|
|
 |
|
 War
and Terror
|
|
October 2008
US's Syrian raid sets Iraq on fire
The United States raid into Syria has upset every key actor in Iraq. The
government, beyond being embarrassed at not being consulted, has
come under even more pressure from Shi'ite parties not to sign a security
agreement with the United States. The Sunni Awakening Councils are
reconsidering their cooperation in fighting insurgents, while powerful tribes
which virtually control the border are overnight turning anti-American. As for
Syria, it has the power to cause havoc in Iraq. - Sami Moubayed
(Oct 31,'08)
SPEAKING FREELY
The impending strike on Iran
An American president is most powerful when in lame-duck status and ceding
power to an opposing party. This presents a once-in-a-lifetime "opportunity"
for President George W Bush. Military, social and especially economic factors
point to a very simple conclusion: America will either attack Iran in the next
two-and-a-half months, or it never will. - David Fink
(Oct 31,'08)
DISPATCHES FROM AMERICA
The next president and the 'war on
terror'
The George W Bush administration will bequeath to the next president an
expanding "global war" of remarkable incoherence - it is actually at least
three, if not four or five separate wars. These are Iraq, the "orphan war";
Afghanistan; Pakistan's borderlands; and, skipping past the wars-in-waiting in
Iran and possibly Syria, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. - Andrew J Bacevich
(Oct 31,'08)
Iraq stands firm against US threat
The threat by the George W Bush administration to withdraw all economic and
military support from the Iraqi government if it does not ratify a pact to
regulate the US presence in the country has fallen on deaf ears. Certainly, the
financial loss will hurt, but more than anything politicians - acutely aware of
the country's history - know what their fate will be if they are perceived as
"agents for the Americans". - Gareth Porter (Oct
30,'08)
More shocks for shattered Pakistan
Pakistan, reeling from a devastating earthquake, has just days to secure loans
to save its economy. At the same time, United States General David Petraeus, on
the very day he takes over at the helm at Central Command on Friday, will press
Islamabad to step up its fight on militancy, and also revive a previously
failed plan to split the Taliban. - Syed Saleem Shahzad
(Oct 30,'08)
'We're not going to win this war'
It may come as a shock that the combined military muscle of the West can't
defeat the Taliban in Afghanistan, but according to top military officials it
is true. The Afghan adventure is expensive, onerous and unpopular, and most of
the 40 or so participating countries want a new strategy. This deteriorating
campaign will last for years and all that's going to change are the objectives,
and as far as the United States is concerned, even these are unclear.
(Oct 29,'08)
The strike that shattered US-Syria
ties
A commando raid by United States forces on a Syrian border compound near Iraq
has ruptured already rocky relations between Washington and Damascus. The US
now claims the strike was a pre-emptive success which led to the death of a top
al-Qaeda agent, while Syria is outwardly appalled at the "cowboy"
tactics and so-called "massacre". - Sami Moubayed
(Oct 28,'08)
US, Pakistan mission on target
The death of Khalid Habib, the head of al-Qaeda in Pakistan, in a United States
Predator drone missile attack marks a major success for the US and Pakistan in
the escalation of their tactic to take out hardline militant leaders. Other key
figures are already in the crosshairs in an initiative that some hope
will pave the way for peace talks. - Syed Saleem Shahzad
(Oct 28,'08)
Making America safe for the world
The "war on terror" remains open-ended in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. And
as the financial tsunami - made in the United States - is leaving no nation
unscathed, both America and the world are far less secure than before. This
situation will severely challenge the new US president, especially if he fails
to look beyond the only two tools traditionally stored in the foreign policy
toolbox - isolationism and interventionism. - Yu Bin
(Oct 28,'08)
US-Iraq deal awash in 'wiggle
words'
President George W Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki face electoral
pressure to posture as if they actually do want a pact for US troop withdrawal.
