Asia Opinion

In pursuing their policies against Iraq, the neocons were in lock-step with the Israeli government, then headed by a former general, Ariel Sharon, known for his brutal military adventures and belief in pre-emptive wars. This was no surprise. As we...

The neocons’ chance to create their own reality in the Middle East-and one more suited to both the US and Israel-came with the 9/11 attacks. The Administration’s first task was to exploit the resulting deaths to create a new political...

The policy of containing Iraq came to end with the election of President George W. Bush in 2000. In a speech in 1997, President Clinton’s Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, had made clear that regime change was the goal of...

In summer 1990 a victorious Saddam Hussein, believing himself to be the protector of the Arab world, switched his attention to another oil-rich neighbour, the tiny state of Kuwait. The Iraqi leader complained to the Arab League about the fall...

The grounds for Iraqis’ suspicions of US motives for remaining in their country proved more than justified. In January 2007, despite pressure from critics in Washington to find an exit strategy from Iraq, Bush announced a surge of 30,000 additional...

Assessing the casualties among Iraqis, however, was far harder. In December 2005, President Bush admitted that several tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians might have paid with their lives: ‘How many Iraqi citizens have died in this war? I would...

Israel and the Clash of Civilisations: Iraq, Iran and the Plan to Remake the Middle East By Jonathan Cook Pluto Press, London, 2008 The official justification for the US-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003 had been the need to disarm Iraq’s unstable...

Iraq, Iran and the Plan to Remake the Middle East By Jonathan Cook Pluto Press, London, 2008 Contents Preface 1. Regime Overthrow in Iraq The body count keeps growing A war for oil US policy in the Gulf Containing Saddam The neocon vision of the Middle East Finding a pretext to...

By Kenneth Katzman, Specialist in Middle Eastern Affairs Congressional Research Service, 13/06/06 Summary Iran’s influence over the post-Saddam government in Iraq is substantial because the predominant parties in that government have long enjoyed Tehran’s sponsorship. An emerging concern is that Iran’s influence has extended...