The United States seeks democracy and inclusive government while Iran looks for Shi’as to dominate Iraq. The blitzkrieg-like advance of the Islamic State of Iraq and al Sham in Iraq and its successive victories in that country’s Anbar, Ninewah, Diyala and Salah al Din provinces have provoked fanciful speculation of cooperation between the US and […]

Neither Presidents George W. Bush nor Barak Obama can be accused of causing the the current crisis in Iraq. However, both bear responsibility for that nation’s current state of affairs. Both erred in failing to understand the historical nature and profound depth of Iraq and the region’s sectarianism and the ease with which idealists, ideologues […]

Iraq is collapsing. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has promised to respond. But the ease with which ISIS fighters took major cities and the shocking capitulation of the Iraqi army and police raise serious questions over Maliki’s leadership and the army’s capability. Outsiders, including Turkey, Iran, the US and even the Kurds, are making their […]

The U.S. approach to undermining Syrian president Bashar al-Assad has been surprisingly constrained and unimaginative. US military action in Syria can now be essentially disregarded. Still, the United States possesses one particularly effective weapon that it can deploy: advanced technology. The U.S. and others should begin immediately to create a virtual Syrian government-in-exile on the […]

The collapse of security on Iraq’s western and northern fronts portends a number of disturbing outcomes, from partitioning to, in a twist of irony, Iraq inviting Iranian troops to fill the role of the US before its withdrawal. Iraq is collapsing. The Middle Eastern nation, where nearly 4,500 American lives were lost and nearly one […]