March 2007

Real battles with Iran lie ahead
US pressure on Iran is yielding results. The Iranian domestic scene is becoming increasingly agitated and US psychological warfare (such as the mysterious disappearance of an Iranian general in Turkey) reinforces the aggravation. But in the long term, Iran remains committed to nuclear development and there is little the US can do to curtail its widespread and natural influence in the region. - Mahan Abedin (Mar 30, '07)

US silent on detained Iranians
As tension grows over the 15 British sailors being held by Iran, the fate of five Iranians seized by the US in Iraq in January remains unclear. All that the US will say is that they are in a US-sanctioned "coalition detention" system, along with 15,000 other prisoners waiting for their day in court. (Mar 30, '07)

Iran ahead of the game - for now
Iran's seizure of 15 British sailors has brought some immediate gains: national pride, unprecedented pro-Iran sympathies in the Arab world, and rising oil prices, which will help offset a loss of British business. However, Tehran will have to insulate its nuclear diplomacy from this crisis or risk losing the European Union, a potentially key ally in the nuclear row. - Kaveh L Afrasiabi (Mar 29, '07)

Another stiff test for Musharraf
Several recent events in Pakistan have helped pan-Islamists smooth over some of their differences, including President General Pervez Musharraf's sacking of his chief justice, unrest in the tribal areas, and a protest against vice by students linked to a pro-Taliban mosque. This emerging united front poses one of the biggest threats Musharraf has ever faced. - Syed Saleem Shahzad (Mar 29, '07)

Fleeing Iraqi Arabs get Kurds' cold shoulder
Many Arab Iraqis fleeing the chaos of Baghdad have moved to the Kurdish region in hopes of finding some tranquility to rebuild their lives. But they find little welcome. "It's like the mafia here," says one Arab of his Kurdish "hosts". - Jason Motlagh (Mar 29, '07)

THE WEAPONS NO ONE CAN STOP Afghanistan: 'Two feet and a lot of skin' They stream into Afghanistan from Pakistan on foot, on bicycles and on motorcycles with only one thing on their minds: to blow themselves up, and as many others as they can in the process. They've been dubbed Osama bin Laden's "bastard children", and US soldiers are trained to spot them (a shifty look is a dead give-away). But not one has been caught alive. - Philip Smucker (Mar 28, '07) Iraq's car-bombers defy all odds Tens of thousands of Iraqis have been killed in vehicle bombings, and the carnage continues despite the US "surge" in Baghdad. The most alarming innovation is truck bombs carrying chlorine-gas tanks rigged with explosives. The chlorine clouds and the truck bombs have deflected US troops into a desperate hunt for makeshift car-bomb factories. The search is likely to be futile: the car bomb has proved to be the almost invincible weapon of the ill-armed and underfunded. - Mike Davis (Mar 28, '07)

THE ROVING EYE
British pawns in an Iranian game
The Iranian seizure of 15 British sailors may be much cleverer than it appears. Oil has moved above US$60 a barrel as a result of the incident. And if Tehran drags out proceedings, the Shi'ites in southern Iraq may take the hint and accelerate a confrontation, and even start merging with strands of the Sunni resistance. - Pepe Escobar (Mar 28, '07)

Pakistan crosses a dangerous boundary
With the political temperature in Pakistan already rising over a judicial crisis, President General Pervez Musharraf has sent troops into the explosive tribal areas to side with a Taliban warlord against foreign militants. Such intervention has proved highly damaging to Musharraf in the past, and plays into the hands of the Taliban in Afghanistan. - Syed Saleem Shahzad (Mar 27, '07)

Hidden US hand in Philippine election
Though facing rebellion charges that could put him away for years, longtime Muslim leader Nur Misuari is running for governor of Sulu province and could win. The US is formally neutral, but will it continue to shower development aid if Misuari wins? Hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of aid programs lie in the electoral balance. - Noel Tarrazona (Mar 27, '07)

Iran prepared to fight, if necessary
Iran's seizure of 15 British sailors and marines was surely an intentional provocation, coming after the seizure of Iranian diplomats in Iraq and just before the UN sanctions vote. Tehran is sending a message that it is prepared to fight if necessary. The incident will lead to a bigger military buildup in the Persian Gulf and the likelihood of more incidents. (Mar 27, '07)

