April 2006

Iraq's choice: Revolution or rebuilding
In simultaneous speeches on Arabic television, Iraqi Prime Minister-designate Jawad al-Maliki and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaeda in the country, expounded their visions for Iraq. While Maliki spoke about nation-building, Zarqawi talked revolution. It's a safe bet that more Iraqis were paying heed to Zarqawi than to Maliki. - Sami Moubayed (Apr 28, '06)

Cool in Ankara: A partnership under strain
The US wants to talk Iran and "terrorism" with Iraq's neighbors. But other issues keep intruding. During a recent visit to Ankara, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice got an earful about the Kurdish problem and a disintegrating Iraq. America's allies are Turkey's sworn enemy. - M K Bhadrakumar (Apr 28, '06)

Iran, US in tug of war over Middle East
As the US beefs up its military presence in Persian Gulf states, Iran is responding by trying to woo them to its side, leaving them  between the rock of US hegemony and the hard place of Iranian power. No one is taking the US threat of military strikes against Iran too seriously, but the signs are that the US aims to dominate the oil-rich region, rather than just "contain" Iran. - Kaveh L Afrasiabi (Apr 26, '06)

Arabs stake a claim in Iraq
Iraq's slide into civil strife has prompted Arab leaders to re-engage the troubled country, largely to curtail what they perceive as Iran's growing influence. The first step is a Baghdad office, the second could be troops. - Iason Athanasiadis (Apr 26, '06)

Loud and clear: No respite in the 'long war'
First Osama bin Laden spoke, then the bombs spoke, and now Abu Musab al-Zarqawi speaks. The messages could not be clearer: the jihad is spreading - to Darfur and beyond. With the US floundering in Iraq and President George W Bush sinking in the polls, al-Qaeda thinks it is on a roll; all it needs to do is keep the pressure on. - Ehsan Ahrari (Apr 26, '06)

Attack Iran, destroy the US constitution

President George W "All options are on the table" Bush is acting as if the decisions that may get the US into another war - this time with Iran - are his to make and his alone. Indeed, there is considerable evidence that military action against Iran has already begun - without congressional approval. This is a usurpation of the US constitution. - Jeremy Brecher and Brendan Smith (Apr 25, '06)

THE ROVING EYE
What's really happening in Tehran
Smiling and articulate, Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad locked horns with the international media on Monday, showing a face somewhat different from that of a suicidal nut bent on confronting the US, as he is often portrayed. Yet the president leads just one of four key factions in a do-or-die power play, and he is following his own agenda, which is not the same as the Iranian theocratic leadership's. - Pepe Escobar (Apr 25, '06)

Egyptian bombs shake Muslim world
Egypt today, Pakistan or Saudi Arabia tomorrow. Islamabad is particularly fearful after Monday's triple bomb attack that killed 23 people at a seaside resort on the Sinai Peninsula. Reorganized and revitalized jihadis have Pakistan, like Egypt a US ally, in their sights. - Syed Saleem Shahzad (Apr 25, '06)

Tehran insider tells of US black ops
A high-level source in Tehran confirms reports emanating from the US that covert units are at work in Iran. The presence of agents provocateurs explains some suspicious border incidents. But Tehran isn't standing idly by while its sovereignty is violated. -Special Correspondent (Apr 24, '06)

Fighting talk from Osama and the Taliban
Al-Qaeda and the Taliban are focused on sharpening the divide between the West and Islam. Bin Laden's latest tape highlights what he terms the West's grudge against Islam in general. The Taliban, meanwhile, kicked off a major offensive in Afghanistan at the weekend and will let their fighting do the talking. - Syed Saleem Shahzad (Apr 24, '06)

Iraq's next premier: Spot the difference
He looks like, thinks like and acts like his hapless predecessor. Still, sighs of relief, from Iraq to Washington, have greeted the announcement that Ibrahim al-Jaafari has agreed to stand aside for Jawad al-Maliki as Iraq's prime minister-elect, and hopes are high that the country will at long last get a real government. Maliki, however, brings to the job all of Jaafari's weaknesses and none of his strengths. - Sami Moubayed (Apr 24, '06)

