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Category Archives: ISIL
Iran Nuclear Deal?
The volume of opinions on the potential deal concerning Iran’s nuclear capacity is deafening. I risk adding to the noise. One thoughtful voice with long experience working on the Administration’s part is Robert Einhorn. He just offered the case for … Continue reading
Posted in Iran, ISIL, ISIS, Saudi Arabia, United Nations, WMD
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Who’s Happy in Iraq?
Watching Iraq and the US actions there is disheartening, unless of course you are Qassem Suleimani, commander of Iran’s notorious Quds force. Suleimani and the Iraqi Shia militia he largely directs, are doing quite well (see the happy chap in … Continue reading
Posted in Intelligence, Iran, Iraq, ISIL, ISIS, Sunni
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Iraq – How do we answer the pleas of those about to die?
I expect every American official who has worked in Iraq with Iraqis gets calls like this. Here is an example of one call I got: A very prominent Iraqi–a former Minister and Ambassador, now out of Iraq called to relay … Continue reading
ISIS or ISIL or IS? Does it matter?
The President gave his speech on strategy towards ISIL…except everyone calls it ISIS in the West. ISIL is Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant and ISIS is Islamic State in Iraq and Syria or al Shams, which is roughly … Continue reading
Video Driven Policy vs. Strategy
The need for a strategy on ISIS was provoked by the videos of Americans being barbarically executed. A year ago, there was horrible video of Sarin use against civilians in Syria. That provoked action by the White House. In both … Continue reading
ISIS – Next Steps
The President is now stuck with the ISIS problem. It is his, not former President Bush’s. The rest of his term may be defined by how he deals with ISIS, in some ways as Bush was defined by how he … Continue reading
Posted in Intelligence, Iran, Iraq, ISIL, ISIS, Russia, Sunni, Terrorism
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Don’t Trade Iraq for an Iran Nuclear “Agreement”
There will come a time, and that may be right now, when Washington has to decide if any deal on Iran nuclear programs is more important than the risk faced from ISIS in Iraq. So far it looks like we … Continue reading
Extremists at Former Saddam CW Facility
The Wall Street Journal reports ISIL extremists at a former Iraqi CW facility. The Muthana State Establishment was a huge facility where the Saddam government produced tons of anthrax and sarin. Most of it used against the Iranians in the … Continue reading