Iraq

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…

Just one day after announcing a 48-hour ultimatum for Saddam Hussein to leave Iraq, President Bush once again has been criticized for "unilateralism." On the contrary, a large, and growing, number of countries have decided to join a "coalition of the willing" to liberate Iraq.   Secretary of State Colin Powell on Tuesday announced that, "We now have…

Senator Ken Salazar (D-CO), Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN), and a growing list of other Senators are co-sponsoring an amendment to the defense authorization bill that calls for the implementation of the recommendations of last year's Iraq Study Group (ISG) report. This effort undermines the President's authority as Commander in Chief in the middle of a difficult war…

Iraq's January 31 provincial elections were another important milestone on Iraq's long and difficult journey toward becoming a stable democracy. According to preliminary results, the big electoral winner was Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's State of Law coalition. While 10 percent of the votes must still be counted, it is apparent that the relatively peaceful…

U.N. Security Council Resolution 1441, passed on November 8, 2002, has put Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein on notice that he has one "final opportunity" to comply with his disarmament obligations and avoid war. The Security Council unanimously approved the resolution, which threatened "serious consequences" if Iraq fails to disclose and dismantle it long range…

Last week White House Press Secretary Jay Carney promised the President would soon make a major address “on the Middle East and U.S. policy in the Middle East...to a broader audience than just the Arab world.” It is long past time for President Barack Obama to lay out a plan for how his Administration will address the historic change sweeping this part of the world. By…

While all eyes are on the political violence in Egypt, the Obama Administration has labored in crisis mode, struggling to stay ahead of the rapidly moving events. Washington’s problem is that publicly the White House appears to be floundering, focusing myopically on events on Tahrir Square rather than exercising real presidential leadership and proactively working to…

President Obama’s televised speech on Iraq will mark the “official” end of U.S. combat operations in Iraq and the transition to an “advise and assist” mission. The President undoubtedly hopes to assure voters ahead of the November elections that he is winding down the war. The irony is that current progress in Iraq was enabled by the Bush Administration’s surge policy,…

Iraq’s March 7 parliamentary elections will be a major milestone that will help determine that nation’s future political evolution and prospects for security and stability. Additionally, these elections will significantly affect the Obama Administration’s plans for a rapid drawdown of U.S. troops in Iraq. The elections will hopefully produce a broad-based multi-party…

When Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki meets with President Barack Obama at the White House tomorrow several issues will be high on the agenda, including the need to accelerate Iraq's lagging political reconciliation efforts. But despite the importance of this long-term process, one topic deserves even more urgent attention: How to immediately strengthen bilateral…

Iraq's January 31 provincial elections were another important milestone on Iraq's long and difficult journey toward becoming a stable democracy. According to preliminary results, the big electoral winner was Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's State of Law coalition. While 10 percent of the votes must still be counted, it is apparent that the relatively peaceful…

Congress tomorrow will begin a second round of hearings on Iraq featuring General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker. A major topic is likely to be the recent round of fighting in Basra, Iraq's second-largest city, and its implications for U.S. policy. Although the clashes in Basra have been widely misreported as a one-sided defeat for Prime Minister Nouri…

As the battle between Iraqi security forces and Iranian-backed Shia militias raged in the port of Basra over the past week, British troops remained largely on the sidelines. Thirty-thousand Iraqi soldiers were sent into the city by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to retake control from the Mahdi Army led by Iranian-based firebrand cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, but they…

In recent days there has been an uptick of fighting in Iraq. Shiite militia groups have battled with government security forces in Basra, and the fighting has spilled over into Baghdad and other cities. In contrast to the spiraling violence two years ago, when Iranian-backed extremists and al-Qaeda terrorists tried to goad the country toward a sectarian civil war,…

On the fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, the United States has proved its critics wrong--again. The U.S.-led surge has been a remarkable success, and the fledgling democracy is no longer on the path to civil war. The ballot box and the rule of law are now replacing terrorism, fear, and intimidation as the norm. For historians looking for evidence of American…