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 War
and Terror
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May 2010
India's war on Maoists under
attack
Violence in central and eastern India is surging as a military offensive
against Maoists gathers pace. The campaign is increasingly being dubbed Home
Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram's ''war against tribals" as critics highlight
how mining companies stand to benefit from the displacement of indigenous
protesters who are against their operations in mineral-rich areas. - Sudha
Ramachandran (May 25, '10)
McChrystal shifts to raids - and
Wali Karzai
Washington has done an about-turn on its calls to remove Afghan President Hamid
Karzai's powerful brother from the Kandahar equation, with General Stanley
McChrystal now in need of Ahmed Wali Karzai's intelligence network. The move
aims to de-emphasize the promise of governance reform and focus instead on
night raids targeting suspected Taliban leaders. - Gareth Porter
(May 25, '10)
The war that won't end
 The
recent sinking of the Cheonan is but one illustration of how shocks from
the 1950-1953 Korean War still reverberate. Deep distrust remains across the
world's most heavily militarized land border, 60 years after the North Koreans
invaded the South to start a war that has never officially ended. - Ronan Thomas
(May 24, '10)
Pakistan torn over North Waziristan
Heavyweight United States officials have been knocking on Islamabad's door,
seeking, above all else, a Pakistani military offensive in the North Waziristan
tribal area, the key militant base that feeds into the Afghan insurgency. Army
chief General Parvez Kiani is dragging his feet, while it would serve the
militants best if his caution prevailed. - Syed Saleem Shahzad
(May 20, '10)
Israel, Iran talking war to ward
off war?
Talk of war has been rife in the Middle East in recent days, with Israel and
Iran rattling their sabers louder than usual. Though many in the region are
growing jittery, analysts say it's likely that both sides are merely trying to
keep war at bay by following 
the "offense is the best defense" approach with rhetoric. - Jerrold Kessel
and Pierre Klochendler (May 18, '10)
Israel has its eyes
on Hezbollah
Tehran's prime retaliatory capability against Israel in the event of an attack
on Iran lies with the thousands of medium- and longer-range missiles massed in
Lebanon under the control of Iran's proxy, Hezbollah. It is no secret that a
significant number of senior Israeli officers favor pre-emptive action in
Lebanon. - Richard M Bennett (May 18, '10)
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DISPATCHES FROM AMERICA
Obama's AfPak flip-flop
Afghanistan is no longer in Washington’s bad books, evident by the honors
bestowed on President Hamid Karzai during his visit to the United States. At
the same time, Pakistan is falling from grace, being told to shape up or else.
Regardless of who is in the dog house, the momentum is heading in only one
direction - military escalation. - Tom Engelhardt
(May 18, '10)
Militant splits span AfPak border
The insurgency in Afghanistan has in recent months spread to eastern and
northern provinces, driven in part by groups independent of but symbolically
loyal to Taliban leader Mullah Omar. It is these groups Western leaders believe
could be nurtured into an amenable third force. Across the border in North
Waziristan in Pakistan, a vital staging ground for the Afghan theater, cracks
are emerging between militant factions. - Syed Saleem Shahzad
(May 17, '10)
Karzai kiss a prelude to Kandahar
storm
Afghan President Hamid Karzai kept up appearances of a confident, independent
leader in his recent visit to Washington. But amid ominous language from US
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton about ''saving" Kandahar, it is not unlikely
that Karzai was there to provide a cover for the military offensive yet to come
in the Taliban's southern stronghold. - Ramzy Baroud
(May 17, '10)
DISPATCHES FROM AMERICA
Victory at all costs in Afghanistan
The United States Congress is preparing to vote on a further US$33 billion for
the war in Afghanistan as a new poll suggests the majority of Americans oppose
the conflict and even as Pentagon appraisals grow ever-gloomier. The many
members of congress who say the goal is to "win", "keep us safe" or "get Osama
bin Laden" seem blind to the debilitating impacts of the vast military
expenditure on US healthcare, job-creation and education. - David Swanson
(May 12, '10)
Doubts grow on McChrystal's war plan
Signs are emerging that top military officials in Washington are starting to
question the feasibility of US commander General Stanley McChrystal's plan to
win control of the Afghan provinces of Helmand and Kandahar from the Taliban.
Following the Pentagon’s recent bleak report on the war are high-level comments
in the press, all of which suggest that even more serious concerns are being
expressed behind the scenes. - Gareth Porter (May
11, '10)
THE ROVING EYE
The American Taliban are coming
The United States initially said that Faisal Shahzad, charged in connection
with a failed car-bombing in New York, had no connection with the Pakistani
Taliban. Washington now says he did. The Taliban have also reversed their
position, saying he is not tied to them. Either way, the age of the virtual
jihadi nomad is a go. - Pepe Escobar (May 11,
'10)
Militants in no mood to talk
Militants in Pakistan have gone back on their word that they would release
"Colonel Imam", the man instrumental in helping raise the Taliban militia.
Instead, they have given a list of demands that includes the release of 150
high-profile prisoners. The al-Qaeda-linked militants also have no interest in
any deals involving "good" and "bad" Taliban. All they want is a fight - and
the United States is welcome to join in. - Syed Saleem Shahzad
(May 10, '10)
Obama's choice: Blood or treasure?
