Online Journal of Politics and Foreign Affairs
Less than a week after American forces finally vacated the country, Iraq looks to be returning to form: BAGHDAD — A wave of coordinated explosions ripped across Baghdad early on Thursday, killing at least 63 people, wounding more than 180 and jolting a country already unsettled by a deepening political crisis and the absence of [...]
It didn’t take very long after the removal of American troops, for Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Malaki to begin trying to consolidate power: BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq’s Sunni vice president denied charges he ran a hit squad that killed government officials during the nation’s wave of sectarian bloodletting, accusing the Shiite-led government Tuesday of waging [...]
Political instability in Iraq nearly became a reality earlier this week: BAGHDAD — Iraq’s prime minister says a bombing in the Green Zone earlier this week was an assassination attempt against him. During an interview with The Associated Press Saturday, Nouri al-Maliki said the parliament building or speaker also could have been targets but preliminary [...]
Some reports today seem to indicate that the United States is abandoning plans to keep a contingent of military forces in Iraq past the December 31st expiration of the current Status of Forces Agreement: BAGHDAD—The Obama administration is abandoning plans to keep U.S. troops in Iraq past a year-end withdrawal deadline. A senior administration official [...]
Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta gave the strongest signal ever that there will be some U.S. military presence in Iraq after December 31st.
Iraq has become so dependent on Iran for its survival that it is endorsing the brutal tactics of Bashar Assad.
I’ve begun to wonder about the future of U. S. security policy. This isn’t a serious analytical post; it’s just what I call “musing”—committing disorganized thoughts to writing.
Defense Secretary Gates hinted this week that the U.S. would stay in Iraq if the Iraqis wanted. It doesn’t seem like they do.
Uh oh: BAGHDAD – At least 19 people were killed in Iraq on Friday as tens of thousands defied an official curfew to join a nationwide “Day of Rage,” echoing protests that have roiled the Middle East and North Africa since January. Despite pleas by the government and Shiite religious leaders for Iraqis to stay [...]
It turns out the Iraq War was indeed based, in part at least, on a lie.
Iraq’s PM re-affirms Iraq’s commitment to the U. S. withdrawal date in the Status of Forces Agreement.
Via the BBC: Tariq Aziz, Iraqi ex-minister, sentenced to death. Aziz was already in prison: In March 2009, he was jailed for 15 years for the executions of 42 Iraqi merchants. Five months later, he was sentenced to seven years’ further imprisonment for his role in the forced displacement of Kurds. Based solely on the [...]
Despite the Obama Administration’s declaration of an end to “combat operations,” the situation in Iraq remains as unstable as it was when we were actually engaged in a war: BAGHDAD – At least 29 people were killed and more than 100 others were injured when a pair of bombs exploded almost simultaneously Sunday in Baghdad. [...]
Saddam Hussein’s closest adviser in the 1990s, Tariq Aziz, is talking to reporters, and he wants American troops to stay in Iraq.
The Pentagon can not account for 95 percent of the Iraq oil revenue from 2004 to 2007.
Via CBS: Biden Makes Surprise Visit to Iraq. As I have noted before: I continue to think that the need to continue to have all high-level visits to be “unannounced” or via “surprise” to be a useful metric in measuring the security situation in Iraq. Certainly it speaks volumes about the fact that security is [...]
Via the BBC: Baghdad election results upheld by election commission "The number of the seats are still the same and didn’t change," electoral official Qassim al-Abboudi told reporters, adding that the recount’s outcome was compatible with the original results announced in March Now a governing coalition has to formed, as no party has a majority [...]
After a brief hiatus, the next episode of OTB Radio, our BlogTalkRadio program, will record and air live from 5:30-6:30 Eastern. The tired and very, very busy Dave Schuler and I will be joined by a special guest, Colonel Pat Lang of Sic Semper Tyrannis to talk about the WikiLeaks Iraq video, Afghan president Hamid [...]
TNR’s Marty Peretz argues that “The Verdict Is In On The Long American Excursion In Iraq. And It Is Favorable.” He admits right at the outset that, “Of course, Iraq hasn’t turned out that well. Sunni jihadniks are still routinely murdering pious Shi’a on pilgrimage to Karbala.” But, he contends, “There are three especially compelling [...]
