The USG Open Source Center surveys Iranian, German, French, and Israeli reactions to the US National Intelligence Estimate that holds that Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003. One is struck by the Israeli reactions, on both sides of the aisle. Former Labor prime minister Ehud Barak dismissed the report. ‘OSC Report: NIE on […]
Cole in Salon: Why Bush’s Troop Surge Won’t Save Iraq
My Salon column, “Why Bush’s troop surge won’t save Iraq,” is now online. Excerpt: ‘the only truly good news to come from Iraq would be good news regarding the political landscape. And there, Iraq is still beset with problems. In recent days, parts of northern Iraq have been invaded by Turkey, an ally of the […]
Did an Iranian Spy Clear Tehran of Nuclear Ambitions?
The new National Intelligence Estimate on Iran says that Iran did have a nuclear weapons research program until early 2003, but then dismantled it. See Farideh Farhi’s excellent discussion of this development at our joint Global Affairs weblog. There is now a high level of confidence that Iran is no longer seeking nuclear weapons. This […]
Hadley: Iran has no Nuclear Weapons Program
Here is the transcript of Monday’s news conference: Press Briefing by National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley James S. Brady Press Briefing Room 3:35 P.M. EST MR. HADLEY: Good afternoon, I’m Steve Hadley, the President’s National Security Advisor. I want to talk a little bit about the recent National Intelligence Estimate that was released to the […]
Michigan Delegates Excluded From Democratic Convention
A specter haunts the Democratic Party, and it is the exclusion of Michigan and Florida delegates from the Democratic Convention. Both the Republican and the Democratic National Committees have been penalizing states that move their primaries up to January, as Michigan and Florida did. The DNC says it will only recognize the Iowa, New Hampshire, […]
Gul: Turkey Can Invade At Will; Sunnis Back in Parliament Violence Against Civilians in Basra Undiminished
Turkish President Abdullah Gul reaffirmed Sunday that Turkey has the right to make incursions into Iraq to retaliate against attacks on Turks by the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) guerrilla group. In eastern Anatolia near Iraq on Sunday, Turkish troops killed two PKK fighters. Turkey says that it made an incursion into Iraq on Saturday, deploying […]
Bush Slammed for Opposing Nawaz
A Pakistani newspaper has accused George W. Bush of thinking that Nawaz Sharif of the Muslim League-N is a Muslim fundamentalist, and of expressing worries about him on that score. In fact, Nawaz Sharif is a wealthy industrialist and his “Muslim League” is mainly a rebranding of the old Unionist landlord party of the colonial […]
Sunnis Walk out of Parliament Turks Claim Artillery Barrages against Kurdish Guerrillas 2 US Soldiers Killed
The detention by US troops of the bodyguards and son of Adnan Dulaimi, the leader of the largest Sunni Arab bloc in parliament on Thursday night has now led to a walk-out of the 44 members of the Iraqi Accord Front. MP Abdul Karim Samarraie said that he attempted to go to Dulaimi’s house, but […]
Napoleon’s Egypt at Firedoglake
At the Firedoglake blog, Swopa will be hosting a book Salon on Sunday starting at 2 pm EST on my Napoleon’s Egypt: Invading the Middle East. I’ll be answering questions online.
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