Iran: A mountain that doesn't move
Despite another round of UN sanctions, Iran will not suspend its uranium-enrichment activities, a stance that is gaining support in the international community. Indeed, by seizing 15 British sailors, Tehran has shown that those who inflict pain will pay a price, even if it means a new spiral of proxy attacks and hostage-taking leading to bigger and deadlier showdowns. - Kaveh L Afrasiabi (Mar 26, '07)

SPENGLER
The Most Un-Islamic Republic of Persia
Iran's tantrum over the portrayal of the 5th-century BC Persian Empire in the film 300 is very Persian, but not at all Islamic. Iran's new imperial ambitions inspire its impassioned defense of the ancient Persian Empire, whose demise the Koran clearly celebrated. (Mar 26, '07)

Iraq's good terrorists, bad terrorists
Zalmay Khalilzad, the outgoing US ambassador, has been widely praised in the West for his efforts to stabilize Iraq, while Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has staked his future on his and Khalilzad's security plan for Baghdad. At the same time, thousands of Kurdish militants are allowed to operate from northern Iraq, threatening to bring Turkey into the Iraqi fray, with disastrous consequences. - Sami Moubayed (Mar 26, '07)

CHAN AKYA
Hollywood's Muslim villains
The controversy over the new film 300 is misplaced. Cold-hearted economic thinking underpins Hollywood's forays into multiculturalism. Heroes and villains are selected on the basis of the audience reaction they are likely to evoke, rather than any notions of historical accuracy that pedants may wish to foist upon these creative geniuses. (Mar 23, '07)

BOOK REVIEW
The intellect behind Islamic radicalism
The Power of Sovereignty by Sayed Khatab
Karl Marx and the Prophet Mohammed had at least one thing in common. Their outlook transcended mere nationalism. That is the main point of Sayyid Qutb's philosophy, which turned Islam into a sort of replacement for Marxism that plays an important role in world affairs today. - Dmitry Shlapentokh (Mar 23, '07)

Waziristan jihadis at war with each other
The bloody fighting that erupted this week between Pakistani Taliban and al-Qaeda-linked Uzbeks in Pakistan's South Waziristan border area was caused by a dispute over strategy. The Uzbeks wanted to fight the Pakistani military, the Taliban wanted to fight NATO forces in Afghanistan, and they ended up fighting each other. Still, the Taliban are likely to emerge stronger than before. - Syed Saleem Shahzad (Mar 22, '07)

What's behind Khalid's 'confessions'
For al-Qaeda, prison is just another front on the battlefield between infidels and Islam. A careful reading of Khalid Shaikh Mohammad's recent testimony before a military tribunal shows that every one of his "confessions" was calculated to advance the cause. The bottom line for Khalid: Islam is at war, and war is about killing. - Michael Scheuer (Mar 22, '07)

SPEAKING FREELY
Yemen on the brink of sectarian war
What began as a small protest by a group of Shi'ites against government policy in majority-Sunni Yemen has grown into an insurgency that resists all efforts to crush it, despite strong anti-terrorism aid from the US. Lacking the oil resources of neighboring countries, the Yemeni economy needs foreign investment and tourism, both of which are being frightened away. - Mohamed Al-Azaki (Mar 22, '07)

Battling evil with abs of steel The hot movie 300, depicting the heroic stand of the Spartans at Thermopylae in 480 BC, might as well have come out of Neo-Con Central, to hear some right-wing pundits and reviewers. They see the West holding the pass against the Iranian - oops, Persian - hordes. Somehow they seem to miss the film's homoerotic ambiance. (Mar 22, '07)

Shaky Musharraf holds only the military card
As a judicial crisis and consequent political storm escalate in Pakistan, President General Pervez Musharraf and his army face a stark choice: whether or not to use the military to suppress rioting that has so far raged out of control. Neither option bodes well for the man who will soon seek democratic re-election to the presidency. - Syed Saleem Shahzad (Mar 21, '07)

COMMENT
Rocking to the sound of guns (n' roses)
It's a land of stark contradictions: while millions live in squalor, the children of the elite party into the night to the sound of live rock bands; intellectuals discuss how to save the country from oblivion, but not too loudly lest the intelligence apparatus hears; the arts and the media enjoy freedoms rarely seen in pre-Musharraf eras, yet militant mullahs stand ever ready to pounce. Meanwhile the West does nothing to forestall Pakistan's collapse or, worse, works to hasten it. - Mark LeVine (Mar 21, '07)

