Iraq

Human Rights Watch (Erbil) – The Iraqi government should promptly investigate an airstrike that hit a school housing displaced people near Tikrit on September 1, 2014. The attack killed at least 31 civilians, including 24 children, and wounded 41 others. According to three survivors, no fighters from the armed group Islamic State or other military […]

Egypt

Arab Allies will wage Financial war on ISIL: Is it Enough?

contributors

By Charles Recknagel via RFE/RL As Washington vows to put together a broad coalition to fight Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria, the outlines of the new alliance are beginning to take shape. Much of the emphasis has been upon finding partners among the Arab states. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said in […]

Featured

Media, Politicians should stop Letting ISIL Manipulate them

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole Ever since George W. Bush invaded Iraq and created the circumstances under which al-Qaeda could take root and flourish there from 2003 forward, al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia (which later styled itself the “Islamic State of Iraq”) has taken captives and has beheaded them on film. It was doing this in 2004 These acts […]

Iraq

War or Counterterrorism? John Kerry denies it is a War

contributors

By RFE/RL White House spokesman Josh Earnest said that the United States is “at war with ISIL” on September 12, after Secretary of State John Kerry refused to use the phrase. “The United States is at war with ISIL in the same way that we are at war with Al-Qaeda and its Al-Qaeda affiliates all […]

Egypt

Middle East “Allies” decline to Commit Forces, Resources against ISIL

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole US Secretary of State John Kerry’s meeting in Jedda with ten Middle Eastern foreign ministers produced a communique on Friday, but little more. The regional states promised to do more to stop the transit across their territory of volunteer vigilantes seeking to join the so-called “Islamic State” of Iraq and the Levant […]

Counter-Terrorism

Obama’s ISIL Actions are Defensive, Despite Rhetoric of going on Offense

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole President Obama’s speech launching his war on ISIL avoided the qualifications that he had earlier made, which had produced caviling inside the Beltway from politicians who confuse careless belligerency with decisiveness. From a language of containing ISIL, he was forced to speak of degrading and destroying it. He went back and forth […]

Iraq

ISIL isn’t Medieval: Revolution, Terror and Statemaking are Modern

contributors

By Kevin McDonald, Middlesex University Over recent weeks there has been a constant background noise that Islamic State and its ideology are some sort of throwback to a distant past. It is often framed in language used last week by the deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, who claimed that ISIS is “medieval”. In fact, the […]

Free Syrian Army

ISIL Fighting With Weapons From US and 'Moderate' Syrian Rebels: Report

contributors

By Sarah Lazare via Commondreams.org The Islamic State (IS) is now in possession of lethal weapons formerly owned by so-called “moderate” Syrian rebels, as well as large quantities of arms produced in the United States, a new report (PDF) reveals The study — conducted by Conflict Armament Research, a research organization that tracks weapons proliferation […]

Barack Obama

3 Years War? Obama to Bomb Syria in fight against ISIL

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole Juliet Eilperin and David Nakamura at WaPo report on a Monday evening dinner at the White House attended by foreign policy experts, in which President Obama expressed confidence that he had the authority to bomb ISIL positions in Syria. In other reports, Obama officials have leaked that they think this is a […]