As U.S. Weighs War, Iraqis Prepare a Carnival for Peace
by Laura Gottesdiener There’s a dark joke going around Baghdad these days. Noof Assi, a 30-year-old Iraqi peace activist and humanitarian worker, told it to me by phone. Our conversation takes place in...
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Protecting Somali Minorities Is Good Military Strategy
by Daniel Van Lehman and Lindsay J. Benstead President Trump—citing national security concerns—signed an executive order in April granting a one-year extension to the mandate of U.S. Special Operations...
View ArticleThe Fog of Selling a War
by Paul R. Pillar The “fog of war,” about which Carl von Clausewitz wrote, refers to the confusion and lack of knowledge of what an adversary is up to on a chaotic battlefield. Currently, those...
View ArticlePropaganda War to Real War: The MEK’s Treacherous Operation
by Assal Rad Under the guise of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) and ties to al-Qaeda, the Bush administration invaded Iraq in 2003—and the consequences have reverberated across the Middle East to...
View ArticleAl-Qaeda and Iran: The Bond that Does Not Exist
by Nelly Lahoud As the U.S. government continues to escalate its policy towards Iran, it would be sensible to eliminate al-Qaeda’s historical ties to Iran from its list of grievances. President Trump...
View ArticleU.S. Iran Policy Gives Me Vertigo
by Gary Sick Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the entire U.S. government insist that the United States has authorization to strike Iran at will since, among other things, it temporarily sheltered...
View ArticleThe Gathering Threat of Domestic Terrorism
by Emile Nakhleh The recent mass murder at Walmart in El Paso was an act of terrorism, not much different from similar international terrorist attacks. Terrorizing innocent civilians, whether...
View ArticleWithout Regional Stability, The Resurgence Of The Islamic State Or Emergence...
By Shireen T. Hunter The death of Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State (IS), is good news. However, it would be a mistake to think that his demise means the end of IS. Even if IS as an...
View ArticleDon’t Make It About the Oil
By Paul R. Pillar Confusion has prevailed regarding the purposes of the U.S. troop presence in Syria, and whether the declared purposes are the actual ones. Originally the expedition was widely...
View ArticleWatching My Students Turn Into Soldiers of Empire
By Danny Sjursen Patches, pins, medals, and badges are the visible signs of an exclusive military culture, a silent language by which soldiers and officers judge each other’s experiences,...
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