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 War
and Terror
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June 2010
The anatomy of an attack on
Iran
The strategic and political realities of a possible Israeli air strike against
Iran's nuclear facilities are complex, while the coordination of logistics and
tactics of such a long-distance mission - 1,600 kilometers on a straight line
from Tel Aviv to Iran's uranium enrichment site in Natanz - would be equally
daunting. - David Moon (Jun 30, '10)
Explosive mood in Pakistan
The seizure of a massive arms cache in the Pakistani city of Lahore has raised
alarm bells over possible widespread militant attacks, at a time the country's
role in finding a breakthrough in Afghanistan has reached a critical stage.
Talk, however, of Islamabad bringing the network of veteran Afghan leader
Jalaluddin Haqqani on board is premature. - Syed Saleem Shahzad
(Jun 29, '10)
Petraeus circles two camps
With General Stanley McChrystal out of the picture in Afghanistan, pressure is
growing on US President Barack Obama to move up his July 2011 troop withdrawal
timetable and get behind a negotiated settlement with the Taliban. Voices
calling for an open-ended military commitment are equally strident. Incoming
General David Petraeus is soon to reveal how he will weave his way between the
two camps. - Jim Lobe (Jun 29, '10)
Obama risks all on flip of a
COIN
General David Petraeus, US President Barack Obama's new commander in
Afghanistan, is the "guru" of the counter-insurgency (COIN) cult. Petraeus'
policy demands a decade-long war, involving nation-building, waged village by
village, at a cost of hundreds of billions of dollars and countless casualties.
That simply doesn't square with troops supposedly due to start leaving
Afghanistan next summer. - Robert Dreyfuss (Jun
28, '10)
Remember Vietistan?
In 1975, the United States Congress cut off funds for the Vietnam War, with
those in support of the move asking the obvious question: What had the United
States achieved after a decade of fighting that left 58,000 US dead, four
million Vietnamese casualties and a land destroyed? Many now ask the same
question about Afghanistan and come up with the same answer: Not much. - Saul
Landau (Jun 28, '10)
THE ROVING EYE
Mistah McChrystal - he dead
The McChrystal goes rogue/McChrystal gets fired story is yet one more classic
Pentagon non-event magnified to dementia. The "warrior-intellectual” never gave
any sign he was engaging in specific, detailed criticism of the overall
military strategy of the United States; after all, the Pentagon's
"full-spectrum dominance" cannot be really sold for what it is. - Pepe Escobar
(Jun 24, '10)
Switch to Petraeus betrays war
crisis
General Stanley McChrystal and his tight inner circle of fellow former special
operations officers crowed to the media once too often. His removal by United
States President Barack Obama reflects a deepening unease about the way the
Afghan war has been conducted. The appointment of the politically astute
General David Petraeus as McChrystal's successor gives Obama the flexibility he
needs to sell a negotiated end to the war. - Gareth Porter
(Jun 24, '10)
Measuring success and failure in
Afghanistan
The offensive in the Marjah region, a centerpiece of McChrystal's Afghan
strategy, did not work, although the US military sings a different tune: a
declaration of failure now would be just as premature as were declarations of
victory three months ago. - Michael A Innes (Jun
24, '10)
McChrystal's war goes to
Washington
Whether or not General Stanley McChrystal loses his job as the top commander in
Afghanistan, his showdown with United States President Barack Obama means the
strategy being used in the battle against the Taliban will once again come
under scrutiny. In Pakistan, too, the fallout from the tussle between the White
House and the Pentagon will be felt; militants are keenly watching. - Syed
Saleem Shahzad (Jun 23, '10)
Afghan poppy blight a small hit
Controversy is raging among the Taliban and Afghan farmers, who claim chemicals
sprayed by outside forces rather than naturally occurring fungus are
responsible for the destruction of poppy fields. But the 25% reduction in opium
output expected this year is a small hit when commitment to curbing the
industrial-scale production of narcotics is distinctly lacking. - Matthew C
DuPee and Ahmad Waheed (Jun 21, '10)
Pakistan might fight - for a price
Pakistan is still dithering over launching an offensive against militants in
the North Waziristan tribal area, an operation the United States sees as
crucial to stop fighters flowing across the border into Afghanistan. A little
sweetener might help speed things up: Islamabad says it needs military hardware
worth US$2.5 billion - especially helicopter gunships to take the fight deep
into the mountains. - Syed Saleem Shahzad (Jun
