Latest Terrorism Focus Articles
Iraqi Shiite Factionalism and Iran’s Role in the Basra Fighting
One week after the upsurge of violence in Basra, questions about the motives and implications of the fighting still linger. The issue of Iran’s involvement remains especially obscure. A recurrent explanation suggests that the operations were an attempt by Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and... MORE
Improved Intelligence Behind Turkish Success in Latest Anti-PKK Operations
The latest operations by the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) against the facilities and personnel of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in northern Iraq and in southeastern Turkey have displayed a growing competence on the part of the TSK in the use of real-time information in... MORE
Iran Charged with Infiltration and Sabotage of Iraq’s Awakening Councils
General Muhammad Abdullah al-Shahwani, head of Iraq’s intelligence service, released a statement on February 27 accusing the Iranian intelligence services of planning to sabotage the largely Sunni tribal-based Awakening Councils that have formed in Iraq to combat al-Qaeda. The statement was placed on the formal... MORE
Is Global Jihad a Fading Phenomenon?
In dark times, prominent American journalists and scholars can always be relied on to obscure troublesome realities with hope-based theories. On February 28, a leading Washington Post columnist published the results of his interview with a prominent U.S. social scientist/terrorism expert and came to the... MORE
What Direction for the al-Mahdi Army after the Basra Offensive?
As Moqtada al-Sadr orders his Mahdi Army militia to lay down their arms in return for an exchange of prisoners and cessation of government raids against his followers, the six-day Iraqi-U.S. military offensive in Basra has reached its final stage (Al-Arabiyah, March 30). For the... MORE
Presence of Turkish Terrorists in Belgium Leads to Dispute with Ankara
Belgium and Turkey have a somewhat tense and delicate relationship that has lately been complicated by a dispute over counter-terrorism efforts. Ankara believes that activities by Turkish terrorist groups abroad constitute a Turkish matter. Brussels, on the other hand, attempts to resist Turkish pressure on... MORE
Moqtada al-Sadr’s Religious Strategy Complicates Jaysh al-Mahdi Ceasefire
As smoke billows from Baghdad’s U.S.-controlled “Green Zone” following a series of rocket and mortar attacks thought to have been carried out by members of Moqtada al-Sadr’s Jaysh al-Mahdi (JaM) movement last weekend, important questions have been raised concerning the direction of the movement as... MORE
Turkey Unwilling to Commit to Expanded Military Mission in Afghanistan
Following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Turkey was the first Muslim country to join the United States in the global war on terrorism. As a NATO ally, Turkey first sent troops to Afghanistan in 2002 to join the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), which came under... MORE
Omar bin Laden: Osama’s Flower-Child Son or al-Qaeda Disinformation Agent?
In recent months, 26-year-old Omar bin Laden—Osama bin Laden’s eldest son—has made headlines around the world for marrying a 51-year old British grandmother and sounding like a refugee from 1960s-era San Francisco, urging his father to give peace a chance. With his long braided hair,... MORE
The Reaction of Iraqi Kurdistan to the Turkish Incursion
The February 21-29 Turkish incursion into Iraq failed to provoke Iraqi Kurds. The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) of northern Iraq appears to have limited its reaction to dutifully lodged diplomatic protests while Iraqi President Jalal Talabani—also the leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK)—called... MORE