Al-Qaeda finds its missing link in Iran
Having established a base in Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal area on the border with Afghanistan, al-Qaeda has resolved one of its most pressing problems. Unwittingly, perhaps, Tehran, by being perceived in the Muslim world as a champion of the anti-US cause, has set itself up to take a lead role with al-Qaeda in orchestrating worldwide resistance movements. - < Syed Saleem Shahzad (Apr 21, '06)

Washington's deadly serious war games
If Washington is seriously considering attacking Iran, why is it doing so much to trumpet its intent, even providing details of the kinds of weapons it plans to use and staging war games with Iran as the target? It would be easy to dismiss the public posturing of the Bush administration as bluster and saber-rattling - but it would be folly to do so. - Ehsan Ahrari (Apr 21, '06)
 
The Gordian Knot of the nuclear crisis
Iran has to choose where its true interests lie: in the destruction of Israel or in energy independence? If Tehran keeps speaking with two voices, it makes an aerial assault not only more likely, but also perhaps more justifiable in the world's eyes. - Kaveh L Afrasiabi (Apr 21, '06)

Coup, counter-coup: The struggle for Iraq
US-backed Iyad Allawi is a heavyweight in Iraqi politics. And he is also an angry man, having been passed over as prime minister, and on Thursday as vice president. Rumors, therefore, that he is plotting a coup against Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari to end months of political stalemate make some sense. Not that this would necessarily solve anything: Iran would strike back. - Sami Moubayed (Apr 20, '06)

To the barricades! A snapshot of civil war
For weeks residents of Adhamiya, a Sunni neighborhood in Baghdad, had been making preparations to defend against "death squads" and kidnappers. This week the attack came, as Shi'ite militiamen disguised as regular police stormed the barricades. - Dahr Jamail and Arkan Hamed (Apr 20, '06)

Bombs and bombast in Iran
The exaggerated claims of Iranian officials during recent war exercises were intended for internal consumption. Nevertheless, the projection of military power (regardless of its actual capabilities) delivered by the "Holy Prophet" games has given the Islamic Republic an elevated sense of global status. - Neda Bolourchi (Apr 20, '06)

INTERVIEW
The face of Saudi opposition
Using intensive media activities, the Movement for Islamic Reform in Arabia, widely recognized as the only serious and effective opposition to the House of Saud, aims to create a mass movement to bring down the monarchy. The movement's leader, Saad al-Faqih, explains the campaign and tells Mahan Abedin why it is taken more seriously than Osama bin Laden. (Apr 19, '06)

Iran: Cooler heads urge Bush to talk
Nuclear bombs are "on the table" says US President George W Bush, declaring in the same breath that he is seeking a "diplomatic" solution to the Iran crisis. The problem with his "diplomacy" is that he is not talking to Tehran. Now cooler heads, including prominent members of Bush's own party, are urging that he do just that. - Jim Lobe (Apr 19, '06)

DISPATCHES FROM AMERICA
History ambushes the Bush administration
It's hard to believe how hard and how fast George W Bush has fallen since the triumphant swagger of the "mission accomplished" jet landing on the USS Abraham Lincoln just after the invasion of Iraq. But the administration is not out of ammunition yet and is still capable of mayhem in places such as Iran. -Tom Engelhardt (Apr 18, '06)

TAKING AIM AT RUMSFELD Fall will drag down hawks The outcome of the generals' assault on US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is by no means certain, but it could well determine the trajectory of US policy in key areas, including Iraq, Iran and even China, through the remaining two and a half years of George W Bush's presidency. - Jim Lobe (Apr 17, '06) COMMENTARY Why his time is up Donald Rumsfeld has now reached a point in the Iraqi imbroglio when he has to spend too much time conducting his personal war of attrition with the growing ranks of his critics. His effectiveness has suffered irretrievable damage. In this sense, it matters little that he still has the support of President George W Bush. His only real choice is to resign. - Ehsan Ahrari (Apr 17, '06) Military's rift with Rumsfeld over insurgency On top of the chorus of retired US generals calling for the resignation of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld comes a revelation by a top active-duty officer - Lt Gen John R Vines, who commanded the US forces in Iraq in 2005 - of a conflict between the military and Washington over the nature of the Iraqi insurgency. A 2004 military analysis directly contradicted Rumsfeld and Vice President Dick Cheney, who continued to blame the insurgency on foreign jihadis and Saddam loyalists. - Gareth Porter (Apr 16, '06)

