Intelligence | Charles Duelfer | Page 5

Category Archives: Intelligence

Iran Nuclear Talks – Progress?

The announcement of the new elements coming from the talks with Tehran represents progress of a sort.  Basically there is a trade between Iran’s ongoing ability to enrich uranium (and produce plutonium) that could be used in a weapon and … Continue reading

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Knowledge is Expensive – Veterans Day 2013

Knowledge is Expensive Veterans day celebrates those who have served the country in the military services.  There are many members of the military who served with me in the Iraq Survey Group (ISG).  Overall there were more than 1500 people … Continue reading

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Lavrov’s Plan

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has offered a plan that could provide a way out of the Obammá Syrian dilemma. Lavrov, who was Russian ambassador to the UN during the height of the Iraqi-UN weapons inspection activities, seems to have … Continue reading

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At times like this, What would Saddam do?

Among the various rationales expressed for a military strike on Syria is that need to make Bashir al-Assad pay a price for using CW. But what does Bashir value? We learned from debriefing Saddam that his value structure was much … Continue reading

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Obama’s Speech to the UNGA: Two very different Versions

On September 17, will President Obama be explaining to the UN General Assembly why the US acted alone to respond to Syrian atrocities when the UN would not, or will he be chastising the UN for a lack of action, … Continue reading

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Syria CW: How Can We Make it Worse?

Answer: The United States could destroy Bashir’s control over his chemical weapons. ForeignPolicy.com and others report that communications intercepts suggest some confusion over the order to use CW. If you were to make a list of things to worry about, … Continue reading

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Response to US attack – Cyber?

It is hard to imagine Moscow or Tehran or Damascus doing absolutely nothing in response to a US attack. Will it be Cyber? If I were Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov, that’s what I would be talking about with President Putin. … Continue reading

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Sniper Attacks on UN Inspectors – Not Surprising

Dr. Ake Seltron’s UN inspection team has now drawn sniper fire. Unfortunately, the UN inspectors are easy targets. To do their job, they have to be out in the open. Using highly visible UN SUVs may be questionable, but committed … Continue reading

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Syrian Agreement for Inspections–Why?

If Damascus is permitting the weapons inspectors access to the sites of recent apparent CW attack sites (as reported Sunday 25 August 2013) then why, if they had a role in the recent attacks? First, the weapons inspectors are only … Continue reading

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Syria CW Use: Who crossed whose red-line?

Did Bashir cross Obama’s redline, or the other way around? The perspective in Damascus may be different. The Syrian situation has taken yet another turn for the worse. Which is to say it has become even more unpredictable. The apparent … Continue reading

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