has a long pedigree. It is the imprisonment of the mind in ideology backed by violence in which every horror is seen as a mere imperfection in a beautiful larger picture. But a moment comes when the fantasy dissolves and all the "exceptions" turn out to be the rule. That's when America's grotesque misadventure in Iraq will end. - Jonathan Schell Down the rabbit hole Desperately rosy statements from Washington; grim statements from US soldiers in the field; eroding public support at home; the first hints of opposition to the war in Congress. This was Vietnam. This is Iraq. - Tom Engelhardt  US military breaks ranks (Jun 16, '05)

THE ROVING EYE
How much is a hostage worth?
The six-month hostage ordeal of a French journalist and her Iraqi fixer received little publicity on Islamist websites, and their kidnappers made no political demands for their release. Which leaves only the "financial" motive. The French government, though, is respecting an implacable law of silence. - Pepe Escobar (Jun 15, '05)

COMMENTARY
The ghost of LBJ
In the face of growing public disquiet over Iraq, President George W Bush will inevitably have to make a decision on whether to begin some sort of troop withdrawal. It's a tough call, and one that could define Bush's place in history - as was the case with Lyndon B Johnson and Vietnam. - Ehsan Ahrari (Jun 15, '05)

Rude awakening for Iran
Iran's security forces have been quick to blame Ba'athists from Iraq for recent bombings. Perhaps too quick, for the finger of suspicion could as easily be pointed at al-Qaeda, Iran's neighbors, or even hardliners within the country. And disturbingly, the attacks come close to presidential elections. (Jun 14, '05)

US dragged down by news from Iraq
The mainstream media in the US are increasingly reporting on pessimism in high places in the US military over ever "winning" in Iraq. Even the Pentagon's news roundup is gloomy. No surprise, then, that Americans, too, are having serious second thoughts. - Jim Lobe (Jun 14, '05)

Terror fight revives Suharto-era might
Amid criticism that Indonesia's intelligence bodies have failed to anticipate terrorist attacks, the government has reactivated a network last used to quell dissent in the era of Suharto, raising concerns of a return to the repression used during that iron-fisted rule. - Bill Guerin (Jun 14, '05)

SPENGLER
Why Sunnis blow themselves up
Blowing oneself up to kill one's enemy is not the sort of gesture one would expect from people who have given serious thought to parliamentary democracy. But for many Iraqi Sunnis it is not about democracy, despite what the Bush administration might believe. It is about a fight to the death. (Jun 13, '05)

Marching to (illegal) war
A 2002 British cabinet briefing paper warns that an invasion of Iraq, already agreed by President George W Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair in March of that year, would be illegal unless ministers got to work to fix the problem. (Jun 13, '05)

THE VIEW FROM PYONGYANG
Why North Korea isn't talking
US President George W Bush labels North Korea as part of an "axis of evil" and an "outpost of tyranny". His "overriding objective" is regime change. Yet, after so dishonoring his dialogue partner, he says he wants negotiatons to resume. This is not what one would call a sincere approach to resolving the nuclear issue, says Pyongyang-based An Sang Nam. (Jun 10, '05)

Finger on the button
A nuclear test is the next logical stage in the development of North Korea's nuclear-weapons program. Before this happens, Kim Jong-il would have to weigh carefully what he would gain from taking such an irreversible step. - Bruce Klingner (Jun 10, '05)

US looms large in Iran's elections
The front runners in Iran's presidential elections have prioritized the issue of relations with the US, hoping to galvanize young voters interested in the normalization of ties with the traditional bogeyman, thereby setting the stage for a new, propitious chapter in the US-Iran saga. - Kaveh Afrasiabi (Jun 10, '05)

THE ROVING EYE
Exit strategy: Civil war
Against all odds, a national liberation front is emerging in Iraq comprising politicians, religious leaders, clan and tribal sheikhs, with a single-minded agenda: the end of the US-led occupation. Simultaneously, the US is pushing on with its policy of divide and rule - sectarian fever translated into civil war. - Pepe Escobar (Jun 9, '05)

Iran's missiles on a solid footing
With Iran successfully testing a solid-fuel motor for its medium-range Shahab-3 ballistic missile, it now has the technology for greater mass production and faster deployment of its missiles. But it still has a long way to go. - David Isenberg (Jun 9, '05)