It isn’t a single election that makes a country democratic but durable, persistent democratic institutions and the peaceful turning over of power as the result of a democratic election. Iraq under Saddam had elections; everybody always knew what the outcome would be. Tomorrow Iraqis return to the polls to elect a new national government. This [...]
Responding to my post on the Pentagon’s findings that Fort Hood shooter Hasan’s supervisors didn’t do their job, Bernard Finel observes: A major challenge, though, is that there is a strong element of “social promotion” nowadays. Whereas promotion to O-4 (Major) used to be in the 80% range, now over 95% of eligible O-3s get [...]
A recent ABC-BBC-ARD survey of Afghanistan has both given hopes to those who support NATO’s mission in Afghanistan and created a backlash among doubters. The news in the poll was astoundingly good, with the trends for almost every issue pointing in the right direction and, in some cases, rocketing in that direction. But, how seriously [...]
Former UN Ambassador John Bolton argues that we need to get the bureaucracy out of intelligence if we are to adequately assess the threats facing the country. Although the U.S. intelligence community (IC) has been stung by failures relating to the Christmas terrorist attack, these failures are symptomatic of far larger problems. In analyzing the [...]
The Obama administration has announced that citizens traveling to the United States from 14 countries will undergo more intensive airport security screening. Eric Lipton for NYT: Citizens of 14 nations, including Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Nigeria, who are flying to the United States will be subjected indefinitely to the intense screening at airports worldwide that [...]
We’re about to pass a rather significant milestone: The last deployment for a U.S. Marine Corps unit in Iraq marks the closing of a military chapter for the war as they prepare to leave the country, troops said. More than 40,000 members of the U.S. Marines rolled over the Kuwait border into Iraq in March [...]
CNN just sent out a Breaking News alert about an incident on the Iran-Iraq border. Iranian forces took control of a southern Iraqi oil well on a disputed section of the border on Friday, US and Iraqi officials told AFP. “There has been no violence related to this incident and we trust this will be [...]
Are you a terrorist who would like to blow up an airliner but confused about how best to elude screening? Well, luckily for you, the Transportation Security Administration has published a How To manual to answer all your questions. In a massive security breach, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) inadvertently posted online its airport screening [...]
Remember a couple of weeks ago, when Congress passed a $680 billion appropriation? Well, don’t worry–the military will be getting still more money: The nation’s top military officer said Wednesday that he expected the Pentagon to ask Congress in the next few months for emergency financing to support the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, even [...]
My first piece for ForeignPolicy.com, “Europe’s Obama Fatigue,” is online. Despite George W. Bush’s defiant “you’re with us or you’re against us” public stance, he actively solicited advice and input from his NATO partners. Obama, by contrast, is saying all the right things in public about transatlantic relations and NATO but adopting a high-handed policy and [...]
Month to date there have been four U. S. casualties in Iraq. Each death remains a tragedy but that’s a far cry from a year ago or two years ago. Fatalities in the Iraqi security forces have declined, too, each month of this year seeing fewer casualties than in the corresponding month of last year. [...]
Armed forces recruiting is at its highest levels in the all-volunteer era, Ann Scott Tyson reports for WaPo. For the first time in more than 35 years, the U.S. military has met all of its annual recruiting goals, as hundreds of thousands of young people have enlisted despite the near-certainty that they will go to [...]
Dick Cheney is breaking the mold on how recently-departed vice presidents act. First, he immediately went into attack mode against President Obama. Now, he’s going after President Bush, too. Bart Gelman for WaPo: Cheney’s disappointment with the former president surfaced recently in one of the informal conversations he is holding to discuss the book with [...]
If you only read one thing today, read the for-the-record answers from the Director of National Intelligence to questions from the Senate Intelligence Committee in April 2009. At the very least read the tickler summary from the blog of the Federation of American Scientists, which has done a genuine service in obtaining this document under [...]
Barbara Walter, professor of political science at UC San Diego, warns of removing our troops from Iraq prematurely in an op-ed in the LA Times: Right now, U.S. forces serve two important purposes. First, they signal to Maliki and the dominant Shiite population that a decisive victory over the Sunnis and Kurds will not be [...]
