January 2010

Turkey’s generals sound the retreat

by Paul Woodward 01.12.2010

Turkey’s generals sound the retreat By Thomas Seibert, The National, January 11, 2010 Confronted with a wave of accusations that range from coup plots to assassination plans directed against high-profile critics, the Turkish military has ended its long-standing policy of stonewalling any attempt to investigate members of the armed forces from outside. When Gen Ilker [...]

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Don’t panic. Fear is al-Qaeda’s real goal

by Paul Woodward 01.11.2010

Don’t panic. Fear is al-Qaeda’s real goal By Fareed Zacharia, Washington Post, January 11, 2010 On Christmas an al-Qaeda affiliate launched an operation using one person, with no special target, and a failed technique tried eight years ago by “shoe bomber” Richard Reid. The plot seems to have been an opportunity that the group seized [...]

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The looming war in Gaza: Can Obama stop it before it starts?

by Paul Woodward 01.11.2010

The looming war in Gaza: Can Obama stop it before it starts? By Bradley Burston, Haaretz, January 11, 2010 Next week, or the week after, Barack Obama may well see intelligence reports of tank battalions moving south and west along Israeli highways, and whole infantry brigades setting up camp in the western Negev. The countdown [...]

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Cracks in the jihad

by Paul Woodward 01.11.2010

Cracks in the jihad By Thomas Rid, The Wilson Quarterly, Winter, 2010 “Get ready for all Muslims to join the holy war against you,” the jihadi leader Abd el-Kader warned his Western enemies. The year was 1839, and nine years into France’s occupation of Algeria the resistance had grown self-confident. Only weeks earlier, Arab fighters [...]

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Making sense of the new CIA battlefield in Afghanistan

by Paul Woodward 01.11.2010

Making sense of the new CIA battlefield in Afghanistan By Tom Engelhardt and Nick Turse, TomDispatch, January 10, 2010 It was a Christmas and New Year’s from hell for American intelligence, that $75 billion labyrinth of at least 16 major agencies and a handful of minor ones. As the old year was preparing to be [...]

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Iran offers nuke fuel deal

by Paul Woodward 01.11.2010

Iran offers nuke fuel deal By Laura Rozen, Politico, January 10, 2010 There are signs that negotiations with Iran over a nuclear fuel swap have resumed despite the expiration of the end-of-year deadline for a deal set by President Barack Obama. While the Obama administration has stepped up talk of expanding sanctions on the regime’s [...]

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Iraqis say they were forced to take Blackwater settlement

by Paul Woodward 01.11.2010

Iraqis say they were forced to take Blackwater settlement By Liz Sly, Los Angeles Times, January 11, 2010 Several victims of a 2007 shooting involving American private security guards employed by the firm formerly known as Blackwater alleged Sunday that they were coerced into reaching settlements, and they demanded that the Iraqi government intervene to [...]

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The other plot to wreck America

by Paul Woodward 01.10.2010

The other plot to wreck America By Frank Rich, New York Times, January 10, 2010 There may not be a person in America without a strong opinion about what coulda, shoulda been done to prevent the underwear bomber from boarding that Christmas flight to Detroit. In the years since 9/11, we’ve all become counterterrorists. But [...]

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How this suicide bomber opened a new front in Al-Qaeda’s war

by Paul Woodward 01.10.2010

How this suicide bomber opened a new front in Al-Qaeda’s war By Christina Lamb and Miles Amoore, The Sunday Times, January 10, 2010 According to the guard, Balawi had been to the base before. He claimed that before the doctor reached the first gate, the Afghan security guards in charge of the perimeter security were [...]

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We’re keeping detainees in the camp because we’re afraid of things they haven’t done yet?

by Paul Woodward 01.10.2010

We’re keeping detainees in the camp because we’re afraid of things they haven’t done yet? By Dahlia Lithwick, Slate, January 6, 2010 When it comes to being detained indefinitely at Guantanamo Bay, it’s not so much what you know as whom you know. Or whom you are alleged to know. Or whom you may know. [...]

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Elite Revolutionary Guard’s expanding role in Iran may limit U.S. options

by Paul Woodward 01.10.2010

Elite Revolutionary Guard’s expanding role in Iran may limit U.S. options By Thomas Erdbrink, Washington Post, January 10, 2010 A major expansion in the role played by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps is giving the elite force new economic and political clout, but it could also complicate efforts by the United States and its allies to [...]

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Israeli general Brigadier-General Uzi Eilam denies Iran is nuclear threat

by Paul Woodward 01.10.2010

Israeli general Brigadier-General Uzi Eilam denies Iran is nuclear threat By Uzi Mahnaimi, The Sunday Times, January 10, 2010 A general who was once in charge of Israel’s nuclear weapons has claimed that Iran is a “very, very, very long way from building a nuclear capability”. Brigadier-General Uzi Eilam, 75, a war hero and pillar [...]

