Diplomacy Without Precondition

In my latest for New Atlanticist, "Preconditions, Preparations, and Posturing," I argue that Matt Yglesias, Kevin Drum, and perhaps even Nicholas Burns are misreading the now 16-month-old debate over Barack Obama's pledge to meet "without precondition, during the first year of [his] administration, in Washington or anywhere else, with the leaders of Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Cuba and North Korea."

U. S. Raid Into Syria Confirmed (Updated)

U. S. government sources have confirmed last week's raid into Syrian territory by American special forces against terrorist havens across the Iraqi border: A U.S. military official in Washington confirmed that special forces had conducted a raid in Syria that targeted the network of al Qaeda-linked foreign fighters moving through Syria into Iraq. The Syrian government said four U.S. military helicopters attacked ...

Al Qaeda in Iraq Defeated?

Al Qaeda in Iraq [AQI] is all but defeated, Marie Colvin reports for The Sunday Times. A huge operation to crush the 1,200 fighters who remained from a terrorist force once estimated at more than 12,000 began on May 10.  Operation Lion’s Roar, in which the Iraqi army combined forces with the Americans’ 3rd Armoured Cavalry Regiment, has already resulted in ...

North Korea Nukes Breakthrough: A Roadmap for Iran?

The news over the past 48 hours or so about movement in solving the nuclear arms standoff with North Korean has been stunning. Not only is President Bush taking the DPRK off the "state sponsors of terrorism" list but the Kim government has taken major steps to dismantle their program and provide with stringent verification regimes. The administration fully ...

Obama’s Accidental Foreign Policy

Matt Yglesias and Charles Krauthammer don't agree about much but they are in convergence over the origin of Barack Obama's foreign policy: a gaffe at last August's YouTube debates wherein he avowed that, if elected president, he would indeed meet, "without precondition … with the leaders of Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Cuba, and North Korea." In an insightful piece in this ...

Hitchens on 5th Anniversary of Iraq War

As part of a retrospective commemorating the fifth anniversary of the Iraq War, Christopher Hitchens admits to having been right all along. He does, however, reject the premise of the question. Anyone with even a glancing acquaintance with Iraq would have to know that a heavy U.S. involvement in the affairs of that country began no later than 1968, ...

Iraq, Five Years On

In recognition of the fifth anniversary of the U. S.-led and mostly U. S.-conducted invasion of Iraq and removal of the regime of Saddam Hussein, there have been a number of articles in the New York Times and elsewhere that have an odd sort of synergy to them. For example, there's this interview from the Times of London with ...

Newspapers Reprint Danish Muslim Cartoon

The Danish Muslim cartoons that sparked worldwide rioting, mayhem, and murder two years ago are back. Newspapers across Europe Wednesday reprinted the controversial cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed that sparked worldwide protests two years ago. The move came one day after Danish authorities arrested three people allegedly plotting a "terror-related assassination" of Kurt Westergaard, the cartoonist behind the drawing. Berlingske Tidende, was ...

Hezbollah Leader Imad Mughniyeh Killed

Imad Mughniyeh, the man behind the the 1983 attack on the Marine barracks in Beirut and the TWA Flight 847 hijacking, has been killed. A senior Hezbollah commander suspected in some of the highest-profile international terrorist attacks of the last 25 years has died in an explosion in Syria, Hezbollah TV said Wednesday. Imad Mughniyeh died Tuesday in an explosion in ...

Muslims, Assimilation, and Racism

Jim Henley and Mark Steyn, two of my favorite political columnists, have a set-to that, with an assist from Little Green Footballs, has clogged the former's comment section with a swarm of repetitive and mostly inane comments. The short version: Henley terms the arguments advanced by Steyn about the dangers of unassimilated Muslims into European and Canadian ...