The deteriorating security situation in Iraq has attracted most of the attention of policy-makers and analysts in recent weeks. But the status of al-Qaida and its affiliates has remained a consistent background issue.
Several recent articles in this series have sought to analyse the increase in violence in Iraq, especially the attacks on United States forces. It might therefore be useful to stand
Paul Wolfowitz, the United States deputy defense secretary and one of the most significant architects of American policy in the Middle East, visited Iraq this week at a moment chosen
When American forces entered Baghdad at the end of the three-week war in April 2003, the outlook for United States policy in the Gulf region looked bright. The Saddam Hussein
The past week has seen a pronounced upturn in violence in Afghanistan, although much of it has been between rival warlord factions rather than Taliban militia engaging with United States
Although the United States continues to face major difficulties in Iraq, the Bush administrations attitude to the proliferation of nuclear weapons remains firm: if it considers a country to
The two most recent articles in this series have concentrated on Iraq and it might therefore seem that yet another piece of analysis is not necessary. It is true that
Discussions with foreign leaders about the future of Iraq held this week in Washington and at the United Nations failed to deliver an outcome in line with the requirements of
More US soldiers are being killed in Iraq and many more Iraqis are dying in exchanges of fire. On both sides the injuries mount, so much so that few incidents
When this series of columns on openDemocracy started, less than one month after the 11 September 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the George W. Bush
When Uday and Qusay Hussein were killed on 22 July, there was an assumption that the old regimes influence in Iraq was at last nearing its end, and that
The pattern of violence and killing in Afghanistan, noted in last weeks column in this series, has continued. Four government soldiers were killed in an incident on Friday 22
