News Abroad

Want to End Terrorism? End Foreign Occupations.

by Juan Cole

Fareed Zakariya argues that Bush got one thing right. Zakariya writes: "Bush never accepted the view that Islamic terrorism had its roots in religion or culture or the Arab-Israeli conflict. Instead he veered toward the analysis that the region was breeding terror because it had developed deep dysfunctions caused by decades of repression and an almost total lack of political, economic and social modernization. The Arab

Why Iraq, Like Vietnam, Is Immoral and Unnecessary

by Peter Kirstein

There are numerous parallels between America’s wars in Vietnam and Iraq. Both were unnecessary, unjust wars that severely damaged the international reputation of the United States. While it contravenes the vision of American exceptionalism, the U.S. is reviled for its preemptive, unilateralist foreign policy that is characteristic of state-sponsored terrorism. It is no accident that Europeans consider the United States a major threat to international peace and security. A Pew Glo

Is Congress AWOL on Iraq?

by James M. Carter

Is the Congress today doing its job with respect to the continuing war in Iraq? This is now more than ever an appropriate question for Americans to begin to ask. The Congress is, of course, vested by the Constitution with certain responsibilities of oversight. Its members, as representatives of the people, are expected to ask the difficult questions. They are expected to ensure the proper working of the government. They are expected, to as great an extent as is possible, to make the go

A Brief History of Lebanon Dispels the Illusion that President Bush Is Driving Events There

by Juan Cole

It is often pointed out that presidents get too much praise and blame for the economy, since the domestic economy has its own rhythms. We are now going to see everything that happens in the Middle East attributed to George W. Bush, whether he had much to do with it or not (usually not). What is now Lebanon consists of relatively hilly territory along the eastern Mediterranean coast. The mountains allowed small and often heterodox religious groups to survive, since t

Why the Bush Policy Is Failing in North Korea

by James I. Matray

On February 10 Peter Jennings reported on ABC’s "Evening News" North Korea’s public announcement that it possessed nuclear weapons. 

Ariel Sharon Pulls a Nixon

by Derek Catsam

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, the arch-conservative old warrior from the Likud Party, has undertaken something that no one would have thought possible: He has been engaging in serious negotiations with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. It was Sharon's visit to the al-Aqsa mosque as opposition leader in September 2000 that precipitated the Palestinian declaration of Intifada that has raged for more than four years. That Sharon is now at the center of not only quelling th

The Traffic Accident in Syria in 1994 that May Lead to Lebanon's Freedom in 2005

by Daniel Pipes

The fate of Syria was in good measure determined on January 21, 1994. That's when, driving at a too-high speed to the Damascus airport for a skiing trip abroad, Basil Al-Assad crashed the Mercedes he was driving, killing himself and his passengers.The accident had great consequence because Basil, then 31, was being groomed to succeed his father, Hafez Al-Assad, as dictator of Syria. All indications pointed to the equestrian, martial, and charismatic Basil making for a formidable rule

Why Senji Yamaguchi--A Survivor of Nagasaki--Should Win the Nobel Peace Prize

by Irwin Abrams

This year is the 60th anniversary of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, as well as of the coming five-year review of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and it is good that several nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize of 2005 have been made with the threat of nuclear weapons in mind, whose use could result in the extinction of human life on this planet. The American Friends Service Committee has nominated Nihon Hidankyo, the international confederation of Atomic and Hydrogen Bomb Suffer

The North Korean Holocaust. Yes. Holocaust.

by Judith Apter Klinghoffer

Did you know that the South Korean government is involved in a willful cover-up of evidence both of the true extent of the atrocities perpetrated in North Korea’s Gulag and also of any signs of internal opposition to its Stalinist government? Well, here goes: “There is no shortage of stories these days suggesting that the North Korean regime is coming apart at the seams. There's even talk of the "A" word - not "assassination", but rather "asyl

Woodrow Wilson's Burden, Bush's--And Ours

by Robert S. McElvaine

Much has been written about the echoes of Woodrow Wilson’s idealism in George W. Bush’s second inaugural address, and echoes there certainly are. At least as significant, however, are critical differences between these two presidents and their visions of worldwide democracy. . Their similar overreaching is neither sustainable nor in the best interests of the United States, and the differences make Bush’s vision more dangerous. First, the important similarities: Like W.W., W

