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 War
and Terror
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May 2008
How the Pentagon shapes the world
This may be the most important American story of the new century: the
Pentagon's massive expansion on just about every front during US President
George W Bush's two terms in office. On seven major fronts, the Pentagon has
expanded its power and its powers, nationally and globally. These include the
Pentagon as budget buster, diplomat, arms dealer, intelligence analyst and spy,
domestic disaster manager, humanitarian caregiver, and global viceroy as well
as ruler of the heavens. And it is still aggressively expanding. - Frida
Berrigan (May 30, '08)
US terror drive stalled in political
quagmire
With rumors swirling in Pakistan that President Pervez Musharraf is about to
step down, and the two leading parties in the ruling coalition at odds, the
country's efforts in the United States-led "war on terror" have all but ceased.
Across the border in Afghanistan, Taliban-related developments have also taken
a turn away from US designs. - Syed Saleem Shahzad
(May 30, '08)
Bush 'plans Iran air strike by
August'
The White House plans to attack Iran within the next two
months and is briefing senators on the plan, a foreign affairs establishment
source in Washington says. Apparently, two wars are not enough for President
George W Bush as he winds down his final term. - Muhammad Cohen
(May 27, '08)
In the footsteps of Osama ...
The United States has stepped up its hunt for Osama bin Laden, concentrating on
the swathe of rugged territory that straddles Pakistan and Afghanistan. Syed
Saleem Shahzad hiked through this region, accompanied by a young jihadi
who shared his views on where bin Laden might be, even evoking the evidence of
supernatural spirits. (May 27, '08)
This is the conclusion of a three-part report.
 Part 1:
Ducking and diving
under B-52s
Part 2:
A fighter and a
financier
How the US dream foundered in Iraq
The unexpected Iraqi resistance - at all levels of society - to the plans of
the George W Bush administration has hardly been given its due. This resistance
ranges from the Sunni insurgency to oil workers (who aborted a plan to transfer
management of the port of Basra to then-Halliburton subsidiary KRB), to tribal
leaders, the Sadrists to the national parliament. Thus the "new American
century" went missing in action in Iraq. - Michael Schwartz
(May 23, '08)
THE ROVING EYE
The Mosul riddle
While most attention in Iraq is focused on Baghdad and the troubles in Sadr
City, under the global radar an invisible war in Mosul drags on, officially
against al-Qaeda jihadis but in fact a barely disguised anti-Sunni mini-pogrom
conducted by government-embedded militias. - Pepe Escobar
(May 23, '08)
Where are those Iranian arms
in Iraq?
The United States military continues to imply that Iranian weapons are flowing
into Iraq to arm Shi'ite groups opposed to the US occupation. Yet US officials
have not even come close to providing evidence to support the claims - most
weapons most likely are bought on the open market. - Gareth Porter
(May 23, '08)
Hopes fade for a Tiger homeland
The Sri Lankan government has consolidated political control over Eastern
Province - part of the "Tamil homeland" for which the Liberation Tigers of
Tamil Eelam have been fighting for decades to create. It has also routed the
last Tiger enclaves in the area. The upshot is, if the Tigers still want a
"Tamil homeland", they will have to gain it by force. - Sudha Ramachandran
(May 21, '08)
Muck and menace in Maliki's Iraq
On his second anniversary in office, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has
little to brag about. Baghdad is besieged with sewage, massive unemployment and
danger, and the Arab world is outraged at Maliki for his leniency on the US
soldier who recently took target practice at the Holy Koran. Maliki can bring
neither security nor reconciliation, as long as he snubs Sunnis and continues
to harbor and protect selected militias. - Sami Moubayed
(May 21, '08)
Bush's Middle East policy in
tatters
The George W Bush administration's failure in rolling back Syrian and Iranian
influence in Lebanon pales in comparison with the withering away of its
Arab-Israeli "peace process". Time and again during Bush's recent Middle East
tour, what emerged was the palpable sense that the US has been all but
marginalized from a new Middle East that is taking shape. And now China, too,
has appeared on the region's chessboard. - M K Bhadrakumar
(May 20, '08)
Tehran ponders the spoils of
victory
Hezbollah's display of strength in Lebanon leaves its backer, Iran, emboldened.