SPEAKING FREELY
Know your enemy - and yourself
For Muslim fundamentalists, there can be no separation of mosque and state, for God's law rules supreme over temporal affairs. In the West, church and state are separate - but it was not always thus: Saint Augustine was a Christian jihadi. Oh, Abraham Lincoln, what have you wrought? - C Mott Woolley (Apr 17, '06)

A HISTORY OF THE CAR BOMB (Part 2)
Car bombs with wings 
In the greatest technology transfer of terrorist technique in history, mujahideen were trained in CIA-sponsored courses to use car bombs - and camel bombs - against the Soviet invaders in Afghanistan. Alumni of these schools, such as Ramzi Yousef, who plotted the first 1993 World Trade Center attack, would soon be plying their trade on every continent. Even Iraq owes its first car bombing to the CIA. - Mike Davis

 (Part 1) The poor man's air force (Apr 12, '06)

A HISTORY OF THE CAR BOMB (Part 1)
The poor man's air force
It began 85 years ago with a vengeful Italian anarchist who parked his explosives-laden, horse-drawn wagon in New York's business district. The vehicle bomb is the ultimate cheap, low-tech weapon, used to sow terror by fanatical Jews, Christians, Hindus, and Muslims, by French colonials, the Mafia, the Irish Republican Army and the CIA, among others. But it kills indiscriminately, and therefore often backfires on its users. - Mike Davis (Apr 12, '06)

End of story: Israel triumphant
As in a well-plotted novel, President George W Bush's increasingly public plans to attack Iran have a certain inevitability about them. At its core, the hostility toward Tehran is aimed at containing the Shi'ite problem and securing Israel's dominance of a "New Middle East". - M K Bhadrakumar (Apr 12, '06)

THE ROVING EYE
The war on Iran
Iranians know that if the US bombs the country's Russian-maintained nuclear sites, it could be construed as an attack on Moscow. They also know that Shi'ites in Iraq would turn extreme heat on the occupation forces. And Iran has the power to halt all oil shipments via the Strait of Hormuz. - Pepe Escobar (Apr 12, '06)

A rush to the Taliban's call
Daily bombings and skirmishes in Afghanistan illustrate that the Taliban's spring offensive is well under way, although the resistance is nowhere near as sophisticated or as deadly as the Iraqi insurgency on which it is modeled. All the same, the Taliban are not short of volunteers, with many coming from an unlikely but valuable source - among the ranks of jihadis fighting in Kashmir. - Syed Saleem Shahzad  (Apr 12, '06)

BOOK REVIEW
A preordained catastrophe
Cobra II: The inside story of the invasion and occupation of Iraq by Michael Gordon and General Bernard Trainor
None of the architects of the invasion of Iraq, who envisaged US troops being welcomed with open arms, sought a diversity of opinions - they were ideologues who were not ready to let facts interfere with their beliefs. - Alexander Casella

Bush: Method in the madness?
There could be method in the seeming madness behind reports that President George W Bush wants to bomb Iran. Bush may be banking on his reputation as an irrational loose cannon to keep Tehran off balance. - Jim Lobe (Apr 11, '06)

A town without law, much less order
Americans in troubled Baqouba, indeed everywhere in Iraq, desperately want to withdraw into their fortified bases and turn the task of handling daily car bombings, rocket attacks and other mayhem over to the weak and heavily infiltrated Iraqi police. Iason Athanasiadis spent two weeks in the town. (Apr 11, '06)

