Iraq

An examination of allegations that the Obama administration’s failure to secure a long-term U.S. troop presence in Iraq after 2011 was the "original sin" that led to the ascendance of ISIS.

As a leading general once said of past insurgencies in the region, “The only way to defeat guerillas is with better guerillas."

October 8, 2014 What is in a name? Apparently a lot. Branding is as important for terrorist groups as it is for companies, if not more so. A brand – its style, symbols, and words – can assist in detracting enemies, recruiting fighters and supporters, attracting followers, inspiring loyalty, raising

Given the group's brutal, nihilistic approach to territories it has seized, any anti-ISIL uprisings that are well planned and externally supported will eventually succeed.

The most crucial first steps for the new government in Baghdad are to fill the security ministries with competent, broadly accepted officials, address the oil revenue issue with the Kurds, and build on recent gestures toward political rapprochement.

Washington should keep pressuring Baghdad to make early, ungrudging goodwill gestures toward the Kurds instead of reverting to hardball negotiations and broken promises.

Conversations with senior officials in Egypt, Jordan, and Israel highlight the complexities of -- and potential links between -- the region's latest crises.

Much has been made of President Barack Obama's recent admission that he didn't "have a strategy yet" on Syria. With the president scheduled to address the nation Wednesday night about the Islamic State insurgency, the White House appears to be seeking to quash the debate about whether Mr. Obama's risk-averse

To defeat the jihadist group and address the instability it has caused, the United States will need to follow up on its good first steps in Iraq and get serious about Syria.