As a result, negotiations have focused on finding language that disguises
continued US occupation and extols Iraqi sovereignty. For example, the
once-rejected idea of a timeline is now a "time horizon" - very beautiful,
perhaps, but impossible to get to. (Oct 27,'08)
Wrecked Iraq
Post-"surge" Iraq is being touted in the United States as a "modest" success
and returning to "normalcy". Yet Iraq has suffered quite another fate: what was
once the most advanced Middle Eastern society - economically, socially and
technologically - has become an economic basket case, rivaling the most
desperate countries in the world. - Michael Schwartz
(Oct 24,'08)
DISPATCHES FROM AMERICA
The Bush doctrine in ruins
President George W Bush's "report card" on the United States economy has been
marked with an "F" for failure. But there's another report card that's not in.
The record of the "war on terror" (and the Bush doctrine that once went with
it) will also show flunking grades, leaving the new US administration to
inherit an unprecedented record of failure. - Tom Engelhardt
(Oct 23,'08)
Hot
air and improbable peace
Afghan and Pakistani officials are talking up a mini-council (jirgagai)
to be held in Islamabad at the end of the month to "restore peace in both
countries and along the border regions". They might as well be whistling in the
wind. Just as the recent Saudi initiative excluded the Taliban and therefore
failed, the latest dialogue does not involve representatives of the Afghan
resistance, let alone their affiliates. - Syed Saleem Shahzad
(Oct 23,'08)
Death stalks the highway to hell
The Kabul to Kandahar highway, reconstructed by the United States as "a symbol
of Afghan renewal and progress", has instead become a symbol of the Taliban's
resurgence. A trip on the 500-kilometer road now involves running a fearful
gauntlet of kidnap, ambush and execution, and there is nothing the security
forces can do to make it safer. (Oct 23,'08)
Hit
and miss with Afghan air strikes
Air strikes against suspected Taliban leaders in Afghanistan were halted in
2004, in the belief they were ineffectual and caused too many civilian deaths.
They resumed the following year, growing steadily to levels of thousands of
raids a year. Yet they still have not proved effective against the Taliban,
while non-combatants are being killed in record numbers, in part due to poor
intelligence. - Gareth Porter (Oct 21,'08)
NATO
reaches into the Indian Ocean
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization's naval deployment in the Indian Ocean,
ostensibly on the grounds of combating piracy, is a milestone in the alliance's
transformation. India's decision to send a naval ship to the same region is no
coincidence - it forms a vital link in the planned United States chain of
influence that includes Sri Lanka and Singapore. Moscow has responded that it,
too, has the capacity and the will to fight a "war on terror" in the Indian
Ocean. - M K Bhadrakumar (Oct 20,'08)
Pakistan muzzles its guns
Cash-strapped Pakistan has made ceasefire deals with militants in the North
Waziristan tribal area, rather than launch an offensive along the lines of the
ongoing campaign in Bajaur Agency. The latter engagement is not going well
anyway, the top Taliban commander tells Syed Saleem Shahzad. All the
while, an impatient United States is pressing Islamabad to step up action.
(Oct 20,'08)
US eyes a 'grand' Afghan bargain
The Pentagon is as one with the United States intelligence community, which
sees a "spiraling" Afghanistan. A high-level team is now developing a
strategic approach that will be presented to the next president, and it
certainly include some form of rapprochement with the Taliban. - Jim Lobe
(Oct 20,'08)
|
Saudis resurrect a rival for
Hezbollah
Saudi Arabia, amid its efforts to undermine Hezbollah and its leader Hassan
Nasrallah in Lebanon, is reportedly funding a rival Shi'ite wing of the group
led by Sheikh Subhi Tufayli, a Hezbollah founder who has been little seen since
the 1990s. But Saudi money may just be lining Tufayli's pockets and his
resurrection is little threat to the power and popularity of Nasrallah. - Sami
Moubayed (Oct 20,'08)
Pakistan
does some US dirty work
The United States has commissioned Pakistan to build 1,000 Humvees for use by
troops in Afghanistan against the Taliban-led insurgency. The order has quietly
gone to Pakistan's premier arms manufacturer, Heavy Industries Taxila, with
other armament deals expected to follow. That Pakistan is now providing
hardware for the "war on terror" can only deepen its fight against militancy. - Syed
Saleem Shahzad (Oct 17, '08)
DISPATCHES FROM AMERICA
How to manage an imperial decline
As shown with the British empire in the post-World War II years, there is
inherent danger when a great power in economic crisis disastrously
