APS Diplomat Strategic Balance in the Middle East articles from August 2007

APS Diplomat Strategic Balance in the Middle East archives from August 2007

IRAQ - The Challenges Of Terrorism - Part 24 - US Exit Options.
August 13, 2007... A strategy for a US exit from Iraq has become a mainstream topic in Washington's political circles. To exit Iraq with the continuing challenges of terrorism, however, the question is how to do it which is more important than when this is to be...

IRAQ - Regional War Scenarios Discounted.
August 13, 2007... Long before Bush began selling the surge in Iraq as a way to avert a general war in the Middle East, observers were concerned about the potential for armed conflict among regional powers. Underlying this was a scenario in which Iraq's violence...

IRAQ - Kissinger Plan.
August 13, 2007... In an article out on July 2 by the International Herald Tribune, ex-secretary of state Henry Kissinger proposes a US exit strategy based on a "three-tiered international effort: an intensified negotiation among the Iraqi parties; a regional...

IRAQ - 'Iraq Syndrome' In US Foreign Policy.
August 13, 2007... As Washington's politicians and pundits argue about how and when the US should get out of Iraq, another debate is just beginning: what kind of "Iraq syndrome" will take hold over American foreign policy in the wake of this war and how will the...

IRAQ - US Arms For Iraq Missing.
August 13, 2007... The Pentagon says it cannot account for 190,000 guns provided to the Iraqi security forces - raising concerns that insurgents may be using US-supplied weapons to attack coalition troops. The US has spent $19.2 bn training and equipping the...

IRAQ - Factionalism In Iraqi Intelligence Services.
August 13, 2007... The official Iraqi National Intelligence Service (INIS) was set up in February 2004 as a non-sectarian force which has since recruited its officers and agents from all of Iraq's communities. Its chief, Gen. Muhammad Shahwani, is a Sunni from...

IRAQ - US-Iran Dialogue.
August 13, 2007... US and Iranian officials on Aug. 6 held talks in Baghdad as a security sub-committee set up recently met for the first time. A US embassy official said the talks, which lasted several hours and were described by both sides as "frank and...

IRAQ - Maliki In Ankara.
August 13, 2007... After a meeting in Ankara with Maliki, Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Aug. 7 said: "We have reached an agreement to expend all efforts to end the presence of the [Turkish Kurd rebels] PKK in Iraq". But the two governments did not sign a...

IRAQ - Govt. Crisis.
August 13, 2007... In April Sadr's six Shi'ite ministers resigned from Maliki's cabinet. On Aug. 1 the Iraqi Accordance Front (IAF), the largest Sunni bloc with 44 seats in the 275-member parliament, withdrew its five ministers and a deputy PM because Maliki...

IRAQ - UN Role.(Resolution 1770 passed)(Brief article)
August 13, 2007... The UN Security Council (UNSC) on Aug. 10 unanimously passed Resolution 1770, expanding the UN's political role in Iraq. The resolution extended the UN's mission in Iraq for a year and gave it new roles such as helping to resolve disputed...