Terrorism Archives - Page 19 of 138 - Foreign Policy In Focus

The Foreign Policy President?

by John Feffer | Apr 3, 2012

Elections are decided by economics. Voters respond to pocketbook issues and are swayed by the huge sums that candidates lavish on advertising. Foreign policy issues, by contrast, are what the British call “noises off,” those sounds from off-stage that you hear occasionally to punctuate the main actions, sounds like exploding bombs and the distant cries of suffering people. According to recent polling, global issues barely register at all with Americans right now. Far below the economy, jobs, health care, the budget deficit, and gas prices, you’ll find Afghanistan at 6 percent (CNN), terrorism at 1 percent (Bloomberg), and, most distressingly, no global issue at all (CBS/New York Times).

To Know Your “Enemy,” Know Yourself: Towards a More Profound Objectivity

by Russ Wellen | Apr 2, 2012

It’s especially difficult to demonstrative objectivity when reporting on and analyzing the minds of those who attack us.

Crusade 2.0: The West’s Resurgent War on Islam

by John Feffer | Mar 31, 2012

Crusade 2.0 examines the resurgence of anti-Islamic sentiment in the West and its global implications. John Feffer discusses the influence of three “unfinished wars”–the Crusades, the Cold War, and the current “war on terror.” He presents a timely, concise, and provocative look at current events in the context of historical trends and goes beyond a “clash of civilizations” critique to offer concrete ways to defuse the ticking bomb of Islamophobia.

Creating the Muslim Manchurian Candidate

by John Feffer | Mar 29, 2012

Those who fervently believe that Barack Obama is a Muslim generally practice their furtive religion in obscure recesses of the Internet. Once in a while, they’ll surface in public to remind the news media that no amount of evidence can undermine their convictions.

Three Killings

by John Feffer | Mar 27, 2012

The note left next to the bloodied body of Shaima Alawadi read “go back to your country, you terrorist.” Alawadi, who died on Saturday after being taken off life support, was an Iraqi-born mother of five living outside of San Diego. Someone had delivered a similar note to the family earlier in the month. It was likely the same person who returned with a tire iron and struck her repeatedly on the head. Alawadi had lived in the United States for 17 years. Several family members reportedly provided cultural training to U.S. soldiers deployed to the Middle East. In a very sad coda, Alawadi is indeed going back to her country – to be buried.

Al-Qaeda in Iraq’s Strategy for 2012

by Daniel DePetris | Mar 27, 2012

It was an ordinary early morning in Baghdad in February 2012. Mothers and fathers were stuck in the grueling traffic of the capital, on their way to work. Their children were all packed up and ready to go to school. Shops were opening up in Baghdad’s market, hoping to profit from the morning rush hour. Then, at a moment’s notice, Iraqis in Baghdad and several other Iraqi cities found themselves in the middle of a coordinated series of terrorist attacks.

Kony Case Reveals Millennial Generation’s Evolving Sense of International Justice

by Heath Mitchell | Mar 21, 2012

How should justice be meted out to Joseph Kony, not to mention Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni, also accused of war crimes by the International Court of justice?

U.S. Government Finally Catching up With MEK Boosters Like Ed Rendell

by Peter Certo | Mar 19, 2012

Why do human rights activists and lonesome Internet commentators suffer the wrath of the U.S. government while politicians are allowed to accept large sums to advocate for a terrorist group like MEK?

Psychologists and Torture, Then and Now

by Laura Melendez-Pallitto, Robert Pallitto | Mar 1, 2012

History repeats itself, Marx famously warned, first as tragedy and then as farce. In the case of U.S. torture psychologists, the ” tragedy” occurred half a century ago when CIA-funded psychological research on electroshock treatment, sensory deprivation and the like found its way into the Agency’s counterintelligence interrogation manual. The 1963 KUBARK Manual and its later iterations were used widely by U.S. intelligence and disseminated to other governments in Latin America and Southeast Asia. The “farce” was played post-9/11, as psychologists became involved once again in aiding counterintelligence interrogators.