miscalculates what it can actually do in the world. Now, just as Britain had
its Suez crisis, the United States has Iran. - Aziz Huq
(Oct 17, '08)
Maliki in damage-control mode
Never say "surrender" and keep bad news hushed up as long as you can, that was
the credo of British leader Winston Churchill. Today, embattled Prime Minister
Nuri al-Maliki is attempting a similar tack in Iraq, but he has had little luck
in bringing hope to a people who have every reason in the world to feel
miserable and defeated. - Sami Moubayed (Oct
17, '08)
Ba'ath seeks showdown with Baghdad
A coalition in Iraq of at least 22 Ba'athist insurgent groups has announced a
switch from guerrilla tactics using small arms in hit-and-run attacks to a more
conventional approach with a regular army capable of launching a large-scale
attack for the final "liberation" of Baghdad. At this stage the move might
contain more rhetoric than reality, but it is a clear indication of what lies
ahead. (Oct 17, '08)
Pakistani jibe strikes 'terror'
When a Pakistani president labels militants fighting in the Indian state of
Jammu and Kashmir "terrorists" rather than "freedom fighters", people sit up
and take notice - on both sides of the border. Many Pakistanis are outraged at
Asif Ali Zardari's remarks, while Indians sense something very fishy and wonder
for whose ears the remarks are really intended. - Sudha Ramachandran
(Oct 16, '08)
A mad
scramble over Afghanistan
The Saudi Arabia-brokered Afghan peace talks that include the Taliban have
opened a new turf war. Washington is determined to exclude Russia from the
country, even as Moscow insists on its legitimate role. The prospect of peace
and a United States-sponsored oil and gas pipeline via Afghanistan suits India,
but Delhi has been slow off the mark. Iran has begun counter moves to assert
its authority. Hapless Afghans can only look on as others decide their fate. - M
K Bhadrakumar (Oct 14, '08)
Afghan talks widen US-UK rift
Political talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban are likely to
deepen the rift between the United States, with its preference for building up
troop numbers in Afghanistan, and Britain, which sees talk offering a quicker
exit opportunity than reliance on guns and bombs. - Gareth Porter
(Oct 10, '08)
The savagery of a surge that failed
Death, fear and mayhem, spread by a failed coalition "surge" in Afghanistan in
2007, has brutalized the population and filled the ranks of the Taliban with
enraged Afghans who've seen relatives eviscerated by coalition bombs. Amid
countrywide starvation and poverty, listless and lawless Kabul lies in tatters.
Hope is fading fast here, and once the Afghans lose all hope, the Americans
will have lost this war. - Anand Gopal (Oct
10, '08)
A long, hot winter for Pakistan
A bomb disguised as a gift basket of sweets has demolished the headquarters of
Pakistan's Anti-Terrorist Force in Islamabad and set the tone for the Taliban's
strategy to strike government and Western forces before they're dug
in for all-out war. US-led troops, meanwhile, are in a frenzy of preparation
inside Pakistan, perhaps with an eye to November's US presidential election. - Syed
Saleem Shahzad (Oct 10, '08)
Uyghurs stuck in Guantanamo limbo
The White House has blocked a US Federal Court order to release 17 Chinese
Muslims held at Guantanamo Bay, claiming that freeing "war on terror" prisoners
onto US soil could set a dangerous precedent. A day after learning they would
be freed, the detention of the Uyghurs, held without charges since 2001, is
once again "indefinite". (Oct 9, '08)
THE ROVING EYE
Wall Street: A new Iraq War
The Wall Street US$810 billion - and counting - bailout is being interpreted by
millions of angry Americans as no less than a class struggle weapon of mass
destruction. It may cost US taxpayers over $2 trillion after real interest
payments are added. Whoever is elected will inherit this toxic mess - which
includes the biggest fiscal and foreign deficits in US history and no control
of monetary policy. Yes, this bailout is a second Iraq war. - Pepe
Escobar (Oct 9, '08)
'Play or no pay' warning for
Pakistan
The United States needs to rethink its entire approach to Pakistan, recommends
a bipartisan report whose authors include those with links to both US
presidential candidates. Washington has provided about US$11 billion in aid to
Pakistan since 2001, and this "era of the blank check is over", the report
suggests, given Islamabad's patchy record in the struggle against the Taliban
and al-Qaeda. - Jim Lobe (Oct 8, '08)
US, Pakistan torn apart over terror
The "war on terror" in South Asia consists primarily of two battles, the first
waged by United States-led forces against the Taliban inside Afghanistan and
the second by the Pakistani military against militants in its tribal areas.
