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Declassified CIA Document says Reasons for Iraqi deception about WMDs were misread

From On December 5, 2012 · Leave a Comment

via Lobe Log

Considering the misleading claims made about non-existent Iraqi and Iranian nuclear weapons, and the ramifications of another costly and catastrophic war, there should be more analyses like Scott Peterson’s highlighting of lessons from the lead-up to the 2003 US invasion of Iraq.

A declassified January 2006 report published in [...]

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Ex-UN Special Commission on Iraq Chairman: “Don’t Go Baghdad on Tehran”

From On October 20, 2012 · Leave a Comment

via Lobe Log

Rolf Ekéus, who was executive chairman for the UN Special Commission on Iraq between 1991 and 1997, writes with Målfrid Braut-Hegghammer, a nuclear expert at Standford University, on the parallels between the run-up to the Iraq War and the present state of negotiations between Tehran and the international community.

Rolf and Braut-Heggehammer place the onus [...]

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“In a porous world, sanctions are largely ineffective”

From On August 31, 2012 · Leave a Comment

via Lobe Log

Najmedin Meshkati and Guive Mirfendereski argue in the Los Angeles Times that sanctions against Iran have been ineffective at substantially curbing its alleged nuclear ambitions:

Policies of restriction or containment through sanctions and economic mechanisms do not work. In a porous world, sanctions are largely ineffective. Sanctions didn’t change [...]

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The Daily Talking Points

From On November 26, 2010 · Leave a Comment

News and views on U.S.-Iran relations for November 24, 2010: The Washington Times: Ben Birnbaum reports that a leaked International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN’s nuclear watchdog, indicates that Iran’s nuclear program “experienced a one-day shutdown last week, indicating a slowing of Tehran’s nuclear progress.” Some analysts speculate the Stuxnet virus is [...]

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Jewish Journal: Jeffrey Goldberg "Maintains the Dignity" of Pre-Iraq War Reporting

From On October 28, 2010 · 3 Comments

Jewish Journal’s Danielle Berrin’s profile of Jeffrey Goldberg is well worth a read for those who want to do a little armchair psychology on Goldberg. It provides no shortage of material for analyzing his views with nuggets like this:

Both of his parents were teachers and union loyalists, inculcating their son with left-leaning liberal politics [...]

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Ramadani: Iranian influence in Iraq 'highly exaggerated'

From On October 25, 2010 · Leave a Comment

Sami Ramadani, a professor at London Metropolitan University who fled Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, writes that Iranian influence in Iraq is ‘highly exaggerated’. These overstated allegations, he implies, are especially rich coming from the United States, which Ramadani calls “the foremost foreign influence” in Iraq.

Ramadani, in the Guardian‘s Comment Is Free section, takes a crack at [...]

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2002 deja vu: neocons conflate Iran and Al Qaeda

From On October 15, 2010 · Leave a Comment

I have a new piece up at AlterNet detailing how Cliff May, the president of the Foundation to Defend Democracies, is up to his old tricks. In a recent piece on National Review Online, May united Iran and Al Qaeda under the banner of “jihadis” — a well-worn tactic that neocons [...]

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The Osirak Example: Will Airstrikes Work At All?

From On October 7, 2010 · Leave a Comment

In his speech to the Council on Foreign Relations, Sen. Joe Lieberman made a small concession. “[T]he use of military force is not the ‘ideal way’ to stop the Iranian nuclear program,” he said.

The truth is, while hawks portray airstrikes as a kind of magic bullet that can end the Iranian nuclear [...]

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Reverse Linkage: Debunked Iraq War Talking Point Is Back

From On September 6, 2010 · 10 Comments

Last week brought a marked increase in neoconservatives and their allies pinpointing “where the road to peace” leads through. In 2002 and 2003, they argued that road leads “through Baghdad.” In 2010, it now leads “through Tehran.”

On a nearly daily occurrence, neoconservative op-ed columns and blogs are recycling the worn talking point, with hawks [...]

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The Daily Talking Points

From On September 2, 2010 · 4 Comments

News and views relevant to U.S.-Iran relations for September 2, 2010.

The Washington Post: Scott Wilson writes that shared regional fears of a nuclear weapons possessing Iran might be a catalyst for a breakthrough in this week’s Arab-Israeli peace talks. “Iran’s ambitions, which have cast a long shadow over the greater Middle East, may [...]

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