In The News

Still Plotting, Still Recruiting

May 26, 2004
As America and the world enters the “danger season” for terrorist attack, the British International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) think tank asserts that the American pursuit of regime change in Iraq has strengthened the terrorist network Al-Qaeda, now even more resolute on the destruction of the United States and other western powers. Fury directed at the American-led occupation has...

Human Rights Climate 'Worst in 50 Years'

Simon Jeffery May 26, 2004
Amnesty International has pronounced 2003 as the worst year for humanitarian law and human rights in 50 years. AI noted that the war in Iraq and actions across the globe stemming from the American anti-terror policy have led to unrest worldwide, especially in the Middle East. Long-standing international conflicts, as in Chechnya, Northern Ireland, or the Sudan, figured into the picture, but the...

US Nation-Building Abroad – Part I

Dilip Hiro May 26, 2004
In hindsight, it is now clear that Washington's declaration of an end to the Iraq war last year was premature, at best. Although Saddam Hussein was driven from power, Iraqis have yet to experience the democracy, freedom, and economic improvements promised by US President George W. Bush. In the first installment of a multi-authored, three-part series on US nation-building efforts in Iraq...

Berg's death augurs ill for Arab societies

May 12, 2004
In the past few weeks, the world has been stunned by the evidence of US and coalition troops abusing Iraqi prisoners in their custody. Now, the world is shocked once again with a video of the beheading of an American civilian by anti-US Iraqi insurgents. As the editorial in one of the Middle East's most respected papers, the Daily Star of Lebanon puts it, "the barbaric and ultimately...

Muslims: Judge Us Not By Un-Islamic Acts of Few

Parvez Ahmed May 12, 2004
In the following article, two Muslim scholars associated with the Washington based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) argue that the American led war in Iraq is becoming defined by brutality, torture and humiliation by both, American soldiers and Iraqis. According to these scholars, the humiliation and the torture of prisoners at the Iraqi Abu Ghraib prison, and the subsequent...

U.S. Training African Forces to Uproot Terrorists

Craig S. Smith May 11, 2004
In response to growing concerns over terrorist group activity in North Africa, the US is launching a campaign to beef up government forces in several African countries. Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Chad, and Senegal are among the countries that will be receiving American training as well as trucks and equipment to use against terrorist groups roaming the region. The March bombings in Spain that...

A New Coalition To Keep WMD Out of Terrorists' Hands

Michael Richardson May 10, 2004
Current arms control treaties make it easy for countries like North Korea and Iran to import the materials needed to make WMD. Yet despite widespread fear about terrorism, observes correspondent Michael Richardson, no effective international laws exist to prevent the sale or transfer of weapons or related technology to state or non-state actors. To remedy this worrisome loophole, Richardson,...