Policy Analysis

On May 18, the day after Great Britain proposed lifting United Nations sanctions on all civilian goods in Iraq, a taciturn Iraqi farmer asked me: "Why does the West talk about Saddam's war crimes on one day, but reward him the next?" Such is the perception of ordinary Iraqis, who

In 1981, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was near completion of a nuclear reactor in Osirak capable of producing nuclear weapons. Shortly before the reactor began operation, Israeli warplanes destroyed it in a raid roundly condemned throughout Europe and the United States. A decade later, in 1991, Hussein invaded Kuwait, and

Sanctions on Iraq are now 11 years old, and U.S. policy is going nowhere fast. The State Department has proposed to revise sanctions to try to undermine Saddam Hussein's propaganda, but the approach is little more than appeasement. At least that's how Iraqis described it during my recent nine-month visit

Tuesday's U.S.-British air strikes against Iraq once again raise the question of why much of the international community continues to treat Saddam Hussein with kid gloves. When Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic began his campaign of ethnic cleansing in 1992, after all, Europe did not respond by expanding trade with Serbia

A nuclear breakout by Iraq or Iran could have a number of direct and indirect effects on the region: First, a nuclear breakout by either will cause the United States to be much more careful in its dealings with that state, particularly when it comes to considering military action. America's

The horrific suicide terror bombing today, during lunchtime in the heart of downtown Jerusalem, cannot merely be dismissed as an attack by a deranged fanatic. In the immediate aftermath of the suicide bombing, Islamic Jihad leader Ramadan Abdullah Shalah immediately went on the popular Arab satellite television station al-Jazeera defending

As U.S. policymakers review options for national missile defense and ways to reshape the military to meet future threats, nuclear proliferation -- particularly in the Middle East -- looms large as one of the most critical future challenges facing the United States. In the coming years, it is conceivable, if

When Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic began his campaign of ethnic cleansing in 1992, Europe did not respond by expanding trade with Serbia. Quite the opposite, it ostracized Milosevic and, in 1993, succeeded in pressing the United Nations to appoint a commission of experts to investigate his crimes. The judicial process

Today, Muhammad Khatami was slated to begin his second term as president of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Khatami secured 78 percent of the vote, winning a crushing victory over nine challengers. In cities and towns across Iran, residents swarmed into the streets, chanted slogans, and celebrated Khatami's landslide. Pundits

August 5 is an auspicious day for Iran, as it marks the inauguration of Mohammed Khatami's second four-year term as president of that country. It is also the day that the Iran-Libya Sanctions Act (ILSA) would have expired, had its renewal not received an overwhelming vote last week by 96-2

At the end of August, the United Nations is set to convene a "World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance" (WCAR) in Durban, South Africa. But with less than one month to go, preparations for the conference are in shambles. Draft texts under consideration are replete with

A detailed look at the first year of Bashar al-Asad's often-unpredictable regime.

August 2, 2001 marks eleven years since Saddam Husayn invaded Kuwait. Given Washington's unsuccessful effort to win UN Security Council approval for a reformed sanctions regime, the Bush administration must now reconsider the options for Iraq policy. Focus on Arms Control? While Russia's opposition nixed the imposition of "smart controls"

This week, Jordan's King Abdullah took two major decisions that will have significant implications for the kingdom's complicated and often troubled relations with its Palestinian and Islamist communities. Last Sunday, Abdullah approved a new election law; two days later, he issued a decree indefinitely postponing parliamentary elections. Taken together, these

On July 19, 2001, former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak addressed The Washington Institute's Special Policy Forum. The following are excerpts from his remarks. Read a full transcript. "I will . . . make some telegraphic remarks about why I believe we are facing now the kind of violence that

When Americans think ethnic cleansing, they think of Bosnia, Kosovo, Rwanda. They don't think of Iraq. But that's because most Americans don't go to places like Banasiaw, a checkpoint along the border between the U.S.-patrolled safe haven in northern Iraq and Saddam Hussein's distinctly unsafe terrain to the south. In

The record of prediction about Islamism as a political force has been unimpressive. The failure is due to inadequacies in conceptualizing what is known, more than any shortage of raw data. What Is to Be Analyzed? Islamist movements differ from Islamic movements as much as Arabists differ from Arabs. Islamists

On Friday, July 20, 1951 - exactly 50 years ago today Jordan's King Abdullah bin Hussein was walking out of Jerusalem's al-Aksa Mosque following noontime prayers when he was shot dead by an unemployed Palestinian tailor. Twenty years ago this October, Egypt's Anwar Sadat was presiding over an annual military

Hamas has succeeded, through its popular influence and close relations with leading elements in the Palestinian Authority (PA), in making some important moves toward the "Islamization" of the PA/Fatah on one hand and a large part of the Palestinian public on the other. The longstanding rivalry between Hamas and the

The supermarket in Dahuk was apologetic: the shipment of Coca-Cola had not yet arrived, but would Pepsi be okay? There was plenty of fruit and vegetables, several different cuts of meat and many brands of breakfast cereal. There was no shortage of cheeses or ice cream. There were also over