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Category Archives: Iran
Israel and Iran – Remember 1991 Iraq
In January 1991 I happened to be running the task force in the State Department Operations Center set up for Desert Storm. President George H. W. Bush had gone to enormous effort to assemble a coalition of over 30 countries to … Continue reading
Posted in Allies, Chemical Weapons, Gaza, Gaza,Hamas, Israel, Iran, Iraq, Israel, nuclear weapons
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A Houthi State on Bab al-Mandab?
Can the UN Security Council accept a settlement of the Yemen conflict which does not mandate adherence to Freedom of Navigation? It appears the Houthi leadership in Sana’a aspires to be to the Bab al-Mandab, as Egypt is to the … Continue reading
Things to Consider: Iraq War at 20
Everyone (and their dog) is writing/commenting about the Iraq war 20 years later. I doubt more accuracy is achieved in these tales after 20 years. Everyone seems to think they were central to events. Some of them were.[1] My perspective was also partial, … Continue reading
Posted in Allies, Chemical Weapons, Intelligence, Iran, Iraq, Sunni, Syria CW, United Nations, WMD
Tagged Intelligence, Iran, Iraq, Iraq Survey Group, Iraq War, Saddam Hussein, United Nations, WMD
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Death of Choice – Aymen al-Zawahiri
The US “took the shot” on 31 July that killed Aymen al-Zawahiri, the identified leader of Al-Qaeda. Zawahiri had been hunted by the US since the 9-11. It took a decade to find and kill Osama bin Laden. It took … Continue reading
Reward for What?!
According to news reports, the US State Department announced that in response to the continued attacks on US diplomatic personal and assistance missions in Iraq it was offering a reward of $3 million for information about the perpetrators. This seemed … Continue reading
Posted in Allies, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Sunni, Syria
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The New CIA Director
Ambassador William J. Burns is a great and timely choice to head the CIA. He will assure that the Administration has the intelligence collection and analysis for the critical security issues facing the United States. He is a long time … Continue reading
Posted in Allies, China, Cyber Threat, Elections, Intelligence, Iran, Russia, Uncategorized, WMD
Tagged Bill Burns, China, Russia
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Impeachment and Foreign Policy Redux
In February 1998, I was in Baghdad discussing the ongoing disputes between Iraq and the UN weapons inspectors with Saddam’s key deputy Tariq Aziz. (I was the deputy chairman of the UN WMD inspection group called UNSCOM.) It was late … Continue reading
Posted in Iran, Iraq, United Nations, WMD
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Qasem Soleimani – Some Aspects
The United States (over two Administrations) and the international community expended much effort rolling back ISIS in Iraq and Syria. This included attempts to kill the leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi–ultimately successful just last October. ISIS killed a few Americans. Qasem … Continue reading
Posted in Intelligence, Iran, Iraq, Uncategorized
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Quandaries: Deep Fakes and Cyber Conflict
The Council on Intelligence Issues* held a seminar on “Intelligence Operations in a Digital Age” this week. The discussion covered many current issues, but lingered on couple of looming problems with no satisfactory answers aired among a broad group of … Continue reading
Posted in Allies, Cyber Threat, Intelligence, Iran, journalism coverage, NSA
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Iraq – Avoiding the Next Insurgency
It is blindingly obvious that while ISIS soon may be expelled from Mosul, absent any further US policy change, there will be a renewed insurgency fueled by disaffected Sunni groups. This is depressingly similar to Spring 2003. I was in … Continue reading