One negative implication of the Obama Administration’s “lead from behind” efforts on the worsening Syria crisis is that U.S. allies have independently stepped forward to advance their own interests by backing various rival groups within the ad hoc Syrian opposition coalition. These external aid efforts, often pursued with little coordination, have bolstered Islamist…
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan visits Washington this week amid escalating and intertwined Middle East crises. Turkey is a key NATO ally that borders Syria, Iran, and Iraq: three major focal points of U.S. Middle East policy. President Obama should consult with Prime Minister Erdogan to coordinate policies on these three fronts and to encourage Turkey to…
President Obama yesterday backpedaled away from taking immediate action on the Syrian chemical warfare issue. Caution on the chemical warfare issue is warranted, and Washington should clearly establish the facts to rule out the possibility that the chemical warfare reports are misinformation or disinformation. But as bad as the reported chemical attacks by Syria’s Bashar…
Brokering an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement - for recent American presidents, it’s been the holy grail of foreign policy. Unfortunately for President Obama, a comprehensive accord is just not in the cards for his second term. It won’t be for lack of trying. But the inconvenient truth is that peace is impossible as long as Hamas retains its stranglehold over Gaza.…
Middle East tensions are rising as President Obama prepares to visit Israel, the West Bank and Jordan. Clearly, Iran will be at the top of the agenda. On Thursday, Mr. Obama announced that Tehran was only about a year away from producing a nuclear bomb. “Obviously, we don’t want to cut it too close,” he noted. Another issue requiring urgent attention: forging a common…
President Obama’s upcoming trip to Israel, the West Bank, and Jordan comes at a tense time in an increasingly turbulent region. High on his agenda will be halting Iran’s nuclear weapons efforts, forging a common policy on containing the destabilizing spillover effects of Syria’s meltdown, and reviving the long-stalled Israeli–Palestinian peace negotiations. The…
When armed terrorists stormed the United States Special Mission compound in Benghazi, Libya, on September 11, 2012, killing Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans, it was not the first such breach of a U.S. diplomatic installation. In fact, it was one of four such attacks that occurred over the course of the week in Egypt, Yemen, Tunisia, and Libya. This…
Secretary of State John Kerry has embarked on his first official trip abroad, traveling to the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar. Although NATO and European issues have been featured prominently in Kerry’s early stops, much of his agenda will focus on containing the destabilizing spillover effects of…
The United States Senate will soon hold confirmation hearings for the Obama Administration’s nominees for three key positions: Senator John Kerry (D–MA) for Secretary of State, former Senator Chuck Hagel (R–NE) for Secretary of Defense, and White House Chief Counterterrorism Advisor John Brennan for Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The confirmation…
Senior Fellow Peter Brookes discusses the latest on Iran's nuclear threats on Fox News' 'Happening Now'.…
They say generals are always fighting the last war. A lot of civilians are attempting to do the same thing -- or worse -- with their calls for a Marshall Plan for Iraq. The Marshall Plan, widely considered the most successful foreign policy initiative in U.S. history, has become the metaphor used to campaign for American economic intervention abroad. But winning…
(Archived document, may contain errors) THE SOVIET INVAS./ON OF AFGHANISTAN INTRODUCTION On December 27, 1979, under cover cf an ongoing Soviet military buildup, heavily-armed elements of a Soviet airborne brigade were airlifted into Kabul, Afghanistan, to violently overthrow the regime of President Hafizollah Amin. Within hours after the beginning of…
The falling statue of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad is an evocative image. It signals that the U.S.-led military action against the Hussein regime has been a success. This signal of success is backed by tangible evidence of a successful military operation in more substantive terms. This evidence is found in a review of the mission objectives for Operation Iraqi…
Abstract: In June 2011, President Barack Obama released a new National Strategy for Counterterrorism. This document profoundly misreads the nature of the global transnational threat. Following this strategy for a few years will result in a resurgent threat as dangerous as that shortly after 9/11. Dealing with the “next wave” of transnational terrorism will require a…
(Archived document, may contain errors) 7 89 June 15, 1979 I THE IRANIAN REVOLUTION LONG- TERM IMPLICA TIONS INTRODUCTI ON Several years ago, Richard Helms, former Director of the CIA, and then Ambassador to Iran, proclaimed that "Iran is in geopolitical terms, the real center of the world." The mani fold repercussions of the recent fall of the Shah have…
Today is the 30th anniversary of the beginning of the Iranian hostage crisis, America's first searing experience with Islamist terrorism. On Nov. 4, 1979, Iranian militants seized the U.S. embassy in Tehran and took American diplomats as hostages. Fifty-two Americans were held captive for 444 days in a prolonged crisis that boosted the power of Iranian hardliners,…
Abstract: In 2011 and 2012, a wave of popular uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East shook the region’s autocratic regimes, prompting euphoric reactions in the West about an “Arab Spring” and a supposed new age of democracy. While the overthrow of authoritarian regimes can give democracy a chance to bloom, it has also created opportunities for a wide spectrum of…
Although the current Gaza crisis is in many ways reminiscent of the last flare-up in December 2008–January 2009, there are important differences this time around. Hamas’s terrorist reach now includes Israel’s heartland cities of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv due to long-range Iranian rockets. However, Israel’s new Iron Dome missile defense system has mitigated this threat. The…
American policy toward the Syrian uprising has been an unmitigated failure. President Obama’s glacially slow and overly cautious policies that were intended to avoid turning the Syrian uprising into a wider regional affair have had exactly the opposite effect. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s call for new leadership in the anti-Assad resistance is likely to amount to…
Germany is moving closer to supporting a move by the European Union (EU) to list Hezbollah as a terrorist...…
Pastor Saeed Abedini is a United States citizen from Boise, Idaho, who has been imprisoned for 223 days in Iran for...…
Today’s Benghazi hearing of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee gave Americans the first public...…
Hezbollah, a Lebanon-based Shia terrorist organization, engages in numerous illicit activities around the world,...…
Asked about the attack last fall on the U.S. embassy in Benghazi, President Obama asserted, “our job with respect to...…
The North Caucasus has emerged as an ungovernable safe haven for terrorists, as the government of Russia is at the end...…
Israel announced on Thursday that it had shot down a drone approaching its coast about five miles west of the northern...…
The Pentagon has recently requested more than $220 million in fiscal year (FY) 2014 to support Israel’s air defense...…
In a speech delivered Tuesday at the Russian embassy in London, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin claimed...…
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel announced Wednesday that he has ordered the deployment of U.S. troops to work with...…
Senior Research Fellow for Middle Eastern Affairs