The death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi on 7 June 2006 created the routine expectation among coalition representatives of a decline of al-Qaida influence in Iraq. This reaction was echoed in
In April 2006, the Chinese prime minister Hu Jintao visited Washington and lunched with President Bush. Many observers noted the apparent indignities inflicted on the Chinese leader in the United
The Haditha incident of 19 November 2005, when twenty-four Iraqi civilians appear to have been massacred by a United States marine-corps unit in the immediate aftermath of a bomb attack
George W Bush's hailing of a "turning-point" in Iraq in his speech of 22 May has coincided with more problems for the coalition forces there. The
The formation of a government in Baghdad under prime minister Nouri al-Maliki has been hailed by George W Bush and Tony Blair as a breakthrough. Their reaction leaves out of
On 7 July 2005, four suicide-bombers attacked the London transport system, killing fifty-two people and wounding 700 in a series of coordinated bomb blasts three on underground trains and one
As the Iraq war becomes increasingly unpopular within the United States and President George W Bush records exceptionally low approval ratings, the administration needs to redouble its efforts to present
On 1 May, British troops assumed control of security operations in Helmand province, southern Afghanistan. More than 2,000 troops are now in the province after the transfer of authority
The United States military is preparing for the "long war" by shifting its tactics and expanding its ambitions.
The agreement on 22 April that Nouri (formerly Jawad) al-Maliki
Seymour Hersh's recent New Yorker article on the risk of war between the United States and Iran contained many insights into the current thinking of US political and
The announcement of Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on 11 April (closely following a comment by former president Hashemi Rafsanjani) that the country had successfully completed a process of
In the months before the start of the Iraq war in March 2003, most commentators expected that the developing crisis would end in some kind of diplomatic settlement, and that
