Top military commanders doubt Obama’s Iraq plan: Report
Senior American military officials cautioned the White House against deepening US involvement in Iraq as President Barack Obama was weighing deploying more military personnel to halt ISIL advances, a...
View ArticleIn White House's Iraq debate, military brass pushed for doing less
As President Barack Obama was weighing how to halt Islamic State advances in Iraq, some of the strongest resistance to boosting U.S. involvement came from a surprising place: a war-weary military that...
View ArticleWhy the US Military Opposed New Combat Roles in Iraq
The in the Washington Post on 13 June shows how the US military service chiefs – who make decisions on war policy in light of their own institutional interests – prefer an inconclusive war with IS and...
View ArticleThe Hell After ISIS
Abu Ammar with one of his sons, outside the home in Kurdistan where they have found refuge from the war against ISIS. Sebastiano Tomada Piccolomini Falah Sabar heard a knock at the door. It was just...
View ArticleSyria, Interrupted Game Change
By Jim Kavanagh January 27, 2017 "Information Clearing House" - "The Polemicist" - The recapture of Aleppo by the Syrian Arab Army and its allies marks a turning point not only in the conflict in...
View ArticleThe two-state solution: what Europe must do and why
Despite chaos elsewhere in the region, resolution of the Israel-Palestine conflict remains urgent for its own sake. International Humanitarian Law should be rigorously applied before any negotiation....
View ArticleFifty Years of Imperial Wars: Results and Perspectives
Introduction Over the past 50 years the US and European powers have engaged in countless imperial wars throughout the world. The drive for world supremacy has been clothed in the rhetoric of “world...
View Article7 Middle East Contradictions in Search of a Strategy
The first test of a foreign policy's coherence is whether its actions and declarations meet the standard of elementary logic. There is abundant evidence that American policies in the Middle East fail...
View ArticleUS combat death in Iraq reflects intensifying war
STUTTGART, Germany (AP) -- The combat death Tuesday of a U.S Navy SEAL who was advising Kurdish forces in Iraq coincides with a gradually deepening American role in fighting a resilient Islamic State,...
View ArticleTrump’s Hard Line on Iran Will Give Saudis Free Hand in Yemen
The Trump administration’s truculent warning last week that it was putting Iran “on notice” over its recent missile test and a missile strike on a Saudi warship off the coast of Yemen appears...
View ArticlePress Briefing by Press Secretary Josh Earnest and Special Presidential Envoy...
(Source: President of the United States) James S. Brady Press Briefing Room **Please see below for a correction, marked with an asterisk. 12:47 P.M. EST MR. EARNEST: Good afternoon, everybody. Before...
View ArticlePress Briefing by Press Secretary Josh Earnest, 5/22/2015 (President of the...
(Source: President of the United States) The White House Office of the Press Secretary James S. Brady Press Briefing Room 1:15 P.M. EDT MR. EARNEST: Good afternoon, everybody. It's nice to see you all....
View ArticleKerry Sought Missile Strikes To Force Syria’s Assad To Step Down
Jeffrey Goldberg’s newly published book-length article on Barack Obama and the Middle East includes a major revelation that brings US Secretary of State John Kerry’s Syrian diplomacy into sharper...
View ArticleLong after most U.S. troops have left Iraq, civilians are dying in 'obscene'...
It’s a place where the daily grind — the office commute, a quick trip to the neighborhood market — could end in death, abduction or torture. Civilians in Iraq face “staggering” violence on a daily...
View ArticleA Westerner with extensive on-the-ground experience in Syria and Iraq...
Editor’s Note: This author is writing under a pen name. I know the author’s identity and while his arguments are surely controversial, I am confident in his sourcing and subject matter expertise. I...
View ArticleObama's "Retooled" Foreign Policy Needs A Do Over (Republican Party)
(Source: Republican Party) Looking Back At Several Claims Obama Made A Year Ago That Don't Hold Much Water Today On May 28, 2014, Obama Laid Out A "Retooled" Foreign Policy Agenda In Response To...
View ArticleRetired Soldier & Veteran Affairs News 22 December 2016 (AUSA - Association...
(Source: AUSA - Association of the United States Army) DEAL REACHED ON 2017 NDAA A halt to the drawdown of Soldiers was only one of the items AUSA cheered as the details of a negotiated annual defense...
View ArticleFight or Flight: The Desperate Plight of Iraq’s “Generation 2000”...
(Source: International Crisis Group) I. Executive Summary Beset by political dysfunction, endemic corruption and a jihadist threat, Iraq is squandering its greatest asset: its youth. By failing to...
View ArticleWhat If There Is No Plan B for Iraq?
Originally posted at TomDispatch. On June 13th, Greg Jaffe and Missy Ryan of the Washington Post reported what should have been big news (though it was hardly noted). In recent White House “debates”...
View ArticleStatement on a Syrian Policy Framework (International Crisis Group)
(Source: International Crisis Group) REUTERS/Bassam Khabieh Introduction On its current trajectory, and with no military or diplomatic breakthrough on the horizon, the Syrian war will worsen. Four...