Winning Afghan hearts and splitting hairs
Among the US-led NATO and coalition forces in Afghanistan, some "hunt the bad guys" and others try to repair the damage the hunters leave behind, while some are mandated to engage in "counterinsurgency" but not in "counter-terrorism". Underlying such hair-splitting is a political chasm between the NATO wimps on one side and the Washington warriors on the other, with the very "future of the NATO alliance" at stake, according to one fuming congressman. Meanwhile, such distinctions are entirely lost on the Afghans themselves. - Philip Smucker (Mar 20, '07)

IRAQ'S DISMAL ANNIVERSARY BOOK REVIEW The man who would be king Rumsfeld: His Rise, Fall and Catastrophic Legacy by Andrew Cockburn A fitting way to "celebrate" shock and awe, the bombastic opening of the most astonishing blunder in recent military/geopolitical history, would be to read this book about the life of Donald Rumsfeld, a life spent pursuing personal grandeur at enormous cost to entire nations, including his own. - Pepe Escobar (Mar 20, '07) Iran and the failed US Iraq policy The long-cherished neo-conservative dream of taking over oil-rich Iraq, rejected by two US presidents, found a willing agent in George W Bush. Four years after the invasion, the US now faces a Shi'ite-led regime in Baghdad - something neighboring Iran was unable to accomplish in eight years of bloody war against Saddam Hussein. Henry C K Liu examines the benefits and challenges the new Iraq presents to Tehran. (Mar 20, '07) Now, a refugee crisis More than 2 million Iraqis have fled the chaos of their country, settling uneasily in neighboring Arab countries. They lack jobs, decent housing and health care, yet they keep coming, since the alternative may be death. Arab patience is being strained, and the international community, particularly the US, isn't doing enough to help. (Mar 20, '07) Sleeping with the enemy Fareed Sabri, a leading figure in the Iraqi Islamic Party, the largest Arab Sunni organization in the country, believes that pragmatic, tactical cooperation with the US and Iraqi governments could be the key to achieving peace, stability and a sustainable political balance in his country. Mahan Abedin interviews him. (Mar 20, '07)

Billboarding the Iraq disaster
The world's worst refugee crisis, rampant unemployment and inflation, nonexistent infrastructure, malnutrition and hundreds of thousands of deaths. Wrong, this is not Darfur. It is Iraq after four years of US-led occupation, though Darfur, of course, gets all the billboards and celebrities. - Anthony Arnove (Mar 19, '07)

Hurry to 'The End', for the end is nigh President George W Bush's reading tastes - which have been a remarkably good predictor of his policy views - are moving ever rightward. Apocalyptic titles now on his bedside table - such as America Alone: The End of the World as We Know It - suggest we'd all better finish our books before it's too late. - Jim Lobe (Mar 19, '07)

US and Iran: Squint-eyed double-dealing
A third UN resolution on Iran championed by the US is imminent. It will be the toughest to date over Tehran's refusal to stop enriching uranium. At the same time, Washington is preparing for another "ice-breaking" meeting with Iran over the troubles in Iraq. This ambiguous, dual track of detente and blatant hostility will not work in the long run: the Bush administration will have to let the chips fall on one side or the other. - Kaveh L Afrasiabi (Mar 16, '07)

THE ROVING EYE
The waterboarded evildoer
Just how much of Khalid Shaikh Mohammad's confession to terror attacks is true is a moot point. What does matter is the number of jihadis al-Qaeda's former operations chief taught. Probably dozens, and they are lurking in the shadows, ready to inflict blowback to kingdom come. - Pepe Escobar (Mar 16, '07)

Musharraf's headache for the US
Opposition groups in Pakistan have seized the opportunity provided by President General Pervez Musharraf's firing of his chief justice to stage protests. Militant Islamists thrive in such an environment, which deeply concerns Musharraf's US allies: maybe the general is more a part of the problem than the solution. - Syed Saleem Shahzad (Mar 15, '07)

Surge and destroy in Iraq
All three prongs of the US military's "surge" strategy in Iraq are desperate measures aimed at reversing the decline of US power in the Middle East. This desperation has led to unprecedented brutality and the consideration of, or even the embrace of, strategies that are even more destructive. - Michael Schwartz (Mar 15, '07)

