Counter-Terrorism

Ayman Mohyeldin | (NBC News Video report) “Startups are launching to help young Muslims, who might fall to ISIS’ luring appeal, grapple with issues of identity and religion.” NBC News: “Young Entrepreneurs Step Up Anti-ISIS Message Online | NBC Nightly News”

Counter-Terrorism

ISIL: What nonviolent steps could the US take to defeat it?

contributors

By Adil E. Shamoo | (Foreign Policy in Focus) | – – There may be a responsible way to fight the Islamic State, but the U.S. will have to leave its boots in the closet and the drones in the hangar. The atrocities of ISIS become more shocking every day. In June, the Iraqis exhumed […]

Counter-Terrorism

Turkey’s AKP strikes back: the Politics of attacking both KurdS & ISIL

contributors

By Tristan Dunning – (The Conversation) – – Tristan Dunning, The University of Queensland Stemming from a presumed Islamic State (IS) suicide bombing killing 32 leftist Kurdish university students in Suruc and the killing of several Turkish policeman claimed by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), Turkey has begun bombarding both IS forces in Syria and […]

al-Qaeda

Washington asks, “Who lost Ramadi?” But Washington never had Ramadi

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | — The inside-the-Beltway debate set off by the fall of the Iraqi city of Ramadi to Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) on Sunday is, as usual, Dadaistic in its disconnection from reality. Republican talking points blame Barack Obama for withdrawing US troops from Iraq in 2011, as though Daesh suddenly […]

Counter-Terrorism

Why does the Iraqi Army Keep Running Away from ISIL?

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Commen) | — Baghdad was shaken by the news that the Iraq army and police in Ramadi ran away from the advancing forces of Daesh (ISIL, ISIS). As a result, good American weaponry again fell into the hands of the extremists. Diya’ al-Wakil, former Iraqi military spokesperson, has the same […]

Counter-Terrorism

As ISIL takes Ramadi: America’s Hydra Problem in the Middle East

contributors

By Inge Fryklund | (Foreign Policy in Focus) | — In the Greek myth, Heracles battles the Hydra — a multi-headed reptilian monster that was terrorizing the Greek countryside. However, every time a head was cut off, two grew in its place, so cutting off one head at a time was an ineffective plan of […]

Barack Obama

US Airstrike in Syria kills 53 Civilians, 6 Children

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) As Mariam Karouny reports for Reuters, the US air strike on Friday that inadvertently hit a village of non-combatants, killing members of six families, raises new questions about the Obama administration’s approach to fighting Daesh (ISIS or ISIL) in Syria. Despite months of bombing raids, Daesh has lost no […]

Bill of Rights

Execution without Trial: A Short History of the Predator Drone

contributors

By Grégoire Chamayou | (Tomdispatch.com) Initially, the English word “drone” meant both an insect and a sound. It was not until the outbreak of World War II that it began to take on another meaning. At that time, American artillery apprentices used the expression “target drones” to designate the small remotely controlled planes at which […]

al-Qaeda

Charlie Hebdo: A Clash of Extremisms, not of Civilizations

Juan Cole

By Aurelien Mondon | The Conversation | — The attack on Charlie Hebdo was an abominable tragedy. It struck the heart of one of our capitals and symbols of our democracies as terrorists attacked our freedom of the press. It is now essential to pay our respects to those who lost their lives yesterday and […]