SPENGLER Bush's October surprise - it's coming Things may not look too bright for the US president right now, but George W Bush is poised for the strongest political comeback of any US politician since Abraham Lincoln. Republicans will triumph in November's congressional elections because by then Bush will have bombed Iran's nuke installations, and Americans will rally around him again. (Apr 10, '06) EDITOR'S NOTE The world's only supersuicide bomber At least one reader has been demanding to know where Asia Times Online's editors stand in relation to Spengler's arguments in favor of bombing Iran's nuclear facilities. Here is two cents' worth. (Apr 10, '06) SPEAKING FREELY Sweet deals: Behind the Iran 'crisis' Big Oil wants to plunder Iraq's oil reserves through sweet-deal production agreements, but there is a better way, using Islamic-friendly "open" corporations with Iran's support. The rush to get the deals before President George W Bush's term expires is the real reason for the saber-rattling, not Iran's nuclear program. - Chris Cook (Apr 10, '06)

Final jeopardy over CIA leak
The White House won't confirm whether the president released classified information on the invasion of Iraq, but says if he did, it's his right. The question is, does he have the right to declassify information for political gain? It is precisely the abuse of executive power that led to Richard Nixon's impeachment. - Elizabeth de la Vega (Apr 10, '06)

'Searching for attackers lurking in the night'
As US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw strutted their stuff in Baghdad, two powers traditionally active in the region were watching closely - Russia and Turkey. Maybe Rice was getting a first-hand briefing on how the British once did it - and still want to - in the deserts of Arabia, a la T E Lawrence. Whatever, Moscow and Ankara are working to protect their interests. - M K Bhadrakumar (Apr 7, '06)

Cutting and running in Iraq
Iraq has gone from a country with a shaky US-backed regime fighting a resistance movement to one in which sectarian killings and ethnic cleansing predominate. Rational observers can only conclude the US Army has no place in the midst of a civil war. The options seem to be defeat or an increased presence, but for the administration withdrawal is not an option. -Robert Dreyfuss (Apr 7, '06)

DECLINE OF THE NEO-CONS (Apr 4, '06) Clipped wings and a triumph for realism Neo-conservatives, since propelling the US to war in Iraq, have lost key players in the Bush administration and in Congress, and have begun to fall out among themselves, resulting in a steady loss of their power over the political agenda in Washington. Nevertheless, this does not mean that the chances of military action against Iran have been significantly reduced. - Jim Lobe An arrow to the heart of policy The mounting sense of bewilderment among neo-cons is caused by America's unending troubles in Iraq and the implications of this for the Middle East. And when influential fellow travelers such as Francis Fukuyama question the doctrine of military power and regime change, the neo-con soul is exposed. - Ehsan Ahrari

US anti-militia strategy another wrong move
The attack last week by US-led Iraqi paramilitaries on what Shi'ite leaders claim was a mosque may herald a shift in US policy against the country's Shi'ite militias in a desperate bid to forestall civil war. But such a policy would make a showdown with the Shi'ites almost inevitable - a clash that could politically doom the US occupation once and for all. - Gareth Porter (Apr 4, '06)

A silver bullet aimed at Iraq's head
Sunnis, Kurds and now even a key faction in the dominant Shi'ite bloc, all with the support of the US, are lining up against Ibrahim al-Jaafari to prevent him from carrying on as Iraqi premier. This is all very well, but Jaafari departing the scene will only create a new set of circumstances, including rival Shi'ite militias, that will make it even more difficult to form a stable government. - Ehsan Ahrari (Apr 3, '06)

SPENGLER
Cat and mouse with Muslim paranoia
According to an adviser to the Iranian culture minister, the cartoon Tom and Jerry was the result of a Jewish conspiracy. That, like most paranoid conspiracy theories, is nonsense, but it is true that the cartoon not only distorted reality but forbade desirable outcomes. The US must turn the tables on Iran - Tom must finally eat Jerry. (Apr 3, '06)

Engage Bangladesh before it is too late
Among the big three nations of South Asia, Bangladesh is too often ignored by the globe's movers and shakers. This is a risky game, as the world's third-largest Muslim nation is increasingly susceptible to terrorism and the influences of Islamic militants. - Swati Parashar (Apr 3, '06) 

March 2006