Until these struggles are better coordinated, ties between Washington and
Islamabad can only get worse. - Tariq Mahmud Ashraf (Oct
8, '08)
S&P turns screw on Pakistan
The Pakistani economy, already beset on all sides as the country is riven by
violence and runaway inflation, took another dent this week with a further
downgrade of its foreign-currency rating. The government is now going
cap-in-hand to international agencies and Gulf neighbors to keep going. - R M
Cutler (Oct 8, '08)
|
Taliban wake-up call for India
For the bulk of the Indian strategic community, the unthinkable is happening -
there is the prospect of an Afghan settlement involving the Taliban. The ground
is dramatically shifting in the neighborhood and Delhi can no longer afford to
entirely conflate the Taliban movement with al-Qaeda. - M K Bhadrakumar
(Oct 8, '08)
The
fatal flaw in Afghan peace moves
While the parties involved are playing coy, it is beyond doubt that
Saudi Arabia-brokered Afghan peace talks have begun. Using a mix of the godly
and the worldly, which is useful for finessing a movement like the Taliban that
crisscrosses religion and politics, the United States aims to keep the process
within a tiny, exclusive circle of friends and allies. This means no role for
Iran and Russia. It also means failure. - M K Bhadrakumar
(Oct 7, '08)
Look who came to dinner ...
Former Taliban foreign minister Wakeel Ahmed Muttawakil was one of the special
guests at a dinner hosted by King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia at which a peace
process with the Taliban is said to have been discussed. Muttawakil tells Syed
Saleem Shahzad of the good relations the Taliban once enjoyed with the
Saudis, but won't be drawn further. If previous Saudi efforts are a guide, a
Muslim peacekeeping force for Afghanistan is on the menu.
(Oct 7, '08)
Syria plays hardball with the
Saudis
Saudi Arabia's refusal to denounce the deadly September 27 attack in Syria has
enflamed relations between Damascus and Riyadh. The Syrians believe the Saudis,
furious over defeat in Beirut and Syria's diplomatic successes, are now
financing radicals in Lebanon to strike at both Hezbollah and Syria - a move
that could set the region ablaze. - Sami Moubayed
(Oct 7, '08)
US wars keep the money flowing
Doom and gloom merchants in the United States military/industrial complex have
got it all wrong. There is no chance of the Pentagon's massive budget being cut
any time soon, or the military in any way "transformed", no matter who takes
over the White House. The simple fact is, the United States is at war. - David
Isenberg (Oct 7, '08)
Bush's final Iran blunder?
The George W Bush administration's decision to turn down the opportunity of a
diplomatic presence in Iran - despite Tehran's strong signals welcoming the
idea - can be seen as a move to avoid undermining Republican Senator John
McCain's presidential chances. More ominously, it could be tied to the
drumbeats of war sounded by Israel. - Kaveh L Afrasiabi
(Oct 6, '08)
US cool to Israeli strike on Iran
Washington is sticking to its policy of sanctions on Iran, reports say, and
won't give Israel a green light to strike at its nuclear facilities - for now.
