November 2005 

What 'staying the course' really means
Far from bringing democracy to Iraq and defeating "Islamofascism", the 150,000 US troops there are acting as the Praetorian Guard for a real "Islamofascist" regime that is already in power. And if the US "stays the course" with its utterly paradoxical and self-defeating strategy, much of the rest of the Middle East is also likely to end up in the hands of theocratic extremists who rule by terror, torture, and armed might. - Robert Dreyfuss (Nov 30, '05)

Pulling strings in Pakistan
Pakistan's President General Pervez Musharraf remains powerful six years after his coup, and is needed and backed by Washington. Yet all is not serene in the corridors of power as a constituency within his government, represented by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, grows in influence. World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz might be able to explain. - Syed Saleem Shahzad (Nov 30, '05)

DOUBLE DEALING: THE US AND IRAN (Nov 29, '05) Let's talk about Iraq Amid growing calls for the Bush administration to enlist the cooperation of Baghdad's neighbors in stabilizing Iraq sufficiently to permit a substantial drawdown of US troops, Washington has authorized direct talks between its Iraq ambassador and Tehran. The quest for the unilateral imposition of a Pax Americana in the Middle East is wavering. - Jim Lobe Let's talk about regime change The case for regime change in Iran has been most enthusiastically taken up in the US by a neo-con backed think tank, the Iran Policy Committee, which not coincidentally is also tasked by the Iranian opposition group and proscribed terrorist outfit, Mujahideen-e Khalq, to provide lobbying and public relations services. - Massoud Khodabandeh

America's unsung war dead
Private contractors had little notice or strategic planning when they began filling Iraq's security vacuum in 2003. The Pentagon has only now released a directive on their roles and functions - after some 280 deaths. But issuing directives and implementing them are very different things. - David Isenberg (Nov 29, '05)

Afghanistan: Blood on the tracks
The beheading by the Taliban of an Indian worker on a major Delhi-funded road project in Afghanistan gruesomely illustrates the dangers inherent when countries use Afghanistan as a playground for competing foreign policy agendas. (Nov 29, '05)

The US ties that entangle Iraq and Iran
The US has gained a few months to put pressure on Iran over its nuclear program. What stands out, though, is that Washington has resorted to grandstanding to cover up the accelerating collapse of its regional policy in Iraq, which in turn casts a shadow on the US capacity to force its will on the Iran nuclear issue. - M K Bhadrakumar (Nov 28, '05)

SPEAKING FREELY
Phased withdrawal illusions
Phased withdrawal of US troops from Iraq is being used as a slogan under which military operations will continue, and it's a recipe for disaster. The US must do what it should have done from the beginning - allow all groups a say in the political process, including the Ba'ath Party. - Mark Rothschild (Nov 28, '05)

Myths and madrassas
The debate about the alleged links between madrassas and terrorism has tended to obscure both the long histories of these seminaries and the differences between them. Islamic terrorism, like its Christian and Jewish predecessors, is a largely bourgeois enterprise, and it can't simplistically be blamed on the madrassa system, writes William Dalrymple after a visit to the alma mater of Taliban leader Mullah Omar. (Nov 23, '05)

Cheney tries to raise the stakes
US Vice President Dick Cheney appears to have taken charge of defending his boss and attacking critics who suggest the nation was misled into going to war. It's a dangerous gamble: not only have Cheney's public approval ratings fallen further and faster than President Bush's, but his office has long been identified as the focal point for the manipulation of intelligence before the Iraq invasion. - Jim Lobe (Nov 22, '05)

US in peace overture to Taliban's Omar
It has taken four years and much ill-conceived effort, but finally the US, and Afghan President Hamid Karzai, have accepted that the only way to deal with the relentless Afghan resistance is to talk to Mullah Omar and his "real" Taliban, whom the US thought had been defeated back in 2001. - Syed Saleem Shahzad (Nov 21, '05)

DISPATCHES FROM AMERICA
How the Bush administration got spooked
For years the Bush administration played its color-coded fear card with unbelievable effectiveness. But suddenly fear is no longer on the Bush administration's side. The Oz-like moment has come when the curtains are pulled back, the fearsome wizard turns out to be some pitiful little guy, and everybody looks around sheepishly, wondering why they acted as they did for so long. - Tom Engelhardt(Nov 21, '05)

