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Iraq
Hope and Change in Iraq
In Iraq we are now where we should have been in 2005 if the Sunni Arab community had not staged a bloody revanchist insurrection. The parliamentary elections on March 7 gave us a good snapshot of the real Iraq....
Author: External author Published: 26/03/2010 read more
Iraq's watershed March 7 election
Iraq has received less news coverage in recent months as the security situation there has continued to improve, but on March 7, Iraq goes to the polls for national parliamentary election for the second time....
Author: AIJAC staff Published: 05/03/2010 read more
Exiting Iraq's Cities/ Sharansky on Iran
Today marks a major milestone in the Iraq conflict, with US troops turning over patrolling and security in all Iraq's cities to Iraqi forces....
Author: AIJAC staff Published: 01/07/2009 read more
Iraq Votes Again/ Correcting a Gaza Myth
As readers will be aware, Iraq held orderly and pretty peaceful regional and local elections on Saturday. While the results are not yet known with any certainty, this Update features analysis of the overall implications of the apparently successful ...
Author: AIJAC staff Published: 03/02/2009 read more
On the Iraqi SOFA
This Update deals with the situation in Iraq, and the policy framework there for the Obama Administration, following the passage by the Iraqi parliament of the "Status of Forces Agreement" (SOFA) with the US last week....
Author: AIJAC staff Published: 09/12/2008 read more
The Fighting in Gaza/ Obama's Challenges in Iraq
This Update offers some analysis of the origins and strategic implications of the still-ongoing latest round of Israeli-Hamas fighting around the borders of the Gaza Strip......
Author: AIJAC staff Published: 07/11/2008 read more
Media Microscope: Retreats, Retractions and Repeats
Of course, most of the time when journalists get stuck on what they mistakenly believe to be the correct interpretation, there is no budging them. SBS 'Dateline' maintains an unflinching tradition of only reporting bad news from Iraq, despite all im...
Author: Jamie Hyams Published: 26/09/2008 read more
Iraq, post-Petraeus, post-Surge
Today, we offer some pieces on the state of Iraq as the US Commander there, Gen. David Petraeus, this week handed over to his deputy and successor, Gen. Raymond Odierno, and a new book by Washington journalist Bob Woodward revealed new details about...
Author: AIJAC staff Published: 18/09/2008 read more
The Anbar Handover in Iraq
On Monday, a major milestone occurred in Iraq. Anbar province, once the heartland of the insurgency, was handed back to Iraqi security control, the 11th province which has been turned over to Iraqi security forces....
Author: AIJAC staff Published: 04/09/2008 read more
The State of Iraq
The situation in Iraq continues to be trending in largely positive directions, despite the occasional major act of violence, with even the venerable Associated Press concluding that US-led coalition forces there are now "winning"......
Author: AIJAC staff Published: 07/08/2008 read more
The New Reality in Iraq/ Oil Prices and the Middle East
This Update offers some new and very optimistic assessments of the situation in Iraq. First up, if you haven't seen it in today's Australian, don't miss academic military experts Kimberley and Frederick Kagan, together with retired senior US General...
Author: AIJAC staff Published: 18/07/2008 read more
Race for the White House
An issue on which Obama and McCain agree is on the need to isolate Hamas unless and until it agrees to abide by the requirements set out by the Quartet: renounce violence, recognise Israel's right to exist, and agree to abide by agreements signed by...
Author: Adam Frey Published: 24/06/2008 read more
Winning the War?
This Update deals with some recent discussion of the improved situation in Iraq, and what it may mean for the longer term....
Author: AIJAC staff Published: 05/06/2008 read more
Al-Qaeda in Iraq "at its weakest"
According to the latest US reports and statistics, last week Iraq saw the lowest casualty figures, civilian and military, for four years. According to US military sources, part of the explanation is that al-Qaeda in Iraq is at its "weakest", especi...
Author: AIJAC staff Published: 28/05/2008 read more
Durban II and the UN / Casualty levels in Iraq
This Update reports on the problematic deliberations last week at the UN in Geneva, as preparations, chaired by Libya, are made for a follow-up conference to the infamous 2001 Durban conference on racism....
Author: AIJAC staff Published: 07/05/2008 read more
Scribblings: Polling the Surge
Has the surge in Iraq worked to improve the lives of Iraqis, giving them security and the chance of better lives? You hear a lot of different views on the subject, but if you look at the views of Iraqis themselves, the answer is very clear....