Tehran is now in a stronger position to negotiate a deal with the United States
pertaining to its nuclear file. Or it could do something radical, such as trade
off Hezbollah in exchange for a greater piece of the Iraqi cake. All options
are on the table. - Sami Moubayed (May 16,
'08)
Saudis, US grapple with Iran
challenge
The reaction to the flareup in Lebanon has left Saudi Arabia (and its United
States ally) with no doubt that there are not many takers in the Arab world for
anti-Iran, anti-Hezbollah ploys. This leaves the George W Bush administration
with little choice other than to resort to back-channel diplomacy to engage
Tehran, while the Saudis, too, will have to re-asses their stance on Iran. - M K
Bhadrakumar (May 16, '08)
Bush, McCain dream on in war land
 US
President George W Bush and the man who hopes to replace him, Senator John
McCain, have divulged to the world their beautiful dreams, in which Middle East
weapons have become 
ploughshares, bitter enemies lie down together as lambs and evil powers abandon
nuclear weapons. This stuff keeps the neo-cons happy, even though the
politics that will make it reality are absent. - Jim Lobe
(May 16, '08)
CHAN AKYA
India's real terrorists
Though Asia in general had a bad week, India's problems stand out as the most
intractable and subversive, harking as they do to the dominance of age-old
communist thinking that has bred a cesspool of corruption. Other Asian
countries also face this peril. (May
16, '08)
US plot to nail Iran backfires
The George W Bush administration and General David Petraeus, the top US
commander in Iraq, plotted a sequence of events that would sensationally build
domestic US political support for a possible strike against Iran. Key to this
was to be the display of a major cache of Iranian weapons for use by Shi'ite
militias in the Iraqi city of Karbala. The weapons turned out to have nothing
to do with Iran, and worse, the Iraq government suddenly distanced itself from
the US's plan. - Gareth Porter (May 15, '08)
THE ROVING EYE
The US-Iran sound bite showdown
Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad's latest comments on Israel have been
variously translated in the Western media, the most ominous having it
that Israel will not save itself from "death and destruction". This will
inevitably be seized on by the George W Bush administration as more evidence
that Tehran wants to "destroy" Israel, muscling up the case for a US
attack. Maybe that is what Ahmadinejad intends. - Pepe Escobar
(May 15, '08)
COMMENT
Coups and counter-coups
The Saudi Arabian accusation of an Iran-inspired "coup" by Hezbollah in Lebanon
is a misnomer. The more apt description would be a government coup, inspired by
the United States, and Hezbollah's successful "counter-coup". - Kaveh L
Afrasiabi (May 15, '08)
China seeks an Afghan stepping-stone
Afghanistan has once again emerged as the "strategic knot" for
the region's security. From the perspective of China, which in addition sees
the country as a potential trade and energy corridor, any substantial
advancement in Sino-Afghan ties is contingent on stability returning to the
war-ravaged country and foreign forces withdrawing. (May
15, '08)
India braces for a surge in terror
The string of eight bomb blasts in the Indian tourist city of Jaipur on
Tuesday, in which 80 people were killed, was preceded by a cross-border flareup
with Pakistan after years of relative calm. The two incidents are believed to
be connected, with fears in intelligence circles of more attacks on Indian
cities to come. In Delhi, though, beyond the usual knee-jerk reaction,
politicians do not appear to see any problem. - Sudha Ramachandran
(May 14, '08)
Bush quick onto Lebanon blame-game
President George W Bush, on tour in the Middle East, has pledged continued
United States support for the Lebanese government following its clashes with
the Shi'ite Hezbollah militia. Bush makes no secret of his belief that Iran is
behind the recent troubles. Others, though, point a finger at Washington.
