Why Helping Iran Would Not Lead the US into a New Quagmire
Iran is already a thoroughly integrated and educated nation-state under the repressive rule of the ayatollahs.
Baathism
The United States Should be Prudent Regarding al-Sharaa’s Turn
Al-Sharaa’s turn away from the Nusra Front upon his seizure of power needs to be treated with prudence by the United States.
Op-eds
Erdoğan’s Long Game in Syria
When Bashar al-Asad’s regime abruptly collapsed in December 2024, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan saw more than just a regional upheaval. He saw a long-awaited opportunity. With Iran’s...
Op-eds
US dealt Iran’s nukes a major blow — but here’s why the cheers may be premature
One of the most profound threats to global security for the last thirty years or more has suffered a historic setback that will resonate for decades. In a ruse worthy of World War II’s “Operation...
Op-eds
US-backed Syrian Free Army secures airbase east of Damascus
The US-backed Syrian Free Army says it has been working to secure and protect the Al Seen Military Airbase in Syria. “Our teams continue to work at Al-Seen Airport to secure it and protect it from...
Op-eds
Sandstorm
The great medieval historian Ibn Khaldun centered his understanding of history on asabiyya, which is perhaps best translated as esprit de corps mixed with the will to power. In his maste...
Op-eds
Tunisia’s Anti-Israel Eliza Doolittle
Christian Ortner, a commentator for the Austrian dailies Wiener Zeitung and Die Presse, picked up a golden journalistic nugget about Leila Trabelsi, the wife of Tunisia’s former authoritari...
Op-eds
The Next Wave of Jihadists
The arrest of “JihadJane,” aka Colleen Renee LaRose, a blond-haired, blue-eyed, 46-year-old American, ought to make us reflect on a major ingredient in contemporary jihadism: We...
Op-eds
Who’s Losing Iraq?
Robert Dreyfus, a journalist of the left with whom I seldom agree, writes for The Nation, a publication of the far left that usually makes my eyes roll. But in...
Op-eds
The Syria-Iran Alliance
In recent years, a number of erroneous notions have been re-injected into the policy discourse on the thirty-year old alliance between Syria and Iran. Statements such as "prying Syria away from I...
Op-eds
Education Versus Jihad
In the few hours following the terrorist attacks on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, media in the United States began looking for answers. The very first series of questions asked by all was indica...
Op-eds
The Enemy’s Ideology
In his speech on the anniversary of the September 11 atrocities, President Bush said the United States is fighting “the decisive ideological struggle of the 21st century.” OK, b...
Op-eds
How Corrupt is the United Nations?
Recent years have brought a cascade of scandals at the United Nations, of which the wholesale corruption of the Oil-for-Food relief program in Iraq has been only the most visible. We still do not...
Op-eds
What’s Left? Answer: A Few Liberal Hawks
The war in Iraq is a neo-conservative project, right? Yes, in the sense that in the aftermath of 9/11, President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and S...
Op-eds
Defend Arab Dissidents
"It is outrageous and amazing," wrote Salama Ni'mat, a columnist for the London-based Arabic-language daily Al-Hayat, "that the first free and general elections in the history of the Arab na...
Op-eds
Clinton’s War; It Wasn’t With Terrorism
The revelation that former National Security Advisor Sandy Berger walked off with classified documents bearing on the Clinton administration's response to terrorism raises questions. Some of...
Op-eds
Historical Precedents: The War on Terrorism Does Echo WW2
The 60th anniversary of the invasion of Normandy gave President Bush an opportunity to draw parallels between World War II, on the one hand, and the war in Iraq and the broader global conflict, o...
Op-eds
Saddam Is From Mars. Is Kerry From Venus?
Next Tuesday, for the first time in 122 years, Venus will pass across the face of the sun--something no one now living has ever witnessed. In these troubled times, it strikes me as some comfort t...
Op-eds
Muslims – stand with democracy, not dictatorship!
Authored by Oubai Shahbandar The Iraqi tyrant has been captured, the Iraqi people are now free. They no longer live in the prison of Saddam's Baathist regime – Saddam now resi...
Op-eds
9/11 in 20/20 Hindsight
September 11 will be remembered as the worst terrorist attack America ever suffered — if we’re lucky. If not, if we’re not extraordinarily successful in waging the war on...