Obama’s Plan For Iraq
Barack Obama takes to the op-ed pages of the NYT to present his new plan for Iraq which is conveniently his old plan for Iraq. He sees Nuri al-Maliki's proposal for a a timetable for the removal of American troops from Iraq as "an enormous opportunity." Only by redeploying our troops can we press the Iraqis to reach comprehensive political accommodation ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on July 14, 2008 09:19
10 Taliban Kill Themselves in Botched Bombing
Seeing the headline "10 Taliban killed while planting bomb" on YahooNews, I was expecting a feel-good story. Alas, not so much. In addition to the fact that this occurred on the same day that parliament member and former military commander Habibullah Jan was murdered, the fitting demise of the would-be bombers is mitigated considerably by this: The fact ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on July 5, 2008 08:29
Wars and Wartime Presidents
Fareed Zakaria contends that, President Bush's attempts to brand himself as a "war president," the United States isn't really at war. America (and before it, Britain) has felt it was "at war" when the conflict threatened the country's basic security—not merely its interests or its allies abroad. This is the common-sense way in which we define a wartime leader, and by ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on July 2, 2008 12:27
Taliban Raid Frees Thousand Prisoners
The Taliban have freed "as many as 1,000" prisoners being held by the Afghan government in Kandahar. Hundreds of prisoners escaped from a jail in southern Afghanistan on Friday after Taliban fighters blew off the gates in a suicide attack that killed several police officers, according to a U.S. military official. Many of those freed were apparently Taliban suspects. The attack occurred ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on June 14, 2008 08:38
Ambassador: US-Pakistan Need ‘Strategic Partnership’
H.E. Husain Haqqani, who presented his credentials as Ambassador of Pakistan to the United States a mere nine days ago, delivered his first public address since taking office this evening at the Atlantic Council. Following is a summary of his remarks. While our two countries have been allies since the 1950s, neither side has viewed the relationship ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on June 12, 2008 19:40
Supreme Court: Gitmo Detainees Have Habeus Rights
Terrorist suspects detained at Guantánamo Bay (and presumably, anyplace else under American jurisdiction) have the right to file habeus corpus petitions in U.S. civilian courts the Supreme Court ruled today in a 5-4 decision. Further, Congress could not pass a law waiving these protections absent rebellion or invasion. Justices Rule Terror Suspects Can Appeal in Civilian Courts (David Stout, NYT) “The ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on June 12, 2008 12:32
U.S. Airstrikes Kill Pakistani Troops
Pakistan is condemning a U.S. air strike which allegedly killed 11 Pakistani paramilitaries as a "completely unprovoked and cowardly act." U.S.-led forces killed Pakistani troops in an airstrike along the volatile Afghan border that Pakistan's army condemned on Wednesday as "completely unprovoked and cowardly." U.S. officials confirmed that three aircraft launched about a dozen bombs following a clash between ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on June 11, 2008 13:49
Is Time on the Iranians’ Side?
That's the central claim of David Ignatius's column in the Washington Post this morning: So imagine that you are Qassem Soleimani, commander of a covert Iranian army deployed across the Middle East: You doubt the Bush administration would run the risk of a military strike against Iran, but you can't be sure. You think America can't afford to play chicken in ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on June 9, 2008 11:25
Institutionalizing Counter-Terrorism
Bernard Finel argues that we have done a poor job of formalizing rules to deal with the fight against international terrorists. Few, even today, question the legitimacy of the U.S. campaign to remove the Taliban. But has this case set a broader precedent? And if so, what are the parameters of this precedent. Does any country unilaterally have the right to ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on May 20, 2008 15:06
Former Gitmo Commander Denied Pakistan Post
MG Jay Hood's appointment as the top U.S. military officer in Pakistan has been pulled owing to Pakistani complaints about a previous stop in his career as commander at Guantánamo. When the Pentagon announced in March that Maj. Gen. Jay W. Hood would become the senior American officer based in Pakistan, it reflected the military’s aim to put a crisis-tested veteran ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on May 9, 2008 08:06
