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Category Archives: Iraq
Israel and Iran – Remember 1991 Iraq
In January 1991 I happened to be running the task force in the State Department Operations Center set up for Desert Storm. President George H. W. Bush had gone to enormous effort to assemble a coalition of over 30 countries to … Continue reading
Posted in Allies, Chemical Weapons, Gaza, Gaza,Hamas, Israel, Iran, Iraq, Israel, nuclear weapons
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Things to Consider: Iraq War at 20
Everyone (and their dog) is writing/commenting about the Iraq war 20 years later. I doubt more accuracy is achieved in these tales after 20 years. Everyone seems to think they were central to events. Some of them were.[1] My perspective was also partial, … Continue reading
Posted in Allies, Chemical Weapons, Intelligence, Iran, Iraq, Sunni, Syria CW, United Nations, WMD
Tagged Intelligence, Iran, Iraq, Iraq Survey Group, Iraq War, Saddam Hussein, United Nations, WMD
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Death of Choice – Aymen al-Zawahiri
The US “took the shot” on 31 July that killed Aymen al-Zawahiri, the identified leader of Al-Qaeda. Zawahiri had been hunted by the US since the 9-11. It took a decade to find and kill Osama bin Laden. It took … Continue reading
Putin: Lessons from Saddam
Is Lavrov the New Baghdad Bob? Saddam’s Saddam’s last information minister and a former foreign minister was Muhammad Saeed al-Sahhaf–better known in Western Press as “Baghdad Bob”. He was ridiculed for his blatant incorrect statements about the American led invasion … Continue reading
Posted in Allies, Intelligence, Iraq, Lavrov, NATO, nuclear weapons, Putin, Russia, Ukraine, WMD
Tagged PutinLavrov, Ukraine
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Afghanistan: Looming Tragedy – Will President Biden Blame Bad Intelligence?
President Biden visited the Office of the Director of National Intelligence Tuesday (27 July). In his public remarks he praised the Intelligence Community (IC) and promised to never politicize their work. Sounds promising and clear-cut. But reality is never that … Continue reading
Posted in Allies, Intelligence, Iraq, NATO, Uncategorized
Tagged Afghanistan, Bill Burns, Mary Louise Kelly, National Public Radio, President Biden
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Reward for What?!
According to news reports, the US State Department announced that in response to the continued attacks on US diplomatic personal and assistance missions in Iraq it was offering a reward of $3 million for information about the perpetrators. This seemed … Continue reading
Posted in Allies, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Sunni, Syria
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Impeachment and Foreign Policy Redux
In February 1998, I was in Baghdad discussing the ongoing disputes between Iraq and the UN weapons inspectors with Saddam’s key deputy Tariq Aziz. (I was the deputy chairman of the UN WMD inspection group called UNSCOM.) It was late … Continue reading
Posted in Iran, Iraq, United Nations, WMD
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Qasem Soleimani – Some Aspects
The United States (over two Administrations) and the international community expended much effort rolling back ISIS in Iraq and Syria. This included attempts to kill the leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi–ultimately successful just last October. ISIS killed a few Americans. Qasem … Continue reading
Posted in Intelligence, Iran, Iraq, Uncategorized
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Mueller Report – Duelfer Report
A few commentators have made some comparisons between the Mueller Report and report on Iraq WMD in 2004 which was dubbed the Duelfer Report. There are a few similarities and many key differences. Both were produced in a highly charged … Continue reading
Posted in Intelligence, Iraq, Uncategorized, WMD
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The Value of Allies – It’s Personal
In his resignation letter, Secretary of Defense General Mattis called out the importance of Allies for US national security. I expect his eloquent statement will be long-quoted by those involved in foreign policy. But I bet it resonates even more … Continue reading
Posted in Allies, Iraq, NATO
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