Obama’s Election Didn’t Defeat al-Qaeda, Surprise!

Al-Qaeda has released a new tape directed at the US administration, and many are calling it a “mild” approach.
In the tape, the leader of al-Qaeda’s Iraqi division “calls on the incoming US administration and allied Western leaders to embrace Islam, withdraw troops from Iraq and Afghanistan, and release Muslim prisoners from there and from Guantanamo [...]

(Re)Discovering Iraq: Restoring Sovereignty or Undermining Security?

Members of Iraq’s 37-member cabinet voted on Sunday to approve a security agreement setting conditions for the U.S. presence in Iraq.

The Latest Deal
The Iraqi Cabinet has agreed to a new pact with the US military. The terms of the pact are an agreement to place US troops in Iraq under the authority of the [...]

Rediscovering Iraq: Triple Bombing, Working with Locals

Today, when I looked at the news headlines I saw a story about iraq. Its been a long time since I’ve paid attention to Iraq. In Fall 2006, I took a class entitled Post Saddam Iraq and it was one of the most intense classes I’ve ever taken. Since then, I’ve been largely unaware of [...]

Commending Belligerants for Nonviolent Actions in Iraq

I was very pleased to see this article as the main headline on the BBC News website this morning. However one may feel about Shi’a cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and his followers, it is imperative that nonviolent actions in Iraq be publicized and positively acknowledged.The group may condone violence, but to only talk about their expressed [...]

Iraq, another reason to hire me after graduation

So I’m really not paying that much attention to the ‘08 election. At least not as much as other people think I am. Its more out of cynicism than actual ambivalence. My area of expertise (ha ha, expertise. that’s funny) is in foreign policy, and I don’t think the next American president is going to [...]

Odds and Ends, The April Edition

Ok seriously? No one had anything to say about my Sadr post where I compared him to a monkey? (and oddly enough, in that photo, he does seem to possess some Planet of the Apes type features) I’m shocked. Or y’alls are just jaded. All 7 of you.
Odds and ends for the day, not [...]

Ugh

So the Washington Post is confirming that authorities in Iraq believe the two female suicide bombers had down syndrome and that they did not set off the bomb themselves, it may have been detonated remotely. There are definitely cases of female suicide bombers who are completely willing participants, but this obviously is not the case [...]

No hearting of the Huckabees

So what to do today? Hmm…How about tear apart a presidential candidate’s article for Foreign Affairs magazine? Yes. That sounds like a good idea. Spotlight on: Mike Huckabee.
I have issues with Huckabee outside of his article, America’s Priorities In The War on Terror. Like sticking to a very silly promise made to an American [...]

Sycophantism and Waziristan Part III

Fresh on the heels of Robert Gates’ statement that the US was ready to send troops into Waziristan, Dr. Ahmed talks about the dangers of favoring a military option in Waziristan, especially in light of the failures in Iraq and Afghanistan in Part III of his interview with The Globalist.
“I would say that the [...]

Bush’s Wild on the Middle East Tour…some issues

I just read a great article in Time about Bush’s Middle East tour and why many Arabs are skeptical of his urges for peace. The article describes the exact sorts of concerns I have with Bush’s visit.
1. Helping the Palestinians.…Arabs cynically see Bush’s endorsement of Palestinian statehood as part of the White House’s effort [...]