Don’t Put US Advisors in Greater Danger in Iraq

by Wayne White Senior American officials are considering the deployment of US advisors to some largely isolated pockets of resistance in Iraq’s al-Anbar Province. Such a move would be fraught with risk since Anbar is mainly controlled by the Islamic… Continue Reading

Keeping the ISIS Challenge in Perspective

by Wayne White Once again American observers are outbidding each other over how serious a threat the Islamic State (ISIS or IS) poses. Recent IS gains in Iraq heightened Washington’s concern, causing President Obama to huddle with coalition defense ministers.… Continue Reading

How Obama Should Beat ISIS

by Emile Nakhleh In a speech before the United Nations on Wednesday, President Barack Obama offered a rhetorically eloquent roadmap on how to fight the Islamic State (ISIL or ISIS) in Iraq and Syria. He called on Muslim youth to… Continue Reading

Apocalypse Now, Iraq Edition

Fighting in Iraq Until Hell Freezes Over  by Peter Van Buren I wanted to offer a wry chuckle before we headed into the heavy stuff about Iraq, so I tried to start this article with a suitably ironic formulation. You know,… Continue Reading

Maliki is Gone: Now What?

by Shireen T. Hunter Nouri al-Maliki is no longer Iraq’s prime minister, but his departure does not mean that Iraq’s problems will be resolved easily or soon. A basic change must first occur in Iraq’s domestic politics, the power struggles within its different… Continue Reading