View ArticleSyria Framework (International Crisis Group)
(Source: International Crisis Group) REUTERS/Bassam Khabieh Introduction On its current trajectory, and with no military or diplomatic breakthrough on the horizon, the Syrian war will worsen. Four...
View ArticleWhat Will Trump's Foreign Policy Mean for the World? An Interview With...
! What happens in the Middle East now? Patrick Cockburn is a journalist for the Independent who has covered the Middle East for decades and is credited with forecasting the Islamic State’s ascendance...
View ArticleHow Media Distorted Syrian Ceasefire’s Breakdown
Coverage of the breakdown of the partial ceasefire in Syria illustrated the main way corporate news media distort public understanding of a major foreign policy story. The problem is not that the key...
View ArticleHow To Succeed at Failing, Pentagon-Style
Originally posted at TomDispatch. Iraq and Afghanistan are separated by more than 1,000 miles and, although they both exist in what is now known as the Greater Middle East, they had little in common –...
View ArticleWars: US Militarist Factions in Command
By Prof. James Petras November 19, 2015 "Information Clearing House" - Over the past 15 years the US has been engaged in a series of wars, which has led many writers to refer to the ‘rise of...
View ArticleCombatting the ISIS Foreign Fighter Pipeline: A Global Approach (The Heritage...
(Source: The Heritage Foundation) January 6, 2016 | Special Report on Terrorism By Lisa Curtis, Luke Coffey, David Inserra, Daniel Kochis, Walter Lohman, Joshua Meservey, James Phillips and Robin...
View ArticleBehind the Real US Strategic Blunder in Syria
President Barack Obama has long been under fire from the US national security elite and the media for failing to intervene aggressively against the Assad regime. But the real strategic blunder was not...
View ArticleThe Bin Laden Death Mythology
Official history of raid camouflages US protection of governments behind 9/11 By Nafeez Ahmed July 04, 2015 "Information Clearing House" - "Medium" - The White House’s story of how US special forces...
View ArticlePresident Trump: Irish writers have their say
While we were sleeping, first we voted into office the ones who watch you drown while very articulately expressing concern; then we tried voting for the ones who kind of like to see you drown. – from...
View Articleis the Islamic State close to victory?
Many facts belie the myth that Islamic State is on its back heel, and its longevity, proximity to Damascus, as well as the weakness of its enemies mean that it may wreak yet more havoc. Nils...
View ArticleThe War Against the Assad Regime Is Not a ‘Pipeline War’
The reason put forward by the Obama administration for the war against the Bashar al-Assad regime – saving the Syrian people from suffering and death at the hands of Assad – has no credibility with...
View ArticleWhy the Sanders ‘Revolution’ Must Take on the Permanent War State
The People’s Summit in Chicago June 17-19 dramatically displayed both the strengths and the vulnerabilities of what has emerged in 2016 as one of the most potentially powerful movements for fundamental...
View ArticleObama’s Syria Policy and the Illusion of US Power in the Middle East
With the collapse of the US-Russian ceasefire agreement and the resumption and escalation of the massive Russian bombing campaign in Aleppo, the frustration of hawks in Washington over the failure of...
View ArticleWhat is “the War on Terror” and How to Fight It
The attacks in Paris linked to ISIS on November 13 provided a pretext for extended police measures in France, Belgium, and elsewhere and abundant opportunities for the bourgeois media and politicians...
View ArticleThe US is Now Confronted by the Same Sectarian Strife in the Middle East That...
For years now, the global jihadist movement centered in the Middle East has been split into two broad factions, represented by the al-Qaeda franchise on the one hand, and the Islamic State (also known...
View ArticleThe Obama Doctrine
Ruven Afanador Friday, August 30, 2013, the day the feckless Barack Obama brought to a premature end America’s reign as the world’s sole indispensable superpower—or, alternatively, the day the...
View ArticleIraq: How did we get here?
(CNN)Iraq roils in a maelstrom: ISIS now controls Ramadi, a new prime minister is in charge, Shiite-Sunni bloodshed flows, and a U.S.-led coalition is back, this time executing airstrikes in Iraq. The...
View ArticlePropaganda
“The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society...
View ArticleUS Provided Cover for the Saudi Starvation Strategy in Yemen
As Yemen’s population has teetered on the brink of mass starvation in recent months, the United States has played a crucial role in enabling the Saudi strategy responsible for that potential...
View ArticleWatch List 2017
Global Overview Whether unprecedented or not, the challenges currently facing our global security are immense and cause for considerable alarm. It is difficult to think of a time in recent history when...
View ArticleThe Hazards of Military Worship
Originally posted at TomDispatch. Here’s a footnote to America’s present wars that’s worth pondering for a few moments. The U.S. Air Force is running out of ordinary bombs, smart bombs, and in some...
View ArticleWill Trump Agree to the Pentagon’s Permanent War in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria?
The two top national security officials in the Trump administration – Secretary of Defense James Mattis and national security adviser HR McMaster – are trying to secure long-term US ground and air...
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