6/25/12: By Richard Weitz Sino-Iraq relations will likely continue to strengthen in the near future. China, which imports more than half its oil, needs Iraqi energy, while Iraq, which continues to suffer from sectarian violence and an unstable political environment, depends heavily on China’s willingness to invest in the country…
6/19/12: by Richard Weitz In addition to these strains between Iraqi Sunnis and Shiites, three sources of Arab-Kurdish tensions exist despite their shared Iraqi Sunni background: territorial disputes, constitutional disagreements, and diverging foreign policy orientations. Since 2003, Iraqi Kurds have simultaneously been creating an autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in…
6/10/12: By Richard Weitz Wielding power in a country so easily divided by competing allegiances and identities has never been easy. Although Iraqis’ nationalist sentiments are strong, the nation faces the challenge of overcoming major internal divisions. These include sectarian tensions between the majority Shiites and the minority Sunnis, ethnic…
By Richard Weitz Today’s Iraq is an aborted democracy that falls considerably short of the original U.S. goal of creating an attractive democratic, prosperous, ethically mixed country that partners with the United States to maintain regional stability and security. Iraq’s political leaders cannot cease feuding, wary investors hesitate to make…
6/7/12: By Richard Weitz Following a controversial public relations campaign, the United States and its allies launched Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) in March 2003. The Iraqi regime collapsed in a few weeks. In addition to searching for weapons of mass destruction, the occupation authorities sought to establish a new Iraqi…
by Ed Timperlake The US Intelligence Community is a famously federated league of like-minded sleuths conjoined by parallel mandates. It is not dysfunctional, merely less effective than it has to be. Like any large cobbled together organization the Intelligence Community (IC) operates on the maxim that “people are people,” and…
12/23/2011 by Richard Weitz Recently, Vice President Joe Biden made his seventh visit to Iraq as vice president and 16th visit overall. Biden spent two days in Baghdad meeting with Iraqi political leaders, then he travelled to Erbil, capital of the Kurdistan Regional Government, to meet with President Massoud Barzani.…
12/09/2011: National Guard Soldiers from 1452nd Combat Heavy Equipment Transport Company, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Load Tanks at Contingency Operating Base Adder, Iraq. Credit: 362nd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment:11/4/2011