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Imposing Middle East peace

by Paul Woodward 01.10.2010

Imposing Middle East peace By Henry Siegman, The Nation, January 7, 2010 Israel’s relentless drive to establish “facts on the ground” in the occupied West Bank, a drive that continues in violation of even the limited settlement freeze to which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu committed himself, seems finally to have succeeded in locking in the [...]

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Bomber who attacked CIA workers calls it revenge

by Paul Woodward 01.09.2010

Bomber who attacked CIA workers calls it revenge AP, January 9, 2010 The Jordanian doctor who killed seven CIA employees in a suicide attack in Afghanistan said in a video broadcast posthumously today that all jihadists must attack U.S. targets to avenge the death of Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud. The video showed Humam Khalil [...]

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White House aides said to chafe at slow pace of Afghan surge

by Paul Woodward 01.09.2010

White House aides said to chafe at slow pace of Afghan surge By Elisabeth Bumiller and Helene Cooper, New York Times, January 9, 2010 Senior White House advisers are frustrated by what they say is the Pentagon’s slow pace in deploying 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan and its inability to live up to an initial [...]

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Judge tosses out most evidence on Gitmo detainee

by Paul Woodward 01.09.2010

Judge tosses out most evidence on Gitmo detainee By Pete Yost, AP, January 8, 2010 A federal judge has tossed out most of the government’s evidence against a tarrorism detainee on grounds his confessions were coerced, allegedly by U.S. forces, before he became a prisoner at Guantanamo Bay. In a ruling this week, U.S. District [...]

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Shots fired at Iran opposition leader’s car, son says

by Paul Woodward 01.09.2010

Shots fired at Iran opposition leader’s car, son says By Nazila Fathi, New York Times, January 9, 2010 In yet another sign of escalating tensions in Iran, pro-government demonstrators shot at the armored car of the country’s most outspoken opposition leader, Mehdi Karroubi, his Web site Saham News reported Friday. No one was injured Thursday [...]

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Al Qaeda’s strategic advantage

by Paul Woodward 01.08.2010

The bomber’s wife By Adem Demir and Christopher Dickey, Newsweek, January 7, 2010 Soft-spoken and composed, but unmistakably angry, the wife of the suicide bomber who killed himself and seven employees of the CIA in Afghanistan on Dec. 30 says flatly, “My husband was anti-American; so am I.” About that, there are no regrets. In [...]

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What’s the difference between Obama’s anti-terrorism policies and Bush’s?

by Paul Woodward 01.08.2010

What’s the difference between Obama’s anti-terrorism policies and Bush’s? By Jacob Sullum, Reason, January 6, 2010 If Obama is pretending we are not at war, he is not doing a very good job of it. “Our nation is at war against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred,” he declared in his inaugural address. “I [...]

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Egypt ‘deports aid convoy leader’

by Paul Woodward 01.08.2010

Egypt ‘deports aid convoy leader’ Al Jazeera, January 8, 2010 George Galloway, the British MP leading the Viva Palestina international aid convoy to the Gaza Strip has been forced to leave Egypt, the group has said on its website. Galloway was apparently picked up by Egyptian officials at the Rafah border crossing on Friday and [...]

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Two defense contractors indicted in shooting of Afghans

by Paul Woodward 01.08.2010

Two defense contractors indicted in shooting of Afghans By Jerry Markon, Washington Post, January 8, 2010 Two defense contractors working for a subsidiary of the former Blackwater Worldwide were charged with shooting and killing two Afghan citizens in Kabul and wounding a third, prosecutors said Thursday, the first slayings linked to the firm in that [...]

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Iraq bars 15 political parties with Baathist ties from upcoming elections

by Paul Woodward 01.08.2010

Iraq bars 15 political parties with Baathist ties from upcoming elections By Leila Fadel and Qais Mizher, Washington Post, January 8, 2010 At least 15 parties will be banned from upcoming parliamentary elections because they have been linked to Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party or have promoted Baathist ideals, Iraqi officials said Thursday. The decision by [...]

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For the West, ‘Game over’ in Central Asia

by Paul Woodward 01.08.2010

For the West, ‘Game over’ in Central Asia By Andrea Bonzanni, World Politics Review, January 8, 2010 Last month, the West officially lost the new “Great Game.” The 20-year competition for natural resources and influence in Central Asia between the United States (supported by the European Union), Russia and China has, for now, come to [...]

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President Obama orders a ban on fly-swatting in the Ministry of Information

by Paul Woodward 01.08.2010

President Obama orders a ban on fly-swatting in the Ministry of Information By Paul Woodward, War in Context, January 8, 2010 The buck stops here; the president’s responsible; everyone’s accountable; no one gets the blame; the system’s not broken – just needs a tune up. The problem with a war on terrorism – at least [...]

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