21, '10)
Pakistan seethes at bad-boy
image
A report by the London School of Economics charging that Pakistan's
Inter-Services Intelligence still has strong ties to the Afghan Taliban has
drawn a swift and angry response from Islamabad - and even the Taliban. The
issue goes to the heart of the complex relationship between Pakistan and bitter
neighbor India towards Afghanistan and has a direct bearing on the US's war
efforts. - Zahid U Kramet (Jun 17, '10)
One fight Russia can't afford
Moscow is fairly confident that sending Russian peacekeepers to southern
Kyrgyzstan - as it has been requested to do - would provoke a direct
confrontation with an angry and nervous Uzbekistan. Russia would most likely
win this war, but victory would come neither easily nor cheaply. - Peter Zeihan
(Jun 16, '10)
DISPATCHES FROM AMERICA
Call the politburo, we're in
trouble
As in the Soviet Union before its collapse, the feeding of the United States
war machine at the expense of the rest of American society and the economy is
now the new normal. The Barack Obama administration's military spending remains
George W Bush's "war on terror" on an expansionist trajectory - and it is on
the same route that led the Soviets to ruin. - Tom Engelhardt
(Jun 16, '10)
The Pentagon strikes it rich
The motive of the United States Department of Defense in using old data to
publicize the potential US$1 trillion in mineral riches in Afghanistan's
war-ravaged land is under scrutiny. Given increasingly negative news from the
counter-insurgency campaign, the headline-generating figure could reverse
growing public sentiment that the war is not worth the cost. - Jim Lobe
(Jun 15, '10)
Bloody fight over Taliban lifelines
More than a dozen people have been killed in Karachi in sectarian clashes. In
itself this is not unusual in the violence-prone southern port city. This time,
though, the fighting is expected to last longer than previous outbreaks. At
stake are precious lifelines for the Taliban-led insurgency in Afghanistan. -
Syed Saleem Shahzad (Jun 15, '10)
Pakistan, US play waiting game
United States General Stanley McChrystal and Pakistan army head General Ashfaq
Parvez Kiani continue to wait for the other to make the next move against
Taliban strongholds. Their only other option is to team up and turn the tables
on extremists, whom both men have publicly described as their common enemy. - Abubakar
Siddique (Jun 15, '10)
McChrystal faces 'Iraq' moment
A double dose of bad news concerning the troop surges of the United States in
Afghanistan suggests things are about to get worse for US General Stanley
McChrystal, who faces a collapse of political support in line with an increase
in unfavorable media coverage. The situation is painfully similar to that in
Iraq in 2006, when support from US elites tanked following months of reports
showing that Washington had lost control of the war. - Gareth Porter
(Jun 14, '10)
Renewed threat to Afghan supply line
The brazen militant attack on a transport 
depot on the outskirts of Islamabad on Wednesday, leaving seven people dead and
60 United States-contracted trucks destroyed, shatters the stability that the
vital military supply line from Pakistan to Afghanistan had achieved over the
past year. - Syed Saleem Shahzad (Jun 10,
'10)
Al-Qaeda turns to mafia tactics
Al-Qaeda may have been wiped out of many parts of Iraq, but in Mosul the group,
once a pillar of the local insurgency, now operates as a mafia, funding itself
through murder, extortion, blackmail and abduction. - Saad al-Mosuli
(Jun 10, '10)
Doubling down in Afghanistan
Instead of recognizing a losing hand and folding, United States President
Barack Obama continues to double down, just like Washington’s last
gambler-in-chief, George W Bush. The US keeps shoveling billions into the
Afghan pot, along with thousands of troops and private military contractors,
hoping that, against the odds, they'll draw an inside straight even as the
insurgents hold flushes. - William J Astore (Jun
8, '10)
Myanmar's nuclear bombshell
In a military partnership with North Korea that will dramatically change Asia's
security dynamic, Myanmar's junta has begun a secret nuclear weapons program,
according to an investigative report from the Democratic Voice of Burma. A
complex network of underground installations is being built to hide the
activities, the report says, though a lack of expert knowledge may hamper the
grandiose scheme. - Bertil Lintner (Jun 4,
'10)
Drone doubts strike CIA ranks
United States President Barack Obama continues to support the Central
Intelligence Agency's drone strikes program, whose direct results are quick and
relatively easy to measure, but a retired military officer with close links to
the agency says some CIA officers are privately expressing their opposition to
the program as they fear it helps al-Qaeda and its allies recruit new members.