(May 14, '08)
A deadly miscalculation in
Lebanon
As a test of strength, the Lebanese government and its Saudi Arabian backers
received a bloody nose in the confrontation with Hezbollah in Beirut. The
government woefully underestimated Hezbollah's reaction to having its
communications - spy - system interfered with. And the Iranian-backed
Hezbollah, with its convincing display of military superiority, made another
clear statement: leave our arms alone. - Sami Moubayed
(May 13, '08)
Hezbollah's shots ring in Bush's
ears
Just about everything the George W Bush administration has tried in the Middle
East over the past few years has undermined United States standing and
influence in the region, even as it has enhanced Tehran's. Yet as Bush visits
Saudi Arabia and Egypt this week, he might be able to turn Hezbollah's stunning
show of strength in Lebanon to his advantage. - Jim Lobe
(May 13, '08)
US misses Iran opportunity
In a busy week for Iran, key nations negotiating with it over its nuclear
program will present an incentive package for the Iranians to consider. At the
same time, International Atomic Energy Agency officials will thrash out the
last remaining issues on the Iran-IAEA agenda. US President George W Bush will
also be in the region, but he won't be dropping by, even though Tehran has
indicated they might be willing to talk. - Kaveh L Afrasiabi
(May 13, '08) |
Hezbollah's street fight just a
first step
Hezbollah, in taking its political grievances to the streets, was able to take
military control of Beirut in less than 48 hours, while the Lebanese army
looked on. The display of force by the opposition Shi'ite group does not leave
the government much margin for maneuvering. (May 12,
'08)
Another Pakistani D-Day over
militants
The peace deals between the Pakistani government and militants in the tribal
areas have been exposed for what they were, a delaying tactic for the Taliban
to send fresh fighters into Afghanistan. The new government in Islamabad,
provided it staves off a political crisis, and its United States ally now have
to make the hard decision whether to fight fire with fire or risk losing the
battle against militancy. - Syed Saleem Shahzad
(May 12, '08)
US tightens its grip on Pakistan
It is no coincidence that US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte chose
the National Endowment for Democracy to deliver a key-note speech on Pakistan.
For years, the US government-funded NED has specialized as a handmaiden of US
policies by funding and supporting foreign politicians. Now it is Pakistan's
turn to get the full treatment, for as Negroponte says, US national security is
inextricably linked to the success, security and stability of that country. -
M K Bhadrakumar (May 9, '08)
Iran woos Farsi-speaking nations
Tehran has stepped up its initiative to forge closer links with the two other
Farsi-speaking nations in the region, Afghanistan and Tajikistan. Not only will
the move kick-start slow trade ties, it signals a greater degree of Iran's
integration into a region deemed important by the Shanghai Cooperation
Organization, to which Tehran is pressing its claims to join. - Kaveh L
Afrasiabi (May 9, '08)
DISPATCHES FROM AMERICA
The US: Your masters of the universe
The US Air Force's new slogan, "Air Force - Above All" conveys the basic
precept that mastery of the air means mastery of the ground. Yet the air force
seeks more than that. It wants to extend its "mastery" to space and even to
cyberspace. This is a disturbing manifestation of the military's quest for
"full spectrum dominance", achieved at debilitating cost to the American
taxpayer - and a potentially destabilizing one to the planet. - William J Astore
(retired lieutenant colonel, USAF) (May 8, '08)
Pressure for Iraq to pay its own
way
The US Congress is expected to soon impose unprecedented conditions on
Iraq-related spending, including a ban on major reconstruction projects and
support for Sunni militias. The idea is that Iraq cough up more money to
rebuild itself, while at the same time challenging the wisdom of the"surge". -
Jim Lobe (May 8, '08)
US trains Pakistani killing
machine
United States Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte, drawing on his
experience in the Philippines and Nicaragua, is behind an initiative for the US
to train up special Pakistani forces to go after high-level al-Qaeda and
Taliban targets in Pakistan's tribal areas. The move is an admission that
operations by massed Pakistani troops have failed, but it gives the US further
inroads into Pakistan. - Syed Saleem Shahzad (May
7, '08)
COMMENT
US terror report misses the point
The US State Department's annual terrorism report makes no secret of the fact
that al-Qaeda is back, strong as ever. But if al-Qaeda indeed exists on such a
large and influential scale in so many countries, is it not time to question
the logic used by the George W Bush administration's "war on terror", which was
meant to weaken and destroy al-Qaeda in the first place? - Ramzy Baroud
(May 7, '08)
Yes, the Pentagon did want to hit
Iran
Since soon after the September 11, 2001, terror attacks, it has been an open
secret that the George W Bush administration wanted to attack Iran. Now comes
further confirmation from a document quoted in then-under secretary of defense
for policy Douglas Feith's recently published account of Iraq war decisions. It
is confirmed, too, that this was part of a broader plan, explicitly supported
by the US's top military leaders, to also take out Syria, Libya, Sudan and
Somalia. - Gareth Porter. (May 6, '08)
New offer threatens Iran's 'red
line'
The key nations negotiating over Iran's nuclear program hail their latest offer
of incentives for Tehran to give up its uranium-enrichment activities as a part
of a "twin-track strategy", the other being United Nations sanctions. There is
actually a third "war track", the drumbeat of which can be heard in Washington
and Tel Aviv. And further, the incentives directly challenge Iran's "red line".
