… give or take
// The primary reason the United States invaded Afghanistan in the first place was to fight Al Qaeda and its Islamist allies, particularly the Taliban. Ten years later, now that Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan has been dramatically weakened, America ostensibly has the luxury of considering significant troop reductions in the region. Needless to [...]
// The death of terrorist leader Osama bin Laden is one of the most important accomplishments in recent American history. It is certainly significant in its own right as a testament to the superior military and intelligence work the US is capable of. Yet when one recalls the fact that Osama bin Laden was trained and [...]
Bret Stephens opined recently in the Wall Street Journal that the cause of Islamic terrorism is not so much Israeli settlements or the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine as it is… Lady Gaga. Specifically, Stephens points to Said Qutb, widely regarded as the intellectual father of modern Al Qaeda and other Islamist groups: In his [...]
// The idea of a “war on terror” was created after September 11th by political leaders seeking to rally the country, and responding to an unprecedented attack on the United States. It made sense for a little while. Then, when reason and clearheadedness came back on the scene, and emotion and passion receded back to [...]
// Eric Margolis in the Toronto Sun has written a great, concise primer for ignorant westerners on a country that most people probably didn’t even know existed until the news media became fascinated with it recently after Fort Hood and the failed Christmas bomb attack (terrorist ties in both cases). Margolis puts Yemen into perspective [...]
