Iraq WMD’s Revisited

Bernard Finel, to say the least a fan of neither the Bush Administration nor the Iraq War, throws cold water on the Bush Lied, People Died meme that refuses to die: I’d like to urge folks to think through what standards should be applied to inherently ambiguous information. Here is what we knew in 2002: (1) Saddam had a WMD program in ...

Who’s Responsible for Mumbai Attacks?

A previously unknown group calling itself the Deccan Mujahedeen has claimed responsibility for the horrific attacks in Mumbai.  While these attacks came during a period when Western intelligence chiefs were "expecting an al Qaeda spectacular terrorist attack" and came just hours after the FBI warned that al Qaeda may be "targetting New York's subways and railroads," the best guess of ...

Al Qaeda #2 Uses Racial Slur

Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Ladin's deputy, called Barack Obama a "house negro." Al-Qaida's No. 2 leader used a racial epithet to insult Barack Obama in a message posted Wednesday, describing the president-elect in demeaning terms that imply he does the bidding of whites. The message appeared chiefly aimed at persuading Muslims and Arabs that Obama does not represent a change in U.S. ...

Should Obama Hunt Osama?

In "Hunting Bin Laden," a piece for New Atlanticist, I look at arguments made by Juan Cole and Robert Baer on President-Elect Obama's vow to renew the effort to hunt down the al Qaeda leader. Short version:  We're already trying and success won't matter all that much. Long version: See the link.

Intelligent Reporting on Intelligence

One truism that I've noted over the years is that any event that I experience in person will invariably be reported in the press quite differently.  That proved true again last night as I began absorbing media accounts of CIA Director Michael Hayden's "State of al Qaeda Today" address to the Atlantic Council. It seemed obvious to me that the "news" ...

Every Major Terrorist Threat Has Ties to Pakistan

CIA Director Michael Hayden told the Atlantic Council this afternoon that al Qaeda's safe haven in Pakistan's ungoverned tribal areas have provided a "sanctuary" that has "allowed it to recover some capacity lost when expelled from Afghanistan" nearly seven years ago. It has developed a "close, co-dependent relationship with Pashtun extremist and separatist groups" through very careful exploitation ...

Afghanistan: Defining Victory

Over the weekend, Dave Schuler closed his post "Winning in Afghanistan" with three very good questions: What are our strategic objectives in Afghanistan? What tactics will effect those objectives? What are the logistical requirements of implementing the objectives? Today in New Atlanticist, my former graduate advisor, Don Snow, gives an extensive response with "Are We Losing in Afghanistan."    He frames the questions thusly: The problem ...

Afghanistan is Not Enough

Michael J. Totten takes exception to the frequently expressed view that "the war on terrorism started in Afghanistan and it needs to end there."  In my New Atlanticist essay "Afghanistan: Necessary But Not Sufficient," I explain why he's right.   My conclusion: Defeating the Taliban and its al Qaeda allies there and in neighboring Pakistan is vital to regional security and failure ...

Newspaper Style Guides

Clark Hoyt, the NYT public editor, has an interesting column explaining the paper's inconsistent use of courtesy titles, middle names, and the like.   He insists, with strong credibility, that there is no political malice in referring to Sarah Palin as "Ms. Palin" vice "Mrs. Palin" or Condi Rice as "Ms. Rice" vice "Dr. Rice."  Similarly, there's no hidden subtext in ...

Al Qaeda is Dead, Long Live Al Qaeda

Juan Cole had an interesting post on yesterday's seventh anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in which he made a bold declaration: "The original al-Qaeda is defeated."   No, he's not saying there aren't Muslim terrorists calling themselves "al Qaeda" ready and able to kill us. I mean the original al-Qaeda. Al-Qaeda as a historical, concrete movement centered on Usama Bin Laden and ...