Iraq: The price of withdrawal
Withdrawing troops from Iraq will not necessarily be a disaster for US interests in the Middle East. Washington has already failed to achieve its original objectives, and the "surge" isn't likely to change that. Withdrawing forces now may not make matters worse on the counter-terrorism front, and Washington will still have the ability to contain Iran. (Mar 15, '07)

Autonomy hopes for southern Philippines
It has been a rocky truce with frequent outbreaks of violence on both sides of the battle lines. But Manila and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front may be inching toward an autonomy deal that would end the conflict that has taken 140,000 lives. Some think the autonomy offer is a phony bid to win Muslim votes. - Noel Tarrazona (Mar 15, '07)

A US detour via Syria to Iran
Even though a small step has been taken, any further US negotiations with Iran face problems. An alternative is to deal with Syria. Washington knows that Damascus alone cannot solve Iraq's problems, but it can be used to moderate Iran's behavior. - Sami Moubayed (Mar 14, '07)

DISPATCHES FROM AMERICA
A bombshell that nobody heard
A vast, secret Middle Eastern operation is being run, possibly illegally and based on stolen Iraqi oil funds and Saudi money, out of the US vice president's office, all to undermine the Iranians, Hezbollah, Hamas and the Syrians. This is one of several startling claims, such as US "meddling" in Iran, made recently by investigative journalist Seymour Hersh. And no one seems in the least bit bothered. - Tom Engelhardt (Mar 14, '07)

 From our archive
ATol reported on Elliott Abrams' role in undermining Hamas in:
No-goodniks and the Palestinian shootout, by Mark Perry and Alastair Crooke (Jan 9, '07)

COMMENT
Unsung heroes
Heroism is a natural product of war, but heroes are not always found in the obvious places. The death last year of a Canadian soldier in Afghanistan revealed, in the subsequent actions of his family toward the man accused in his death, how dignity and decency can rise above grief, hate, and the horror of war. - David Simmons (Mar 14, '07)

The Taliban's brothers in alms
The two hardline brothers who head the famed Lal Mosque in Islamabad scored another in a string of victories over the government by forcing it to back down over a protest by female religious students. Such incidents increase the influence of the brothers across Pakistan, at the same time swelling the ranks of Taliban supporters. - Syed Saleem Shahzad (Mar 13, '07)

Beards grow longer as the music fades
The Pakistani Taliban are steadily increasing their control in the border areas with Afghanistan. Beards have to be grown longer, polio vaccinations are "a US plot" and music shops risk being bombed. (Mar 13, '07)

New terrorism front opens in Indonesia
In recent years Indonesia has had many successes in the "war on terror", winning praise from the US and Australia. But reports filtering out of strife-torn Sulawesi suggest that the Jemaah Islamiyah terror organization has regrouped there and is preparing new attacks on the main island of Java. - Bill Guerin (Mar 13, '07)

'Axis of evil' seeps into Hollywood Persians, as we all know from US President George W Bush, are a nasty lot, but was it always thus? You bet, if the Hollywood epic 300 has anything to say about it. More than pure entertainment, this movie elicits sympathy for its exalted Spartan heroes and heroines standing up to the world's first superpower, the Achaemenid Persians. Imagine what King Xerxes could have done with nukes! - Kaveh L Afrasiabi (Mar 13, '07)

Iraqi Kurds fear a new war
A shaky de facto ceasefire exists in the Kurdish region of the Qandil Mountains that straddle Iraq, Iran and Turkey. Many worry that Ankara is gearing up for a spring offensive. Said one PKK leader: "We can raise the level of the conflict ... it may get bigger than the Iraq and Arab-Israeli conflicts." (Mar 13, '07)

North Korea hawks down but not out
Even though US State Department pragmatists have seized the initiative in North Korea policy away from the Bush administration hawks, the nuclear accord with Pyongyang - and peace on the peninsula - still hangs by a thread. If Pyongyang were to fail to observe the agreement, a President Hillary Clinton, for example, might not reject the idea of a second Korean war. - Donald Kirk (Mar 13, '07)

Iran stands its ground in Baghdad
The Baghdad security meeting has given international recognition to Iran's regional role in stabilizing Iraq. The futility of isolating Tehran is more apparent than ever, and its cooperation will depend in large part on US willingness to abandon the disastrous course of putting together a phalanx of pro-American Sunni Arab states against Tehran. - M K Bhadrakumar (Mar 12, '07)