The ghosts in the White House (Nov 18, '05) Two ghosts raised by the invasion of Iraq are hovering over the White House: Vietnam and Watergate. This week, they have been vying for attention as never before. First, famed Watergate investigative reporter turned stenographer for the Bush administration, Bob Woodward, crashed and burned over the Libby case, which has its roots in cover-up and lies relating to the Iraqi WMD deception. Then, decorated Vietnam War veteran and hawkish congressman John Murtha demanded the immediate pullout of US forces from the Iraqi quagmire. Asia Times Online tells the horror stories:  'Bring them home' After a long, patriotic silence, Bush's congressional opponents finally find their voices, writes Jim Lobe.  Rise of the 'patriotic journalist' Robert Parry chronicles the decline of the US news media since the Watergate glory days.  The lesson of Watergate It may look bad now, but it's going to get worse, writes Tom Engelhardt in his introduction to the Elizabeth de la Vega article below.  Libby's 'some other dude did it' defense Is Woodward's revelation a bombshell or a smokescreen? Former US federal prosecutor Elizabeth de la Vega examines the evidence.

The men who ask the questions
Known in the intelligence community as "97 Echoes", civilians from companies such as Lockheed Martin are contracted to interrogate suspected terrorists in US prisons in Iraq and elsewhere. The pay's good, even if the hours are long. As for the legality of the job, don't ask. (Nov 18, '05)

Friendly fire and the US in Iran
Some in Washington are courting the Iranian opposition group, Mujahideen-e Khalq, despite the fact that it's on the US's terrorist list. Seduced by the group's fantasies of regime change in Tehran - just as they were by those of Iraq's Ahmad Chalabi - these Americans fail to realize just how dangerous the group could be to the US. - Neda Bolourchi (Nov 17, '05)

Sex, shopping and the death of a regime
Syria is under threat more from internal problems than American challenges. Its economy is a mess and ripe for the picking by the relentless forces of globalization, which will exacerbate the rifts within the country's military-merchant complex. Throw in a disenchanted, and frustrated - in more ways than one - youth, and the regime is in trouble. - Mark LeVine (Nov 16, '05)

More at stake than regime change
The American line on Iraq is that the war is fueled by foreign fighters infiltrating from Syria and Iran, making these two countries prime targets for military attack. Syria is certainly the easier one to deal with, but the consequences are likely to be as devastating as they were with the invasion of Cambodia, a sideshow to the Vietnam War. (Nov 16, '05)

Wag the dog: Crisis scenarios for Bush
In the run-up to the Iraq war, the Bush administration had no hesitation about employing "wag-the-dog" scenarios in which manufactured crises wagged the "dog" of national politics - and that was when the administration was riding high. Similar ploys are likely with regard to Syria, Iran and North Korea if the situation grows too desperate and elections get too near. - Michael T Klare (Nov 16, '05)

PRAISE THE LAUDANUM!
Afghanistan's opium problem solved
Washington needs Afghanistan's warlords and the warlords need the opium trade, which is why one "democratic success" the US has brought to the country is the mushrooming of opium production to 87% of the world's total. And to disarm those who might perversely see this as a political embarrassment, there's a simple proposal on the table: legalize the opium production for "medicinal purposes". - Ramtanu Maitra (Nov 15, '05)

Terror from Amman to Karachi
The large car bomb in the Pakistani city of Karachi on Tuesday, which killed six people and wrecked a KFC fast-food outlet, confirms fears of an intensification in al-Qaeda-linked activities against countries that sympathize with the US in the "war on terror". - Syed Saleem Shahzad (Nov 15, '05)

Al-Qaeda tightens its grip in Iraq
With the death of Saddam Hussein's close aide, Ezzat Ibrahim al-Douri, the last of the big guns among the Ba'ath Party remnants in Iraq is gone. Al-Qaeda and Islamist groups are now firmly in control of the resistance. This is just another step, though, in the grand plan of basing a global war against America in Iraq and Afghanistan, with a little help from Iran. - Syed Saleem Shahzad (Nov 14, '05)

