In The News

Truths and Consequences

Bruce B. Auster June 6, 2003
As the War on Iraq has come to an end and no weapons of mass destruction (WMD) have yet been found, many people are now questioning the accuracy of American intelligence. In the past several months, says this article in the U.S. News and World Report, there have been heated discussions on how credible intelligence information is even within the U.S. government. The Vice-President and the hawks in...

Downer Raises New Weapons Fears

Tom Allard June 5, 2003
Intelligence agencies in several countries now fear that materials used to make weapons of mass destruction (WMD) may have been smuggled into Syria around the time the war began in Iraq. Australian officials stated that this view is "prevalent" among intelligence services in the US, Britain and Australia. Although, the public may not see evidence of WMD for several months, officials...

George Bush's Aqaba lesson – Jethro's 'The Man'

Rami G. Khouri June 4, 2003
In this opinion piece from the Jordan Times, the author offers some advice to visiting US President George W. Bush. "You would do well to remain humble in Aqaba when you're advising the local Arab and Israeli Semites about how to achieve good governance, because this is the place where it all started some three and a half millennia ago," he writes. The region is steeped in...

Sharm El Sheikh & al-Aqaba: New Emperor to Reap Conquest

Kareem M. Kamel June 2, 2003
This article by Kareem Kamel on Islam Online maintains that the upcoming summits at Sharm El Sheikh and al-Aqaba will deal only with furthering US diplomatic aims in the region. Amidst continuing resentment over Iraq and powerful tensions between Palestinian and Israeli leaders, current diplomatic moves by the US will result in continued polarization between pro-US Arab nations and anti-Israeli-...

A Tale of Two Visions

Omayma Abdel-Latif May 30, 2003
After the war on Iraq, Arab intellectuals have grouped into two camps and centered their argument on what really is ahead and what the Arab world should do next. While the liberals and democrats are pro-U.S. in many ways and pushing for reforms in the region, the Islamists and radicals are still opposed to Western intervention of any sort and are holding fast to their ideologies. In this article...

Arab Pride, US Prejudice

Abel-Moneim Said May 30, 2003
The Arabs have started a round of heated discussion on the post-war reforms. Divided as they are, says Arab scholar Abel-Moneim Said, they appear to agree on the idea that the U.S. should not be the one to set up reform standards in the region. The Arab world has long been in need of reform, he says, but because of the war and the America's push for "regime change," many Arabs now...

Poverty Doesn't Create Terrorists

Alan B. Krueger May 29, 2003
In his National Security Strategy issued in November 2002, U.S. President George W. Bush asserted that poverty was one of the factors leading to increased terrorist activities. This article in the New York Times, however, argues that civil liberty is the main factor and that wealth has little to do with terrorist activities. The author cites a study which found that many suicide bombers were from...