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It’s been a few days now since Benjamin Wittes and Jack Goldsmith wrote their op-ed in the Washington Post calling the trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed “dispensable” and proffering that “the politically draining fight about civilian vs….. military trials is not worth the costs.”
Their proposal: “Instead of expending great energy on a battle over the [...]
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Just checking in to wish everyone a happy belated Iranian New Year. The holiday, known as Norooz, or ‘New Day,’ falls around the vernal equinox.
Last year, President Obama used the opportunity to reach out to the Islamic Republic, releasing a video on the internet addressing Iranians and their leadership. This year he spoke to some [...]
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The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) blasted General David Petraeus today, calling his Senate testimony, “dangerous and counterproductive.”
(Spencer Ackerman called our attention to Foxman’s attack in a blog post earlier today.)
ADL director Abe Foxman was quoted in the press release.
The assumptions Gen. Petraeus presented to the Senate Armed Services Committee wrongly attribute “insufficient progress” in the Israeli-Palestinian [...]
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Marc Lynch has a fascinating post examining a recent (unofficial) document posted on a jihadist forum, entitled A Strategic Plan to Improve the Political Position of the Islamic State of Iraq. The whole post is worth reading for insight into the current state of thinking about the Iraq war on the part of Al Qaeda [...]
Tags: Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, Anbar Awakening, counterinsurgency, iraq, Marc Lynch, the surge
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In today’s New York Times, Maureen Dowd makes a good attempt at justifying the Obama administration’s recent diplomatic “crisis” with Israel, seemingly encouraging the President to continue down his path (the pull-quote in the print edition reads: “Please, Mr. President, Keep up the heat before peace goes cold”). I commend her for doing so — [...]
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I spoke too soon. So did Jeffrey Goldberg, for that matter.
His promise to stop blogging on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is about as serious as Bibi Netanyahu’s commitment to a viable Palestinian state. And he’s pulling out all the stops, including republishing a chunk of Yossi Klein Helavi’s New Republic piece blaming Obama for what shall [...]
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In prepared testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee this morning, Gen. David Petraeus delivered the message that, as we’ve been writing over the last few days, Mark Parry reported on Saturday. Here’s the money quote:
Insufficient progress toward a comprehensive Middle East peace. The enduring hostilities between Israel and some of its neighbors present distinct [...]
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While there has been precious little official action in the recent diplomatic row between Israel and the U.S. — a few lines of a speech here, a few public statements there, and reported details of some behind-closed-door meetings and phone calls — the media and the pundit class have been going positively bananas (me included), [...]
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While AIPAC is adamant that the Obama administration is at fault for the current crisis in US-Israeli relations, Israelis across the political spectrum are much more inclined to blame their own leadership and political bureaucrats.
Tags: AIPAC, Benjamin Netanyahu, Hillary Clinton, israel, Israel lobby, Israel-US crisis, Jerusalem, Joe Biden, Josh Block, Marsha B. Cohen, Michael Oren, Ramat Shlomo, settlement freeze, US mideast policy
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The “Sage of Fresno”—Victor Davis Hanson—has shared another diatribe which summarizes his thesis that America and the free world are going to hell in handbag under Obama’s leadership.
While retreading his typical kneejerk arguments that Obama is a failed president, Hanson has joined the ranks of Netanyahu supporters who are defending the increasingly difficult-to-defend strategic alliance [...]
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