Jordan: No escaping al-Qaeda
Jordan's delicate attempt to balance Arab loyalties and Western alliances - particularly with the US and Israel - has failed, at least in the eyes of al-Qaeda. Amman now has no choice but to deal with al-Qaeda head on, even though more than half the country's population supports the group. (Nov 14, '05)

Why the Iraqi quagmire is no Vietnam
Is the US's war in Iraq akin to the Vietnam War? No, says a veteran Vietnamese cadre. The difference is that the Iraqi resistance, unlike that of the Vietnamese communists, is splintered: it has no broad appeal, no unifying political goal, and no Ho Chi Minh. It will fail in the short term because it is a reaction rather than a revolution.(Nov 11, '05)

COMMENTARY
US backs its tarnished golden boys in Iraq
Ahmad Chalabi fell calamitously from grace with the Bush administration. Iyad Allawi had a turn at running Iraq, with limited, and bloody, success. Now the US is backing these two for the premiership after elections in December. Washington, given its dearth of options, believes they are its best hope of ushering in secular democracy. Iraqis might think rather differently. - Ehsan Ahrari (Nov 11, '05)

A long US march in Africa
At the core of Washington's new geostrategy is the explicit acknowledgment that its enemy is not "terrorism" in general, but "Islamic extremism". Thus, Washington has opted for a long war in the Horn of Africa that inserts it into the briar patches of regional balance-of-power politics. (Nov 10, '05)

Jordan bombings a terrorist master-stroke
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, master strategist and nominal head of the insurgency in Iraq, has already been named as the "prime suspect" behind Wednesday's deadly explosions at three hotels in Amman. Be that as it may, Jordan, by committing to do America's bidding in the "war on terror", has made itself a target. - Ehsan Ahrari (Nov 10, '05)

Indonesia raises terror tempo
Just days after Indonesian security forces learned that one of their most wanted terror suspects had escaped from US custody, they claimed a success of their own with the death of Azahari bin Husin, wanted in connection with the Bali bombings of 2002. The two events have increased Jakarta's resolve in fighting terror by whatever means it takes. - Bill Guerin (Nov 10, '05)

COMMENTARY
Al-Qaeda's battle for hearts and minds
The poor response of the international community (including cash-rich Middle Eastern countries) to the greatest human tragedy in Pakistan's history has given al-Qaeda an opportunity to step up its campaign to win hearts and minds in the Muslim world, especially in Pakistan and Afghanistan. - Ehsan Ahrari (Nov 9, '05)

A brand name called Syria
There is conviction in Syria, from the street up, that the US does not care about who murdered former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri, but is just using the affair to pressure Damascus into complying on other issues, in Iraq, Palestine and Lebanon. But the Syrians will not budge. Rejection of Israel and refusal to submit to the will of foreign powers is Syria's brand - its national identity. -Sami Moubayed (Nov 7, '05)

CRISIS OF FAITH IN THE MUSLIM WORLD
PART 2: The Islamist response
The fact that prominent Islamist academics offer more than moral support for Islamist terrorism is a leading indicator of cultural despair - despair that will lead to terrible and prolonged war with the West as Islam fights to perpetuate itself. Europe will be the likely battlefield, and Paris is already burning. - Spengler (Nov 7, '05)

Sunnis searching for a role
The largest Arab Sunni organization in Iraq, the Iraqi Islamic Party, surprised many when, at the last moment, it threw its weight behind the country's draft constitution. In a wide-ranging interview, Fareed Sabri, a spokesman for the party, explains the decision and shares his thoughts on the insurgency, assassinations and Shi'ites. - Mahan Abedin (Nov 7, '05)

An unsafe world for US companies
The current administration in the United States has long been classified as deeply business friendly, but it, and its foreign policy in particular, is proving to be problematical for US multinationals in other countries, and even at home. Bush may be an oil president, but he's not a Disney or KFC president. -Mark Engler (Nov 6, '05)

Al-Qaeda goes back to base
Al-Qaeda is in the midst of an ideological debate, firstly over the exact nature of its enemy, and secondly over its lack of a base. Not only does the latter make operations difficult, it also goes against Islamic thought and diminishes the group in the eyes of many Muslims. Al-Qaeda believes there is a solution, in Iraq and Afghanistan, that will revitalize it. - Syed Saleem Shahzad (Nov 3, '05)