THE ROVING EYE
The fall guy in Iraq
Even as the "surge" proceeds in Baghdad, the US is quietly moving to implement "Plan B", which would be nothing less than a coup d'etat pushing the hapless Nuri al-Maliki aside and installing former CIA asset and neo-con favorite Iyad Allawi back in as a dictator. Nothing less than a return to strongman rule will restore order, Washington believes. - Pepe Escobar (Mar 12, '07)

The end of cowboy diplomacy, Part 2?
Evidence is mounting that, after many false dawns, the "realists" really, really have gained the upper hand in US foreign policy. The evidence: the pragmatic approach to North Korea, the Baghdad conference with Iran and Syria participating, the new secretary of defense. The big question mark as always: Where does President George W Bush stand? - Jim Lobe (Mar 12, '07)

Democrats come up with a plan
Criticized for not having a plan to end the war in Iraq and under pressure from the anti-war wing to do something, the leadership of the US House of Representatives has finally proposed something. It would require "redeployment" by the end of 2008 if no progress toward Iraqi national reconciliation is made. - Jim Lobe (Mar 9, '07)

A big push for Pakistan's Afghan agenda
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the mercurial mujahid with political ambitions, claims he has broken ties with the Taliban and will seek talks with the Kabul administration. The move does not bother the Taliban, who will forge ahead with their spring offensive. Pakistan is delighted. It should be - it engineered the development. - Syed Saleem Shahzad (Mar 9, '07)

THE NEXT WAR, AND THE NEXT, Part 2
The militarization of outer space
The Bush administration makes no secret that it is determined to dominate the planet by dominating space. The arsenal of satellites, ballistic missiles and kinetic interceptors is designed to assist US land, sea and air forces anywhere in the world while at the same time preventing any other country from using space for similar purposes, including self-defense. - Jack A Smith (Mar 9, '07)
This is the conclusion of a two-part article.

 Part 1:The futuristic battlefield

A catalogue of errors in Afghanistan
Afghan insurgents, as they have done to previous armies, have forced a far superior military on to a path leading to evacuation. The US-led coalition has too few troops, has underestimated the strength of the Taliban, and has been a victim of Afghanistan being firmly on the jihadist map. The coalition has also not adequately studied the lessons of history. - Michael Scheuer (Mar 8, '07)

Iran steeled over US pressure tactics
Iranians jest that they don't respond to pressure "unless it is lots of pressure". The Bush administration appears to have taken this to heart as it ratchets up tension over Iran's nuclear program. But the change of course Tehran might make as a result may not be what the US hopes. Iran, too, has all its options on the table. (Mar 8, '07)

Iran moving in from the cold
Having been left out of a recent meeting of Muslim states debating the Middle East peace process, Iran has, in sitting down with Saudi Arabia, shown that it will not be overlooked anymore. By in effect "short-circuiting" the US agenda, Tehran is now well positioned to make its voice heard over Iraq. - Kaveh L Afrasiabi (Mar 7, '07)

Musharraf: From favorite to fall guy
The US, using Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf as its point man, tried to hijack the Saudi peace initiative with the notion of a Sunni bloc to contain Iran. Neither Tehran nor Riyadh was having any of it, and Musharraf is left more isolated than ever. - Syed Saleem Shahzad (Mar 7, '07)

Terror 'outsourced' in India
The nature of terrorism has changed in India. The sophisticated - and dangerous - attacks of the past have given way to low-tech attacks on softer targets. Often the "terrorists" are locals in it for the money, hired by the real terrorists. That makes catching the culprits more difficult. - Siddharth Srivastava (Mar 7, '07)

Israel, Iran, US lead 'least-liked' countries
Call it the new "axis of evil", or at least of unpopularity. A new poll sponsored by the BBC lumps Iran, Israel and the US together as the world's least-liked nations. A little more than half of the respondents said they had mainly negative views of the three countries. - Jim Lobe (Mar 7, '07)

US ally Musharraf in a tangle over Iran 
Iran's patience is running out with Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf for allowing the US to use Balochi nationalism to stage an insurgency inside Iran. An immediate casualty could be the proposed Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline, which the US has been trying to block anyway. Further, while Musharraf may be endearing himself to Washington, Pakistani public opinion will not tolerate him serving the US agenda over Iran. - M K Bhadrakumar (Mar 6, '07)

