Scholars, advocates, and activists seeking to make the U.S. a more responsible global partner.
Middle East & North Africa

Planting the Seeds of Al-Qaidas Second Generation

by , | Oct 27, 2005

The American-led invasion and occupation of Iraq has provided al-Qaida with a new lease on life, a second generation of recruits and fighters, and a powerful outlet to expand its ideological outreach activities to Muslims worldwide. Statements by al-Qaida top chiefs, including bin Laden, Zawahiri, Zarqawi, and Seif al-Adl, portray the unfolding confrontation in Iraq as a “golden and unique opportunity” for the global jihad movement to engage and defeat the United States and spread the conflict into neighboring Arab states in Syria, Lebanon, and the Palestine-Israeli theater. The global war is not going well for bin Laden, and Iraq enabled him to convince his jihadist followers that al-Qaida is still alive and kicking despite suffering crippling operational setbacks in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and elsewhere.

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India and the Iran Vote in the IAEA

by , | Oct 27, 2005

India’s vote in the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) against Iran in September came as no surprise to anyone who has followed closely the recent course of India’s foreign policy. It is a safe guess that support for U.S. actions on Iran was one of the conditions of India’s nuclear deal with the United States, which was given the final seal of approval by President Bush during the July 2005 visit of the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Washington.

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As U.S. Energy Sources Decline, Russian and Caspian Sea Oil Won’t Solve Supply Problem

by , | Oct 18, 2005

The United States now stands at a critical juncture in the evolution of its energy policy, particularly with respect to petroleum and natural gas consumption. The demand for energy in this country has been rising steadily over the past years as a result of continued economic growth and the vital role of air, ground, and sea transportation in all aspects of economic activity. According to the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE), total energy use in the United States grew by 16 percent between 1990 and 2002, and is projected to grow by another 35 percent between 2002 and 2025. At the same time, many other countries, both developed and developing, have also experienced an increased need for energy, pushing total world energy use from 348 quadrillion BTUs in 1990 to a projected 645 quadrillion BTUs in 2025, an increase of 85 percent.

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A Constitution of Trouble

by , | Oct 12, 2005

Iraqi negotiators reached a compromise on the constitution on Tuesday October 11, 2005 bringing the support of at least one major Sunni group before Saturday’s vote. But the supposed compromise merely kicks the can down the road, leaving the real questions at hand untouched.

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September Mornings in Maryland & Iraq

by , | Oct 12, 2005

In the pre-dawn hours of Sept. 17, 1862, a division of Confederate soldiers moved into place just south of a cornfield near where the Hagerstown Pike runs past a white, clapboard church on its way to the town of Sharpsburg, Maryland. Northeast of the Confederates, Union Major General Joseph Mansfield was getting his XII Corps into line facing a small forest. The lesson of what happened within the shadows cast by those trees–known in thousands of military histories as simply “the East Wood”–is something the Bush Administration is letting the nation re-discover these days.

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Bush Again Resorts to Fear-Mongering to Justify Iraq Policy

by , | Oct 12, 2005

President George W. Bush’s October 6 address at the National Endowment for Democracy illustrated his administration’s increasingly desperate effort to justify the increasingly unpopular U.S. war in Iraq. The speech focused upon the Bush administration’s claim that the Iraqi insurgency against U.S. occupation forces somehow constituted a grave threat to the security of the United States and the entire civilized world.

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