The US and that 'other' axis
The deterioration in China's relations with the US and Japan and the resultant improvement in Beijing's relations with Iran and Russia are being driven by Washington's outsized global security concerns, security concerns that are becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy for Washington. A geopolitical power play is well under way, but the economic well-being of all concerned ensures that the outcome is detente. - Jephraim P Gundzik (Jun 8, '05)

Taming terror on the high seas
While there are growing concerns over possible catastrophic acts of maritime terrorism, there is no unanimity among counter-terrorism experts on the magnitude of that threat. Over-projection of the danger, particularly by the US, muddies the waters. - B Raman (Jun 8, '05)

Car bombings: Iraq's time bomb
In co-opting the Iraqi police and national guard, the resistance proved highly successful: it created a "Trojan Horse" supplied and trained by the US that was frequently an ally and almost never the enemy. So the US switched tactics. The relentless wave of car bombings is the resistance's response, a response that carries catastrophic implications. - Michael Schwartz (Jun 7, '05)

Hot on the trail of al-Qaeda
US and Pakistani intelligence agencies believe they have a strong scent of al-Qaeda's top leadership, including Ayman al-Zawahiri and Osama bin Laden, in Pakistan-Afghanistan border areas. But the fugitives remain one step ahead, while at the same time laying plans for the Afghan resistance. - Syed Saleem Shahzad (Jun 6, '05)

COMMENTARY                         by Spengler Muslim anguish, Western condescension US attempts to engineer an Islamic reformation may be the silliest initiative in foreign policy in the history of the world. Muslims will not be persuaded to loosen their grasp on the living presence of Allah on Earth. In its tragic encounter with Islam, the West cannot help but inflict humiliation, just as happened at Guantanamo. (Jun 6, '05)

America needs you, Deep Throat II
"What did he know and when did he know it?" These two questions are as pertinent today to President George W Bush in regard to the invasion of Iraq as they were to Richard Nixon and Watergate over 30 years ago. Deep Throat II is probably already talking, and that's good for US democracy. - Ehsan Ahrari (Jun 2, '05)

The failed siege of Fallujah
Amid the rubble, ruin and broken lives in Fallujah seven months after the last US offensive on the city, the tangible devastation is easy to see. The less tangible damage is now manifesting itself: inflamed tempers, deepened sectarian rifts and an Iraqi resistance spurred into levels of attacks rarely seen prior to the siege. - Dahr Jamail (Jun 2, '05)

Osama means business
From cigarette lighters to hand puppets and computerized games, Osama bin Laden souvenirs can be found across Southeast Asia. There's no deep ideological motive, though, other than that of profit: the Chinese are making a killing. - Richard S Ehrlich (Jun 2, '05)

Bases, bases everywhere
The US military has been leaving bases behind after its overseas operations, like a giant beast marking territory with its droppings. The new bases more or less coincide with the world's oil heartlands of the Middle East and Caspian region. - Tom Engelhardt (Jun 2, '05)

Jailhouse rock Accusations by the Bush administration that detainees concocted stories of abuses at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo might be believed in the US, but won't be given much credence elsewhere. So might a prominent newspaper's accusation that a report by Amnesty International ''amount[s] to pro-al-Qaeda propaganda''. So might the statement that "you're either with us or with the terrorists". - Jim Lobe COMMENTARY Shooting the messenger Notwithstanding George W Bush's dismissive reaction to the charge by Amnesty International that his administration created "the gulag of our times" at Guantanamo, something has gone badly wrong and America's status as a global moral force has been seriously damaged. - Ehsan Ahrari SPEAKING FREELY: If Washington hopes to win hearts and minds on the rough and tumble Arab street it will need to focus on saying something different, not on "speaking slower and more loudly". - Maggie Mitchell Salem (Jun 1, '05)

The Wild West of American intelligence
The rapid rise of private intelligence contractors, information brokers on which the US spends US$20 billion annually, could pose a serious threat to privacy and security laws. Almost completely unregulated and often run by former spies capable of selling their information to criminals or terrorists, they constitute the paramilitary "Wild West" of American Iraq. (Jun 1, '05)

May 2005