Shadow boxing on Pakistan's border
The US and NATO have told Pakistan in no uncertain terms that they plan to conduct hot pursuit operations from Afghanistan into Pakistan's tribal areas to smoke out al-Qaeda and the Taliban. Islamabad will dither, knowing that by the time any operations take place, the prey will have bolted. - Syed Saleem Shahzad (Mar 6, '07)

The Sadr movement 'will triumph'
In an interview with Mahan Abedin, Islamic scholar and journalist Munthir al-Kewther says the situation in Iraq will get worse until the Americans finally tire and withdraw, after which Iraqis will establish order quickly under the auspices of the Medhi Army. But Iraqis have lost too many people to declare any form of victory. (Mar 6, '07)

SPENGLER
Snatching war out of the jaws of peace
A three-way tragedy of errors is in progress, whereby Iran, Russia and the US are all misreading one another's messages and intentions. Opportunities to avert war between the US and Iran have been missed at every turn, and Moscow and Tehran have failed to understand that the US can and will act to forefend a nuclear-armed Iran, alone if need be. Stupidity and arrogance have made war the most probable scenario. (Mar 5, '07)

How the Saudis stole a march on the US
The crafty Saudi-brokered agreement between Hamas and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas ended an incipient Palestinian civil war. It also derailed the efforts of Elliott Abrams, the self-styled architect of US policy in the Middle East. His program to recruit Arab governments to join in a program of shipping lethal and non-lethal aid to anti-Hamas Fatah militias is all but wrecked. - Alastair Crooke and Mark Perry (Mar 5, '07)

Taliban fire off spring warning
The Taliban claim the capture of Nawzad in Helmand province as one of the first successes of their spring offensive. In response, NATO is taking the struggle into Pakistani territory, where the Taliban receive vital support, as seen in the recent roundup of Taliban in Balochistan province. - Syed Saleem Shahzad (Mar 5, '07)

Rice picks neo-con champion on Iraq
In a surprising move, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has appointed Eliot Cohen, a prominent neo-conservative hawk, to the post of State Department counselor. Perhaps she is just protecting her flank from criticism on the right as she pursues a more "realistic" diplomacy in the Middle East. - Jim Lobe (Mar 5, '07)

AL-QAEDA'S RESURGENCE, Part 2
Looking for a new home in Iraq
Al-Qaeda is in the process of moving its leadership from the Pakistan-Afghanistan border areas to Iraq, which it intends to turn into its "epicenter" of global operations. Al-Qaeda cells in many countries are being primed for action (The Encyclopedia of Jihad is standard reading). In addition, al-Qaeda has a few scores to settle in Pakistan. - Syed Saleem Shahzad (Mar 2, '07)
This is the conclusion of a two-part report.

Meeting of foes in Baghdad
The electrifying news of a summit in Baghdad where US, Iranian and Syrian representatives will sit around the same table discussing Iraq's crisis is a timely and welcome development that, to be successful, requires judicious preparation by all parties. - Kaveh L Afrasiabi (Mar 2, '07)

India makes a soft landing in Tajikistan
India is just about to garrison its first Central Asian air base near the Tajik capital, Dushanbe. But rather than station MiGs, it plans to fly helicopters. And it will share the base with Russia. It is taking a low profile at first, presumably because of pressure from Moscow and Beijing. - Sudha Ramachandran (Mar 2, '07)

AL-QAEDA'S RESURGENCE, Part 1
Ready to take on the world
After consolidating its leadership, re-establishing its financial arteries and making a "grand compromise" with Saudi Arabia, al-Qaeda is positioned to revive its global agenda. The prime targets in al-Qaeda's new war will be Europe and hostile Muslim states, in addition to opening new fronts from Somalia to Palestine. Crucially, the offensive will include rockets bearing chemical or even nuclear weapons. -Syed Saleem Shahzad (Mar 1, '07)

Chalabi now puts Iraq first
Ahmad Chalabi, once the darling of the US neo-conservatives, has a new job in Iraq building support for the ramped-up security regime in Baghdad. Already, he claims credit for helping stay the hand of Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's militia, and tells National Interest online editorXimena Ortiz that he is no longer seen as a guardian of Washington interests, but rather of "an Iraqi agenda". (Mar 1, '07)

Selling Iraq by the barrel
Under the production-sharing agreements provided for in Iraq's draft oil law, foreign companies will not come under the jurisdiction of Iraqi courts. As a result, many believe that the country will not only lose out on its oil wealth, but also have its sovereignty compromised. (Mar 1, '07)

February 2007