Hats off to Bob Gates for being a true patriot. For realizing that the real threat to our national security isn’t a group of angry beards in a Pakistani cave or a gaggle of rogue nations whose combined defense spending doesn’t approach one-tenth of ours, but rather the waste and cozy corruption within our own [...]
Archive for the ‘Afghanistan’ Category
The Lonely Voice of Bob Gates
Posted in Afghanistan, Al Qaeda, defense spending, Fundamentalism, Iran, Iraq, islam, Muslims, nuclear weapon, Pakistan, Radical, South Asia, Taliban, terrorism, U.S. Foreign Policy, Uncategorized, tagged Afghanistan, Al Qaeda, America, defense spending, democracy, Iran, Iraq, islam, Middle East, nuclear, Pakistan, Radical, Taliban, terrorism, U.S. Foreign Policy on July 14, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Islam’s Hidden Light
Posted in Afghanistan, Al Qaeda, Fundamentalism, Iraq, islam, Middle East, Muslims, Radical, Shabab, Somalia, terrorism, U.S. Foreign Policy, tagged Al Qaeda, islam, Middle East, Muslims, Radical, Shabab, Somalia, terrorism, U.S. Foreign Policy on June 8, 2010 | 1 Comment »
Lost among headlines recently of state-sponsored piracy on the high seas and Americans headed to Somalia for jihadist training was a stunning Washington Post article by Sudarsan Raghavan about a little-known militia on the fringes of the civilized world. When we hear the word militia, it typically conjures up negative connotations in our heads; vigilantes [...]
Talibaning Times Square
Posted in Afghanistan, Al Qaeda, Fundamentalism, India, islam, Middle East, Muslims, Osama, Pakistan, Radical, South Asia, Taleban, Taliban, terrorism, U.S. Foreign Policy, tagged Afghanistan, Al Qaeda, India, islam, Middle East, Mumbai, Muslims, nuclear, Pakistan, Radical, Saudi Arabia, South Asia, Taliban, terrorism, U.S. Foreign Policy on May 5, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
It’s too early to know all the facts in the failed Times Square car bomb, but its looks like at least one US citizen of Pakistani heritage was involved and that the plot emanated at least in part from South Asia. Coinciding with the recent conviction of the lone surviving Mumbai terrorist, also a Pakistani trained and [...]
Strange Bedfellows
Posted in Afghanistan, Al Qaeda, Egypt, elections, Hamas, Hizbullah, Iran, Iraq, islam, Israel, Lebanon, Middle East, Muslims, Pakistan, Radical, South Asia, Sunni, Taleban, Taliban, terrorism, U.S. Foreign Policy, tagged Afghanistan, Al Qaeda, America, Americans, Egypt, elections, Hamas, Iran, Iraq, islam, Israel, Lebanon, Middle East, Muslims, Pakistan, Palestine, Palestinians, South Asia, Taliban, terrorism, U.S. Foreign Policy on April 7, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
You wonder what Afghan president Hamid Karzai was thinking over the past several days as he unleashed a fusillade of vitriol against his primary benefactor, the United States. His comments, such as “foreigners” were responsible for the presidential election fraud that declared him the outright winner, or that he was prepared to join the Taliban [...]
Iran’s Conflicted Diaspora: A Force for Change?
Posted in Afghanistan, Fundamentalism, India, Iran, Iraq, islam, Israel, Lebanon, Middle East, nuclear weapon, Pakistan, Radical, U.S. Foreign Policy, tagged Afghanistan, America, Americans, Diaspora, India, Iran, Iranians, Iraq, islam, Israel, Lebanon, Middle East, mullah, nuclear, Pakistan, Radical, Shia, U.S. Foreign Policy on March 15, 2010 | 2 Comments »
Iran’s cunning leadership has effectively divided the major powers of the world between those willing to engage with it and others who seek to contain or even obliterate it. Without unity and leadership among these various nations, the idea of outside actors influencing real change in Iranian behavior is dead on arrival. Iranians themselves are [...]