A shift in the United States' Middle East policy seemed apparent in President
Barack Obama's talk of "blood and treasure". The US can either elevate "blood"
- human lives - and demand a power-sharing rapprochement to solve the
Israeli-Palestinian tangle, or it can continue to seek the "treasure" of
regional influence in the world's oil heartlands through containing or even
destroying Iran. - Ira Chernus (May 10, '10)
US takes the war into Pakistan
Given Pakistan's reluctance to begin an all-out offensive in North Waziristan,
and the undeniable fact that the tribal area is the nerve center of the Afghan
resistance, the United States had little option but to take matters into its
own hands and allow missile-carrying drones to significantly step up operations
there, including against "low-level" combatants. - Syed Saleem Shahzad
(May 7, '10)
THE ROVING EYE
Time for a nuclear samba
Iran has all but agreed with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's proposal for
a nuclear fuel swap deal for Tehran's research reactor. This makes Brazil the
mediator between Tehran and the United Nations - rather than the axis of the
United States, Britain and France inside the UN Security Council, plus Germany
- to finally settle the Iranian nuclear dossier. - Pepe Escobar
(May 6, '10)
Ahmadinejad steals 'smart power'
torch
Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad spoke the language of disarmament and
cooled the incendiary tone in a speech at the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
review conference in New York this week. By championing the views of the
nuclear "have-nots", Ahmadinejad may score a solid victory in the diplomatic
battleground. - Kaveh L Afrasiabi (May 6,
'10)
Losing Afghan hearts and minds
Far from protecting Afghan civilians from insurgents, Operation Moshtarak, the
international military push to drive the Taliban out of Helmand province, has
raised the likelihood of the poor joining the militants, according to a report
from a respected think-tank. Anger is clearly rising - yet with scant job
opportunities, many follow the Taliban's money, if not the ideology. - Julien
Mercille (May 6, '10)
Terror roads lead back to Pakistan
Faisal Shahzad, arrested on Monday in connection 
with an abortive car bomb attack in New York, has admitted to receiving
training in Pakistan's tribal areas, as did a man held last September for
planning an attack on New York's subway system. While the men deny any links to
al-Qaeda or militant outfits, the spotlight once again falls on Pakistan. - Syed
Saleem Shahzad (May 5, '10)
COMMENT
Muslim blowback?
America's standing in the Muslim world has declined disastrously in the past
decade of war and occupation and it was only a matter of time before this had
the same effect on a minority of Muslims in the United States - as shown with
the discovery of bomb-making materials in Times Square the latest of a string
of incidents. Growing domestic radicalization has, paradoxically, brought the
US closer to curbing terrorism. - M Junaid Levesque-Alam
(May 5, '10)
India nails a dead man walking
With the lone surviving Pakistani gunman of the November 2008 attacks in Mumbai
found guilty on a number of charges, including waging war on India, justice
would appear to have run its course. The acquittal of two alleged accomplices,
however, is a blow to the investigative abilities of the security agencies,
while the lack of action in Pakistan against the apparent masterminds makes it
too early for Delhi to close the case. - Indrajit Basu
(May 4, '10)
Pyongyang sees US role in Cheonan sinking
North Korea is being set up as the fall guy in the sinking of the South Korean
corvette Cheonan to deflect attention from the real culprit, the United
States. North Korea's unofficial spokesman argues that a North Korean submarine
could never penetrate the South's sophisticated naval defenses, and suspicious
behavior by the US since the disaster suggests it was a clear case of friendly
fire. - Kim Myong Chol (May 4, '10)
 SPENGLER
General Petraeus'
Thirty Years War
After creating an American-financed militia in Iraq and doing the same in
Afghanistan and Palestine, General David Petraeus, head of the US Central
Command, is leading a grand withdrawal that leaves behind men with weapons and
excellent reason to use them. Disastrous field-marshalling in Europe's Thirty
Years War notwithstanding, the "divide and disappear" strategy is perhaps the
silliest thing an imperial power has ever done. (May
3, '10)
Conflict or containment in the
Persian Gulf?
In the absence of effective means to halt Iran's nuclear program without grave
consequences - and as sanctions are unlikely to bite - a containment policy, or
seizing diplomatic openings as Richard Nixon did as a bridge to the Soviet
Union, might succeed in cooling tensions. Such a bold move would lead to
greater cooperation in Iraq and Afghanistan and aid the reformist momentum
inside Iran. - Brian M Downing (May 3, '10)
Militants write their answer in
blood
The murder of Khalid Khawaja at the hands of militants in Pakistan's North
Waziristan tribal area has dealt a severe blow to peace efforts between
militants and the military. Khawaja was on a peace mission when he was abducted
in late March. A major offensive now appears inevitable. - Syed Saleem Shahzad
(May 3, '10)
Pentagon map belies Taliban's sphere
Despite weak expressions of optimism from the US Department of Defense that the
Taliban's influence in Afghanistan has leveled off, the facts suggest
otherwise. The Pentagon's latest report finds that, among many areas of the
country, Taliban insurgents dominate a vast contiguous zone of heavily
populated territory across southern Afghanistan that the US military regards as
the most critical for weakening Taliban control. - Gareth Porter
(May 3, '10)
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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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