Author: Tzvi Fleischer Published: 24/04/2008 read more
Assessing the Iraq War - Again
The testimony delivered in the US Congress on April 8 by US Commander in Iraq General David Petraeus and US Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker provides an opportunity to assess progress in Iraq since last September (the last time the two men were in Wa...
Author: External author Published: 24/04/2008 read more
Iraq: Basra and Beyond
This Update features two articles on the aftermath of the Iraqi army's recent battles with the Iranian-backed Shi'ite extremist Mahdi Army, led by cleric Moqtada al-Sadr....
Author: AIJAC staff Published: 08/04/2008 read more
Iraq - Five Years On
Today's Update features some examples from the many retrospectives that have been appearing in the international media in recognition of the fifth anniversary of the beginning of the war in Iraq....
Author: AIJAC staff Published: 27/03/2008 read more
Counterinsurgency 101
Lieutenant General Raymond Odierno took command of Multi-National Corps-Iraq (MNC-I) on December 14, 2006. Iraq was in flames. Insurgents and death squads were killing 3,000 civilians a month. Coalition forces were sustaining more than 1,200 attacks...
Author: External author Published: 20/03/2008 read more
Creativity and realism required for success in Middle East talks
YESTERDAY in Washington, President Barack Obama formally launched the resumption of direct talks between Israel and the Palestinians after a 19-month hiatus. International expectations for the talks are low because there appear to be a number of fac...
03/09/2010 read more
Hamas, Israeli Security and Peacemaking
Following the Israeli-Palestinian Summit in Washington yesterday (in which the details of discussions were kept discreet), this Update features some comments on Hamas' role as a potential spoiler in the wake of the Hamas terror attack Tuesday, which...
03/09/2010 read more
Today's Israeli-Palestinian Summit in Washington
As readers are doubtless aware, Israeli PM Binyamin Netanyahu is meeting Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas today in Washington in a summit designed to formally re-launch direct Israeli Palestinian peace talks. This Update offers backgrou...
02/09/2010 read more
Editorial: In the Balance
The next prime minister of Australia should be whoever can more convincingly promise a stable coalition able to undertake the responsibilities of government more effectively. Overseas and Australian state government experience demonstrates that s...
27/08/2010 read more
Scribblings: The BBC Pre-empts Flotilla Inquiries
Israelis have been much focused in recent weeks on the testimony of various top officials to the Turkel inquiry - looking into the flotilla clash off Gaza on May 31 that left nine Turkish activists dead. On top of this, the Israeli government has ma...
27/08/2010 read more
AIR New Zealand: A Tzur Thing
When Israel reopened an embassy in Wellington in April this year, it seemed obvious that the new Ambassador, Shemi Tzur, and his staff had a big job in front of them. Almost a decade without on-the-ground representation, as well as some years of tro...
27/08/2010 read more
Fall of the Teflon Terrorist?
On Aug. 9, 2010, members of Indonesia's elite counter-terrorist police force arrested the militant cleric Abu Bakar Bashir as part of their ongoing investigations into a terrorist training camp discovered in February 2010 in Aceh, plots to kill Pres...
27/08/2010 read more
Israel's Endangered Deterrence
There are few journalists specialising in strategic and security affairs more experienced than Ron Ben Yishai. After fighting as a paratrooper in the Six Day War, Ben Yishai turned to journalism full time. Since then he has covered, from the battlef...
27/08/2010 read more
Hamas' Gaza Killing Spree
News stories about bodies found at sea are occasionally published by Gaza newspapers. The number of such bodies isn't huge, yet not all those drowning victims chose to go swimming voluntarily. The Gazans who found their death at sea include mid-leve...
27/08/2010 read more
The State of the Iranian Revolution
Since coming to power in 1979, the Islamic Revolution in Iran has had two main aims. First, it wished to remain in power and if this was the aim of the Islamic Revolution, 31 years later, it has been successful. But revolutions don't come about simp...
27/08/2010 read more
Essay: Decade of Disappointment
It's been a decade since Israeli and Palestinian leaders met as peacemakers only to part at loggerheads. Now, with most of the Camp David summit's protagonists long gone from the scene, that ill-fated conclave's military, diplomatic and political re...
27/08/2010 read more
The Last Word: Ideology Above Humanity
What struck me then, and continues to strike me, was their complete lack of concern, sometimes even contempt, for the human beings they claimed to champion and the hatred for the human beings on the other side of the political divide. There was no r...
27/08/2010 read more