Iran Schools America in Smart Power
Posted in Afghanistan, democracy, Hizbullah, Iran, Iraq, islam, Israel, Lebanon, Middle East, Muslims, Pakistan, Taleban, Taliban, U.S. Foreign Policy, tagged Afghanistan, America, Americans, democracy, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Middle East, Muslims, Pakistan, Taliban, U.S. Foreign Policy on March 8, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
$1.05 trillion already appropriated by Congress. Billions more on the way to support the surge in Afghanistan and the drawdown in Iraq. Over 5,300 American women and men dead. Over 30,000 wounded, in Iraq alone. Hundreds of thousands of others who will rely on government health care for the rest of their lives to cope [...]
Chalabi, Again…
Posted in 9/11, Afghanistan, Al Qaeda, democracy, elections, Fundamentalism, Iran, Iraq, islam, Middle East, Muslims, Radical, September 11, Sunni, terrorism, U.S. Foreign Policy, tagged 9/11, Afghanistan, Al Qaeda, America, Americans, democracy, elections, Iran, Iraq, islam, Jordan, Middle East, Muslims, Radical, terrorism, U.S. Foreign Policy on February 22, 2010 | 1 Comment »
In the latest news from Iraq, that forgotten battlefield where over 100,000 uniformed American men and women (and thousands of others without uniforms) are still stationed, the main Sunni political party has just withdrawn from next month’s national elections. Their reason: A vetting panel headed by two Shi’ite politicians with close ties to Iran has [...]
Baiting Cheney and the Chicken-Hawks
Posted in 9/11, Afghanistan, Al Qaeda, Fundamentalism, Iran, Iraq, islam, Middle East, Muslims, Osama, Radical, September 11, terrorism, U.S. Foreign Policy, tagged 9/11, Al Qaeda, America, Americans, Iran, Iraq, islam, Middle East, Muslims, Radical, terrorism, U.S. Foreign Policy on February 16, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
In a nondescript compound somewhere in the mountainous Tribal Areas of Pakistan, Osama Bin Laden sits cross-legged with his top lieutenant, Ayman Zawahiri, and watches Dick Cheney on ABC’s This Week this past Sunday. Osama sits in silence listening to the Mother Hen of America’s Chicken Hawks- the cabal of ideologues with names like Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, [...]
A Little Island with More Backbone than a Super Power
Posted in 9/11, Afghanistan, Al Qaeda, democracy, Egypt, Fundamentalism, Iran, Iraq, islam, Israel, Middle East, Muslims, Osama, Pakistan, Radical, September 11, South Asia, Sunni, Taliban, terrorism, U.S. Foreign Policy, tagged 9/11, Afghanistan, Al Qaeda, America, Americans, democracy, Egypt, Gaza, Iran, Iraq, islam, Israel, Jordan, Middle East, Muslims, Palestine, Palestinians, Radical, Saudi Arabia, terrorism, U.S. Foreign Policy on February 10, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
George Washington University professor Jonathan Turley said it best yesterday on Keith Olbermann regarding the British Public Inquiry into the Iraq War that recently saw former Prime Minister Tony Blair extensively questioned: “The British have this quaint notion, don’t they, that their leaders should have to explain decisions that cost thousands of lives and billions [...]
Terror Spirals From Pakistan to Iraq…
Posted in 9/11, Afghanistan, Al Qaeda, democracy, Fundamentalism, Iran, Iraq, islam, Middle East, Muslims, Osama, Pakistan, Radical, South Asia, Taleban, Taliban, terrorism, U.S. Foreign Policy, tagged 9/11, Afghanistan, Al Qaeda, America, Americans, Iran, Iraq, islam, Middle East, Muslims, Pakistan, Radical, South Asia, Taliban, terrorism, U.S. Foreign Policy on February 3, 2010 | 1 Comment »
Pakistan has come to another critical point in its war against extremism with the unconfirmed reports that the Pakistani Taliban leader, Hakimullah Mehsud, has succumbed to wounds he sustained in a U.S. drone attack in January. If the reports prove true, that would be two Taliban leaders, as well as numerous mid-level operatives, lost [...]
