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The Wave: Man, God, and the Ballot Box in the Middle East
The promise of democracy for Muslims offers something historically unparalleled. Where Islamist groups once dreamed of revolution, quietly developed paramilitary cells, and assassinated their secular opponents, mainstream Islamist groups today see elections as a means for society to maintain akhlaq; the mores that define good Muslims.
Learn MoreAnalysis & Commentary - Reuel Marc Gerecht
Obama’s Way of War
Is Barack Obama a warrior president? Not in the British tradition, of course, which gave us Winston Churchill, with his crazy cavalry charge against Sudanese spears, or the more cerebral Harold Macmillan, shot to pieces in World War I. more...
Did Obama Improve Our Position in Afghanistan?
I asked Cliff May of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies his take on whether the Taliban was growing stronger. He answered via e-mail: “They have an ideology/theology they believe in. more...
Negotiations That Matter
Since we don’t know what Saeed Jalili, Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator, said at the recent confab in Istanbul, we can’t be sure that Israeli prime minister Bibi Netanyahu was right to dismiss the powwow as a “freebie” for Tehran. more...
Year After bin Laden’s Death: Al-Qaeda ‘Far From Defeated’
"He created an organization and developed it," said Reuel Marc Gerecht, a former CIA official and senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. "I don't think his death fundamentally affects the future of jihadist groups in Pakistan and Afghanistan,"... more...
Israel Can’t Afford the Happy Talk
Reuel Marc Gerecht posits that real success is almost certainly unattainable and would require that Iran “(1) Stop all uranium enrichment to 20 percent purity, which is near bomb-grade; (2) ship abroad the entire stockpile of 20 percent enriched uranium... more...
The Islamist Road to Democracy
For many on the American left and right, the "Arab Spring" has become the "Arab Winter" of triumphant fundamentalists. In Egypt, where Arab liberalism was once strong, religious parties overwhelmed secularists in recent parliamentary elections. more...
Iran’s Trail of Terror
Not since the fall of the Soviet Union has any nation so aggressively pursued alliances with bad actors in so many places worldwide, acknowledged Reuel Marc Gerecht, a former CIA officer who focused primarily on Iran. more...
Iran’s Spymaster Counters US Moves in the Mideast
Last October, a former Central Intelligence Agency spy, Reuel Marc Gerecht, testified before Congress that if the Qods Force's role in last year's alleged plot to kill the Saudi ambassador is proven, the U.S. "should hold Qasem Soleimani responsible…. Go get him, either try to capture him or kill him." more...
How Washington Encourages Israel to Bomb Iran
In recent speeches, interviews and private meetings, President Obama has been trying hard to dissuade Israel from bombing Iran's nuclear facilities. All along, however, he's actually made it much easier for Israel to attack. more...
Conservatives Lead From the Front, but Will Obama Follow?
In February, a distinguished list of conservative foreign policy experts including Liz Cheney, Cliff May and Max Boot wrote to Obama, warning: “Unless the United States takes the lead and acts, either individually or in concert with like-minded nations... more...
Taking Damascus, One, Two, Three
Although Bashar al-Assad could still kill off the revolt against his tyranny, it seems increasingly unlikely. The rebellion today is far larger—geographically and numerically—than the rebellion of the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood in Hama in 1982. more...
EU Pays Price for Oil Sanctions on Iran: John Kemp
In an influential report on the "Oil Market Impact of Sanctions Against the Central Bank of Iran", which has circulated widely in Washington and European capitals, sanctions advocates Mark Dubowitz and Reuel Marc Gerecht of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies... more...
Conservatives Call for Obama to Intervene in Syria
Fifty-six leading conservative foreign-policy experts wrote an open letter Friday to U.S. President Barack Obama calling on him to directly aid the Syrian opposition and protect the lives of Syrian civilians. more...
The Situation Room
Concerns over whether Iran is trying to target Jewish groups in the United States. more...
The Situation Room
Are the latest attacks on Israeli diplomats signs of a "secret war" with Iran? more...
Drones Are Not Enough
Has Barack Obama been a good counter-terrorist president? On the left, and even on the right, we usually hear a resounding “yes”: Obama has maintained, sometimes amplified, the programs that really keep us safe (predator drones, expansive use of domestic intercepts, unsavory intelligence liaison relationships, and rendition). more...
Regime Change: How Fear of Iran Nukes, and Campaign Politics, Revived the Call
Taking a cue from the Arab Spring and the toppling of Arab tyrants by popular movements, some regional experts say an Iranian population infuriated by increasingly dire economic conditions could do the same. more...
Economic Regime-Change Can Stop Iran Bomb
Iran’s threat to close the Strait of Hormuz, the choke-point for Persian Gulf oil shipments, reveals how deeply the latest Western sanctions -- and the threat of even tougher measures -- have spooked the clerical regime. more...
Can EU Oil Sanctions Create a Turning Point in Iran?
The strategy of inflicting laser-like oil sanctions on Iran without disrupting global energy markets, and thereby reducing Iran's oil profits, was first developed by Mark Dubowitz, executive director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) and Reuel Marc Gerecht, a former CIA officer and senior fellow at FDD. more...
Iran Says Scientist’s Murder Reveals Global Terror Campaign
That alone is difficult, said Reuel Marc Gerecht, a former Central Intelligence Agency specialist on Iran who is now at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, a Washington foreign- policy research organization. more...