The Conservative Wahoo makes an interesting point: “Are There No Live People Worthy of the Medal of Honor?” News yesterday of the upcoming posthumous award of the Medal of Honor to SFC Jared Monti, USA for conspicuous gallantry in Afghanistan. I am humbled and awed any time I read of the bravery and selflessness of [...]
I’d like to draw your attention to a new article by Donald Snow, Professor Emeritus at the University of Alabama and authority on foreign policy, international relations, and national security at New Atlanticist on the feasibility of counter-insurgency in Afghanistan. I won’t attempt to dissect Dr. Snow’s article but will only say that his observations [...]
In accordance with the status of forces agreement negotiated between the U. S. government and the Iraqi national government last year under Presidents Bush and Maliki, respectively, U. S. forces are no longer to be seen on the streets of Baghdad: BAGHDAD — Iraq declared a public holiday Tuesday to celebrate the official withdrawal of [...]
Given how much of the early years of OTB was devoted to writing about the war in Iraq, it wouldn’t do to fail to mention the fact that we have formally handed over control of Baghdad to the Iraqis, withdrawing our combat troops. It was not at all long ago that the headline currently topping [...]
I was always skeptical of the idea that democracy in Iraq would be so attractive in the Middle East that it would spread virally throughout the region. However, Iraq does serve as a useful model to its neighbor, Iran, in one particular and the editorial board of the Christian Science Monitor is performing good service [...]
Matt Yglesias has discovered the facts that 1) each state gets two Senators and 2) some states are bigger than others, a condition that has obtained since the inception of our current system in 1789. There was, as some may recall having read, this thing called the Great Compromise whereby delegates representing sovereign states under [...]
Hilzoy pronounces herself “happy as a clam” with President Obama’s speech yesterday on national security issues, with one glaring exception: But even when this process is complete, there may be a number of people who cannot be prosecuted for past crimes, in some cases because evidence may be tainted, but who nonetheless pose a threat [...]
It appears that suicide bombings are back in a big way in Iraq: At least 75 people were killed and 120 injured in two explosions in Iraq on Thursday that shook a quiet residential Baghdad neighborhood and a restive city north of the capital where Iranian tourists were targeted. In the first attack, a woman [...]
“South Park” creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker tell The Telegraph that they got a signed picture of Saddam Hussein from some Iraq Marines. During his captivity, US marines forced Saddam, who was executed in 2006, to repeatedly watch the move South Park: Bigger, Longer And Uncut, which shows him as gay, as well as [...]
I’ve been following the growing “Tea Party” and “Going Galt” movements with no small amount of amusement, in part because there is really just too much sweet, delicious irony surrounding both of these groups of people (who, I might add, are largely the same people). Here’s a few observations: The “Tea Parties”, of course, started [...]
Yesterday, as was noted here and there, was the 6th anniversary of the United States invasion of Iraq. That we’re still there after so many years is remarkable — depending on who’s counting, it’s the second longest war in American history — but the number 6 isn’t one we pay much attention to. We like [...]
Given that OTB got started during the run-up to the Iraq War and that my commentary on that subject was what first got me noticed by some major blogs, it’s perhaps ironic that I’ve hardly written about the subject lately. Partly, it’s a function of my now doing most of my foreign policy blogging at [...]
Making good on his campaign promise, today President Obama announced that all U. S. troops will have been withdrawn from Iraq by August 2011 and all “combat bridades” will have been withdrawn by August 2010: In remarks prepared for delivery at Camp Lejeune, Mr. Obama said, “Let me say this as plainly as I can: [...]
Hilary Bok is rather bent out of shape at a Washington Whispers poll which asks “If you had a choice of four daycare centers run separately by Michelle Obama, Sarah Palin, Hillary Clinton, and Nancy Pelosi, which would you choose for your kids?” She suggests some alternative poll questions: If you needed some yard work [...]
The Army is beginning a pilot program to allow skilled green card holders to enlist and get a fast-track to citizenship, Julia Preston reports on the front page of today’s NYT. Stretched thin in Afghanistan and Iraq, the American military will begin recruiting skilled immigrants who are living in this country with temporary visas, offering [...]