- Kaveh Afrasiabi (May 6, '08)
Energized Iran builds more bridges
In terms of whom it conducts its energy business with, Iran keeps all its
options open, and it will not allow itself to be pushed out of the European
market as exports are the bridge that will facilitate its all-round integration
with the Western world. Tehran's hectic diplomatic activity in this regard has
put the "Iran Six" countries dealing with its nuclear dossier on the defensive:
none of them wants confrontation with Iran. - M K Bhadrakumar
(May 5, '08)
 SPENGLER
The heart has its own unreason
In one of the weirder acts of recent diplomacy, a delegation of robed and
turbaned Iranian mullahs went to Rome to declare with due solemnity they shared
the pope's view that reason and faith are compatible. The issue,
however, will not be decided by the Iranian clergy or the Holy See,
but by people such as journalist Magdi Allam. - Spengler
(May 5, '08)
DISPATCHES FROM AMERICA
The last war and the next one
There is no end in sight to the war in Iraq, but United States Secretary of
Defense Robert Gates has been criticizing the military for not getting fully
behind an imperial strategy for "the next war", counterinsurgency battles
across the globe similar to the (futile) one now raging in Sadr City in Bagdad.
- Tom Engelhardt (May 5, '08)
How under-the-gun Iran plays it
cool
What Iranian leaders dream of is an Iran respected as a major power. To this
end, they have little choice, faced with the enmity of the globe's "sole
superpower", but to employ a sophisticated counter-encirclement foreign policy.
And given President Mahmud Ahmadinejad's place in the country's
politico-religious politics, he might be betting on the usefulness of an
American air assault. - Pepe Escobar (May 2, '08)
Iran moving into the big league
From the Persian Gulf to the Caspian region, the Caucasus, Central Asia, South
Asia and beyond, Iran thanks to its geographical location is an ideal
connecting bridge that has not until now fully exploited its advantageous
equidistance from India and Europe. This is exemplified in the US$7.6 billion
gas pipeline that will flow from Iran to Pakistan to India, and which is
finally close to reality. Tehran is ambitiously moving from regional power to
global power. - Kaveh L Afrasiabi (May 2, '08)
Taliban claim victory from a
defeat
In their first offensive since arriving last month, thousands of US Marines
have captured the town of Garmsir in the southern Afghan province of Helmand
from the Taliban. The Taliban are unconcerned. They claim the mass of foreign
troops will now be tied down chasing shadows and battling drug cartels, while
the Taliban concentrate on the east of the country. - Syed Saleem Shahzad
(May 2, '08)
BOOK REVIEW
America's university of
imperialism
Soldiers of Reason by Alex Abella
The RAND Corporation was the Cold War granddaddy think-tank of them all, one of
the most unusual private organizations in the field of international relations,
and it's still with us. It helped administrations plan and fight the Vietnam
War, turning theory into an all-too-grim reality. Yet its record of advice on
cardinal policies involving war and peace, arms races and decisions to resort
to armed force has been abysmal. - Chalmers Johnson (May
2, '08)
The heat is on Muqtada
The fierce battle raging in Baghdad's Sadr City between Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi
Army and United States and Iraqi forces has claimed more than 1,000 lives over
the past few weeks. What is not clear is the motive behind the offensive
against the Shi'ite militia. It could be the Americans, trying to nip in the
bud any united front between Muqtada and Sunnis. Or the Iranians, wanting to
eliminate a potential thorn in their side. Either way, Muqtada has a fight on
his hands. - Sami Moubayed (May 1, '08)
Al-Qaeda searches for
unity in Iraq
A series of messages from al-Qaeda deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri and its chief in
Iraq, Abu Hamza al-Mujahir, indicates al-Qaeda is pulling out all the stops to
try to prevent the Sunni Iraqi mujahideen from militarily winning the war but
then losing the political spoils because of disunity. - Michael Scheuer
(May 1, '08)
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ATol Specials
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Syed Saleem Shahzad reports on
the Afghan war from the Taliban side
(Dec '06)
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How
Hezbollah defeated Israel
By
Mark Perry and
Alastair Crooke
(Oct '06)
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Mark Perry and
Alastair Crooke
talk to the 'terrorists'
(Mar, '06)
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The evidence for and against Iran's alleged
nuclear weapons program
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Nir Rosen goes inside the Iraqi
resistance
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Nir Rosen rides with the 3rd
armored cavalry in western Iraq
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Islamism, fascism and
terrorism
by Marc Erikson
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For earlier articles go to:
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