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Author Archives: Charles Duelfer
Politics in Washington and Beijing
With the United States self-absorbed in its own elections…staring at its navel…it is interesting to see other capitals focusing attention on the upcoming 18th Party Congress that begins two days after the US election. Leadership will change in China and … Continue reading
Iran: The Crisis Grows and US Lacks Influence
The Iran nuclear problem is approaching crisis stage and the IAEA is in a critical position. They have done a remarkable job in being steadfast in working toward their larger objectives and in maintaining credibility in a highly charged political … Continue reading
Syrian Ambassador on WMD Use
The Syrian ambassador to Iraq, Nawaf al-Fares, has declared his opposition to the Bashir al-Assad regime in Damascus. He has made strong public denunciations of the regime and declared that Bashir would use his chemical weapons capability against the opposition. … Continue reading
Spacex Innovation Isn’t Technical
The mission by the Dragon capsule to the International Space Station executed by Spacex Inc., is remarkable. However, it is not a technical innovation. It is an innovation in government contracting. Technically, what Spacex did is little different than what … Continue reading
Picture Washington as seen by Tehran
Imagine you’re the intelligence analyst in Tehran who is charged with making an assessment of the leadership in Washington…and predicting what President Obama will do. Not an easy task. Even Washington can’t predict what Washington will do. Still, some in … Continue reading
The Last Iraqi WMD person released
One of the best known WMD technocrats to UN weapons inspectors, Mahmud Faraj Bilal Al Samarrai, was among 15 Iraqis released from prison a few days ago. A Justice Department official was quoted as saying that they were released by … Continue reading
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Justice–Long Delayed In Iraq
The former oil minister of Iraq during the Saddam Regime, Amer Mohammed Rasheed al-Obeidi has just been released from prison after nine years. Amer Mohammed Rasheed turned himself in to US forces in late April 2003. He had been included … Continue reading
Posted in Intelligence, Iraq
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Quiet on the Iran Front? Not for long…
After a lot of sound and fury in the press about military options concerning the Iran nuclear program (largely around the visit to Washington by Netanyahu for the annual AIPAC meeting and discussion with President Obama)…things have gone rather quiet. … Continue reading
Obama and Netanyahu
In the speech President Obama gave to AIPAC on 4 March, he made a few obvious points. First and foremost, he seemed to be rather defensively arguing that no President was more supportive of Israel than he. Clearly one major … Continue reading
Posted in Iran
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Under Pressure–IAEA, Iran and the Rest of the World
IAEA Inspectors will be in a difficult position as the international community will inevitably look to them for “truth” about Iran. This is similar to Iraq case, but the comparisons with Iraq are otherwise limited. The data on the Iran … Continue reading
Posted in Iran, Iraq
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