The US is worried that Israel won't knock out all Iran's nuclear sites and that
retaliation would target US troops. (Oct 6, '08)
Pakistan, US await militant showdown
Britain's commander in Afghanistan admits the war against the Taliban can't be
won, even as the Afghan government makes overtures to Taliban leader Mullah
Omar to join the political process. It's not going to happen, and Pakistan and
the United States are actively preparing for the inevitable - a clash with the
Taliban inside Pakistan. - Syed Saleem Shahzad
(Oct 6, '08)
SPEAKING FREELY
A way through the Afghan labyrinth
Seven years of international "nation-building" in Afghanistan have created a
labyrinthine world of foreign non-profit and private-sector institutions
engaged in fractious aid efforts which have left the country unable to deal
with the creeping Taliban threat that now also threatens Pakistan. - M Ashraf
Haidari (Oct 6, '08)
In
life, or death, Baitullah's fight endures
Reports of the death of Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud may be
premature, but they do raise the issue of how his demise will affect the
struggle he has championed against foreign forces in Afghanistan and Pakistani
troops in the tribal areas. If history is any indication, another leader will
quickly emerge to replace the man described as "more dangerous than Osama bin
Laden", and the battle will go even more global. - Syed Saleem Shahzad
(Oct 2, '08)
DISPATCHES FROM AMERICA
How forgotten Iraq may
elect the president
The centerpiece of the United States presidential race may turn on an almost
forgotten war in a forgotten country - Iraq, a tinderbox that could explode at
any moment. The war is causing two powerful riptides just below the surface of
American politics. There is Democrat Senator Barack Obama's war, the realistic
disaster that most Americans have now accepted, and Republican Senator John
McCain's war, the symbolic success story that so many Americans still wish was
the reality. - Ira Chernus (Oct 1, '08)
The cost of boots on the ground in
Iraq
The 190,000 contractors in Iraq and neighboring countries, from cooks to truck
drivers, have cost US taxpayers US$100 billion from the start of the war
through the end of 2008, a new US government study says. Yet while it costs
half a million dollars per year to maintain a Blackwater professional armed
guard, it costs exactly the same to keep one sergeant in combat in Iraq.
(Oct 1, '08)
Iran fears nuclear witchhunt
The cash-strapped International Atomic Energy Agency's flip-flops on Iran, now
saying it cannot confirm the absence of a clandestine nuclear program, raise
concerns that the United Nations' nuclear watchdog is under pressure from the
West to tighten the screws on Tehran. At the same time, the longer the nuclear
crisis continues, the less isolated Tehran becomes internationally. - Kaveh L
Afrasiabi (Oct 1, '08)
Syria's unlikely shepherd
The United States may be easing its stance towards Syria, an ally of Iran still
listed by the US as a sponsor of terror, with talk of a "potential thaw"
following recent talks. Damascus has appealed for Washington's help in its
burgeoning peace process with Israel, while Saturday's deadly car-bombing in
Damascus highlights the need for coordinated counter-terrorism efforts. - Jim
Lobe (Oct 1, '08)
Bad tidings in Iraqi Kurdistan
A volatile situation has developed in northern Iraq, where Baghdad's decision
to launch "Operation Good Tidings", a military offensive to grasp control of
Kurdish-controlled territories, has turned Kurds against the government.
Mindful of old wounds, autonomous Kurdistan sees the deployment as a test of
its power and promises to match each Iraqi brigade with two of its own.
(Oct 1, '08)
Japan adrift in the Indian Ocean
For the second time in a year, the question of whether or not to extend Japan's
Indian Ocean commitment in the US-led war in Afghanistan may decide the fate of
the Japanese cabinet. Prime Minister Taro Aso is caught between public
opposition to Japan's militarization and unrelenting pressure from Washington
to "shoulder its responsibilities". Chasing pirates may be a better option.
(Oct 1, '08)
|
|
|
ATol Specials
|
Syed Saleem Shahzad reports on
the Afghan war from the Taliban side
(Dec '06)
|
 |
|
How
Hezbollah defeated Israel
By
Mark Perry and
Alastair Crooke
(Oct '06)
|
|
|
 |
|
Mark Perry and
Alastair Crooke
talk to the 'terrorists'
(Mar, '06)
|
|
 |
|
The evidence for and against Iran's alleged
nuclear weapons program
|
|
 |
|
Nir Rosen goes inside the Iraqi
resistance
|
|
 |
|
Nir Rosen rides with the 3rd
armored cavalry in western Iraq
|
|
 |
|
Islamism, fascism and
terrorism
by Marc Erikson
|
For earlier articles go to:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
All material on this
website is copyright and may not be republished in any form without written
permission.
Copyright 1999 - 2008 Asia Times Online
(Holdings), Ltd.
|
|
Head
Office: Unit B, 16/F, Li Dong Building, No. 9 Li Yuen Street East,
Central, Hong Kong
Thailand Bureau:
11/13 Petchkasem Road, Hua Hin, Prachuab Kirikhan, Thailand 77110
|
|
|
|