- Gareth Porter (Jun 4, '10)
 BOOK
REVIEW
Infinite war
The American Way of War
by Tom Engelhardt
With the Barack Obama administration fully engulfed in the nation's terror
obsession, having inherited the wars of George W Bush, this collection of
essays is invaluable in showing how the American empire walks the walk and
talks the talk. The author exposes America as we know it, defined and explained
according to its ethos - war. - Pepe Escobar (Jun
4, '10)
They came, sat, ate and left
 The
1,600 delegates at Afghan President Hamid Karzai's loya jirga got down
to business on Thursday, debating among other issues whether or not to open
direct talks with the Taliban. There are high hopes - especially in the United
States - that the grand council will produce results. Expectations were also
strong nine years ago when the Taliban were ousted, and all that followed was a
bloody path to nowhere. - Syed Saleem Shahzad
(Jun 3, '10)
Nothing new for Israel all at
sea
Moral arguments such as Israel's need for security and the humanitarian
situation in Gaza compete to shape global public opinion over the deaths of
pro-Palestinian activists in international waters, but the incident will not
set new trends. Israel's isolation is nothing new. In determining who is right
or wrong, much will depend on the exact facts, which have yet to fully emerge.
- Victor Kotsev (Jun 3, '10)
Israel's defenders mobilize,
threaten
The right-wing leadership of the "Israel Lobby" in the United States has been
working overtime to defend the Jewish state against global outrage over its
deadly attack on a Gaza-bound vessel. First among their complaints is President
Barack Obama's failure to unconditionally defend Israel, which hardliners say
could lead to even more aggressive action in the future. - Jim Lobe
(Jun 3, '10)
Russia takes a keen interest
As it steps into the Cheonan investigation, Russia is showing that
although protective of North Korea, it won't be blindly soft. What Moscow needs
is a moderately belligerent, non-nuclear regime in Pyongyang that could
facilitate its objectives while standing against American influence in the
Pacific Rim. - Yong Kwon (Jun 3, '10)
Israeli strike echoes in
Pakistan
Israel's strike against a Gaza-bound aid ship has significantly raised the
temperature on Pakistan's streets, with many protests taking an anti-American
turn. The timing could not have been worse for the United States as it presses
a reluctant Islamabad to launch what would be a highly unpopular offensive
against militants in North Waziristan - a prerequisite to the planned offensive
across the border in Afghanistan's Kandahar province. - Syed Saleem Shahzad
(Jun 2, '10)
Attack complicates new sanctions on
Iran
Israel's attack on a Turkish aid convoy puts Iran in the unusual position of
being able to lecture about rights abuses, while also undermining the
likelihood of an easy sanctions win for Washington at the United Nations. - Barbara
Slavin (Jun 2, '10)
HIGH JINKS ON THE HIGH SEAS
The Israeli raid on the Mavi Marmara has drawn international
condemnation, yet in Israel the attackers are being spun not only as heroes,
but as victims, writes Pepe Escobar, who argues the incident also leaves
United States President Barack Obama emasculated. Spengler writes the
flotilla caper should teach Israel that no matter how gingerly it approaches
the threats on its borders, it ends up holding the bag for the region's
problems and that it might as well get down to the business of war.
(Jun 1, '10)
We are all Gazans now
- Pepe Escobar
No Israeli good deed goes
unpunished
- Spengler
Israel founders in
international waters
The Israeli commando raid on Turkey's Mavi Marmara that left 19
passengers dead and the ship no longer heading for Gaza could change the course
of Middle East politics. Turkey, traditionally Israel's ally, can use the
incident to assume the Arab leadership mantle it once abandoned, while a
crucial blow has been struck against the blockade of Gaza. - Simon Thurlow
(Jun 1, '10)
Train terror puts Maoists on
defensive
Blame for a deadly train tragedy in West Bengal on Friday that claimed the
lives of almost 150 people has focused on India's Maoists, who have pulled off
a string of brazen assaults in recent weeks. Wary that outrage over the death
toll could turn opinion against them, rebel leaders have denied responsibility,
saying their group does not target civilians or trains. - Sudha Ramachandran
(Jun 1, '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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