COMMENTARY
CIA's 'black sites' breed more evil
The CIA's secret prisons in various countries, used to imprison and interrogate alleged terrorists, won't help to win hearts and minds in the Muslim world. The question is, how many more of these "black sites" will the US need to build to hold the next generation of terrorists? - Ehsan Ahrari (Nov 3, '05)

"The US has exclusive facilities across the world to interrogate militants ... al-Tamara detention center, eight kilometers out of Rabat in Morocco, houses dozens of people arrested in Pakistan, while others are kept in Egypt, Thailand, Saudi Arabia and Qatar." - Asia Times Online, The legacy of Nek Mohammed, July 20, 2004

   Guantanamo strikers out of bounds to UN

Iraq's invisible war
Given the restricted nature of reporting in journalist-unfriendly Iraq, it's not surprising that whole areas remain beyond view. One such is Maysan province, a small Shi'ite area in southeastern Iraq abutting Iran, where resistance, first to Saddam Hussein and then to foreign occupation, has been ongoing. Michael Schwartz lifts the veil. (Nov 3, '05)

British Arabism and the bombings in Iran
Iran's accusations that Britain had a hand in the recent bombings and riots in Khuzestan province are less implausible than they seem at first, given Britain's long-held goal of severing the province from Iran and its nurturing of Khuzestani Arab separatists. Mahan Abedin and Kaveh Farrokh analyze British Arabism and its services to the UK's interests in the Middle East, and conclude that, though the Khuzestan troubles are likely a by-product of the invasion of Iraq, Britain - which gladly exploits the pressure point on Tehran - has a lot to answer for. (Nov 2, '05)

Fighting for peace in Thailand
Almost daily, new violence is reported in Thailand's troubled south, including, now, attacks on Buddhist monasteries. Caught between insurgent groups and angry monks is the one hope for a peaceful resolution of the two-year-old conflict - the National Reconciliation Commission. Now it is under fire. (Nov 2, '05)

COMMENTARY
A US ear in the Muslim world
During her swing through the Muslim world, Karen Hughes did not win America many new friends in her role as under secretary of public diplomacy. The trouble was, instead of listening, she spent too much time defending the policies of the Bush administration. - Ioannis Gatsiounis (Nov 1, '05)

Iran searches for nuclear exit
Iran, having lost faith in its European interlocutors, and they having lost patience with Tehran, is looking for other options in resolving the international dispute over its nuclear program as a possible showdown at the UN Security Council draws closer. But it may already be too late. - Iason Athanasiadis (Nov 1, '05)

The game's still on for Sunnis
The move by three Iraqi Sunni political groups to participate in the December elections should not be confused with a broader Sunni decision on whether to participate: the majority of Sunnis still take the strategic direction of clerics and insurgent leaders. (Nov 1, '05)

CRISIS OF FAITH IN THE MUSLIM WORLD
PART 1: Statistical evidence
Negotiating the demographic decline of the 21st century will be treacherous for countries that have proven their capacity to innovate and grow. For the Islamic world, it will be impossible. That is the root cause of Islamic radicalism, and there is nothing that the West can do to change it. - Spengler (Oct 31, '05)

The unraveling of the 'Cheney cabal'
The Bush administration's foreign policy has been characterized by its highly ideological nature, inspired by a "cabal" that included Vice President Dick Cheney and I Lewis Libby, whose
troubles could well mark the breakup of the group. This won't help the mess in Iraq, but the situation with Iran and North Korea could improve. - Ehsan Ahrari (Oct 31, '05)

Hoodwinked in Damascus and Washington
Much like the Damascus cabal and the report linking it to the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri, the cabal in Washington spins a serious crime over the outing of an undercover agent into an annoying technicality. - Maggie Mitchell Salem (Oct 31, '05)

Iran, Israel: The good, the bad and the ugly
Calculated or not (to protect Syria?), Iran is undermining itself in the battle for world public opinion with respect to its right to nuclear technology, by making official statements that kindle the images of another Holocaust. But this is only one side of the complex cultural orientation of Iran's foreign policy: there is still room to maneuver. -Kaveh L Afrasiabi (Oct 28, '05)

October 2005