The Tragedy of American Diplomacy in Iraq*

by Carl Mirra

During the summer of 2004, the Historians against the War sponsored a Town Hall Meeting in New York City to discuss how far to the right the Bush administration has moved. The historians group invited West Point graduate and eminent scholar of international relations, Andrew Bacevich. The former colonel surprised the crowd by announcing that he voted for Bush in 2000, but was distressed by the administration’s “stupidity” and “arrogance” as well as its muscular u

Shouldn't a President Concerned About Nuclear Proliferation Support the Treaty Controlling Nuclear Weapons?

by Lawrence S. Wittner

According to recent news reports and as hinted in the president's State of the Union Address, the neocons who dominate the Bush administration are gearing up for another pre-emptive military attack, this time upon Iran. The ostensible reason for such an attack is that the Iranian government is developing nuclear weapons.In fact, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which regularly inspects Iran's nuclear operations, has not found any signs of nuclear w

The Iraq Election: First Impressions

by Juan Cole

I'm just appalled by the cheerleading tone of US news coverage of the so-called elections in Iraq on Sunday. I said on television last week that this event is a"political earthquake" and"a historical first step" for Iraq. It is an event of the utmost importance, for Iraq, the Middle East, and the world. All the boosterism has a kernel of truth to it, of course. Iraqis hadn't been able to choose their leaders at all in recent decades, even by some strange process where they chose unknown leaders.

Twelve Theses on the War in Iraq and the Future of U.S. Politics

by Van Gosse

1. The war in Iraq is virtually unwinnable and will only get worse: more serious casualties for U.S. forces, more war-crimes against Iraqi civilians, more resistance (and more terrorism) and a de facto civil war leading to a continuously boiling pot. 2. The U.S. has no further military resources to draw upon though it will need many more simply to maintain stability in Iraq. Its options will be a) more mercenaries, b) state terror to "put down" the resistan

Why It's Time for Truman Democrats

by Rachel Belton and Matthew Spence

On the morning of November 2, 2004, Americans gazed upon a dangerous world. Iran and North Korea, implacable enemies and terrorist financiers, were on the cusp of becoming nuclear powers -- if they were not already. The 9/11 Commission had declared our intelligence system broken. Civilians were being kidnapped in Afghanistan, Americans vacationing in friendly countries were stunned by the vehemence of anti-Americanism, and staunch allies were forced by domestic opinion

The Future as the Pentagon Envisions It (Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid)

by Tom Engelhardt

Here's a strange, small tale of our times, as reported from Washington by Guy Dinmore in the sober British Financial Times (Powell gives bleak assessment of

Bush Pere Feared Democracy, Bush Fils Embraces It

by Judith Apter Klinghoffer

Something surprising happened on Saturday. The father who for four years meticulously avoided interfering with his son’s handling the job he once had, entered the White House briefing room to signal reporters not to take his son’s inaugural rhetoric about enabling the spread of democracy seriously. Being a savvy diplomat, Bush, the father, merely noted that W’s words did not mean "new aggression or newly

Why Elections in Iraq Are No Panacea

by Stuart Schaar

All empires have their rationales for expansion and conquest. The British had their “White Man’s Burden,” the French had a “Civilizing Mission,” and the United States has preached “Manifest Destiny,” or the God-given right to spread democracy. Nowadays, in the rush to legitimize handpicked officials in Afghanistan, Iraq and Palestine, U.S. rulers have backed elections, which they seem to equate with democracy. Certainly elections, if candidates are fa

How the British Media Have Changed the Way They Have Described Iraq Since 1980

by Michael Seymour

Of the many cultural losses in the immediate aftermath of the 2003 occupation of Iraq, it was the looting of the Iraq Museum in Baghdad that came to symbolize the destruction occurring nationally. The level of media coverage of and public concern for Iraq’s heritage was remarkable but short-lived. The intertwining of political and cultural reporting, however, has been a long-standing feature o

Why If We Don't Leave Iraq Now We May Bring on a Civil War

by Robert Fernea

I lived in the Shi'a region in southern of Iraq with my wife for two years from 1956 to 1958 and I returned to the same small community for a brief visit in 1996. All my professional life I have been a professor of social-cultural anthropology and Middle Eastern Studies, with a special interest in Iraq. From the beginning, I was firmly convinced that the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq was a great mistake. I still believe this. Iraq was the victim of a misguided neoconservative agenda,