Analysis & Commentary
Islamic State of Iraq Leader Defies Zawahiri in Alleged Audio Message
An audio message attributed to Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, the emir of the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI), "surfaced on social networking web sites on June 14," according to the...
Analysis: Zawahiri’s Letter to al Qaeda Branches in Syria, Iraq
Al Jazeera has published a letter that was purportedly written by Ayman al Zawahiri to the heads of al Qaeda's franchises in Iraq and Syria. Two senior US intelligence officials...
Obama Pulls Back in Fight Against al Qaeda
President Obama's speech yesterday which outlined his vision of the future of the fight against al Qaeda and allied groups was a long time coming.
New Ideas for Cooperatively Preventing WMD Attacks from the Middle East
The danger that weapons of mass destruction (WMD) from the Middle East will be used against the United States or its allies has been heightened by several recent developments.
Assessing the Threat to the Homeland from al Qaeda Operations in Iran and Syria
Al Qaeda’s Iran-based network has not only facilitated the movement of terrorists to the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan, but has also been implicated in plots...
Catastrophic Consensus: A Dissent From Spengler and Mead
Spengler (aka David Goldman) is one of my close friends and a long-time guru. William Russell Mead is just a guru, but I’m an avid fan. So when I find myself disagreeing...
Al Nusrah Front’s Emir to be Added to US Terrorism List
The US State Department will add Sheikh Abu Muhammad al Julani, the emir of al Qaeda's affiliate in Syria, to the list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists in a decision to be announced...
Erdogan’s Great Gamble
Something quite extraordinary -- perhaps even historic -- is afoot in Turkey. The country's prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is engaged in a colossal roll of the political dice...
Report Finds Iran Among Worst Violators of Religious Freedom
Religious freedom is in short supply in the Middle East, according to the bipartisan U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, which has issued a report finding Iran chief...
America Live
FDD's Clifford D. May discusses a recent Pew poll on the popularity of sharia in the Muslim world and alarming opinions on the use of suicide bombing.
America’s Inexcusable Inaction
Twenty-five years ago last month, the small, northern Iraqi town of Halabja became irrevocably associated with places like Auschwitz, Srebrenica and other sites of human depravity.
WMD Deterrence in Syria
There is one more lesson to draw from Israeli revelations about Syria’s alleged use of sarin gas against insurgents, which Max Boot commented on yesterday.
Previewing Iraq’s Provincial Elections
This Saturday, Iraqis head to the polls to vote for provincial councils -- the country's first elections since U.S. troops withdrew sixteen months ago. The balloting comes at a time of growing peril for Iraq.
Al Qaeda in Iraq, Al Nusrah Front Emerge as Rebranded Single Entity
The emir of al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), Abu Bakr al Baghdadi (also known as Abu Dua), has announced a new brand for his organization's efforts: the "Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant." The new name replaces...
The John Batchelor Show
Al Qaeda in Iraq.
Holy Wars
In much of what we now call the Muslim world, Muslims are fighting Muslims. The conflicts fall into two broad categories: those in which militants battle militants, and those in which militants battle moderates. The outcomes of these conflicts matter.
Neglecting the Costs of Inaction
Ten years after the launch of the Iraq War, the litany of costs associated with this allegedly “failed” mission has been repeated ad infinitum: some 100,000 dead Iraqi civilians, more than 4,000 dead...
At the U.N., Iran Is a Powerhouse, Not a Pariah
President Obama likes to describes Iran as "isolated." But there is nothing lonely about Iran's berth at the United Nations, where in the corridors and on the boards of powerful agencies...
Iraq: The Consequences of Bugging Out
There is no better example of the trouble wrought by President Obama and Hillary Clinton’s policy of retreat and retrenchment than the sight of Secretary of State John Kerry pleading with Iraqi...
The Charles Adler Show
The 10th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq.
