Foreign Policy In Focus » Article / Commentary

Recent suicide bombings in the heart of Baghdad have sent a message to Washington: Maintaining the Iraq policy of the past administration does not inspire hope. Iraqi insurgents linked to al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for the bombing, which hit hotels frequented by Western journalists. The attacks followed the government’s banning of 511 parliamentary candidates for the upcoming election this March. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s government banned a large number of independents, nationalists, secularists and current opponents of the government, including Sunni and Baathist politicians.

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January 27, 2010 Obama's Mixed Policy and Message on "Just War" By Adil Shamoo

The President's iteration of the principles of a just war in his speech in Oslo, before accepting the Nobel Peace Prize, includes a heartening declaration. Consistent with the theories of just war, Mr. Obama declared that war should only be waged as a last resort and in self-defense, with proportionality and the avoidance of harm to civilians whenever possible.

Stating, "Evil does exist in the world. Non-violent movement could not have halted Hitler's armies," Mr. Obama used the Peace Prize forum to explain his reasons for continuing two wars. His just war doctrine is not a pacificist concept but rather a war concept. He reminded us that "this concept of just war" was "rarely observed". Mr. President, many voted for you for the exact purpose of changing the past evils of wars, in general, and specifically for changing the prevailing doctrine of the last administration by imposing our will on the world either by force or intimidation.

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January 13, 2010

There is an old story regarding a conversation at the Yalta conference in February, 1945 during the Second World War.  Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin were meeting near a small pond containing a half dozen gold fish. While the leaders were sipping their tea, they debated the best method for catching the fish in the pond. Stalin pulled his revolver and emptied it into the pond without any luck.  Roosevelt used a fishing pole and gave up after a half an hour. Churchill took his tea spoon and began removing one spoon of water at a time. He explained: by emptying the pond, I will catch them all.

Al-Qaeda exists because of the 1.7 Billion Muslims worldwide, a large portion are discontent and angry at the policies of the United States. This discontent provides the pond water for their recruitment into al-Qaeda. Most of these discontented Muslims will never practice terrorism but will, in some way, support some anti-American activities. They might attend a demonstration, hand out fliers, or help their relatives participating in anti-American groups. They might even provide financial support to groups that support this view - much like those loyal Irish-American families who provided support to the Irish Republican Army.

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The Register Citizen (registercitizen.com), Serving Torrington, CT, Opinion

ADIL E. SHAMOO: Mind-reading technology threatens our liberties

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As our nation waits for a presidential decision on our direction in Afghanistan, Americans have also had time to reflect on our Afghanistan policy.  No longer are we in Afghanistan for the clear mission of removing al-Qaida bases; many of those have moved on to Pakistan.  Instead, what was once perceived as a decisively clear action has become morally murky eight years later.

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Introduction

We, the undersigned, are concerned Iraqis, living in Iraq and outside Iraq, men and women, professionals and intellectuals, who recognize that a semblance of progress towards peace and stability has been made in our beloved Iraq, the cradle of human civilization. However, the path towards realizing a sustainable state of stability, justice, peace, and democracy remains long and tortuous, and the challenges are immense. We support the unconditional withdrawal of all foreign troops and presence from Iraq. We strongly believe that Iraq must have full sovereignty as a unified democratic non--sectarian state with equal rights and justice to all of its citizens, irrespective of race, creed, religion, color, ethnic origin, beliefs, gender, or tribal affiliation and without the presence of any foreign military forces.

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Iraq: Nightmare or New Democracy? Adil E. Shamoo and Bonnie Bricker | July 24, 2009 Editor: Jen Doak
Foreign Policy In Focus www.fpif.org
Parliament members are afraid to attend meetings. Iraq's nascent economy is deteriorating.  Hundreds of armed militias are ready to fight for their own interests. This is Iraq today. President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki met this week to discuss the future of Iraq. In a joint news conference, Obama acknowledged the challenges facing Iraq. More importantly, the president emphasized that Iraq needs to work for "national unity." With this statement, Obama refers to the nature and will of the Iraqi people. While Iraq could easily become Obama's nightmare with a policy that emphasizes sectarian divisions, a national unity framework will help Iraq become a new democracy in the Middle East. The current deterioration in Iraq has made advisors and pundits (many of whom supported the initial invasion) fearful of pulling out U.S. troops. The misleading terms of the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) means U.S. troops are more involved than expected.  The terms of the SOFA called for withdrawal of troops from the cities, for example, but the city limit lines were drawn within previous borders of the cities, allowing troops to be positioned in what was once considered part of the city

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As the swine flu threat level grew at the end of April, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Margaret Chan said, "it really is all of humanity that is under threat during a pandemic."

While the statement is technically correct, the director-general could have expressed the threat differently. WHO, as the organization most responsible in leading efforts on behalf of global health, should have been more careful to avoid adding heat to a potentially combustible discussion of swine flu. Instead of promoting a rational, reasoned response to the crisis, Chan's statement helped inflame sentiment against immigrants in the United States and across the globe.

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Obama's Speech: Vexing Issues Adil E. Shamoo | June 10, 2009 Editor: Emily Schwartz Greco
Foreign Policy In Focus

President Barack Obama began the dialogue between the West and the Muslim and Arab worlds by directly confronting the vexing issues between them. The new tone is devoid of arrogance and emphasizes peaceful coexistence — in contrast to the prior administration's bellicose tone and militaristic policy.

The speech Obama delivered in Cairo deemphasized the U.S. conflict with Iran, reached out to moderates, and didn't blame the entire Islamic world for actions of a small minority of "violent extremists." Moreover, he focused everyone's attention on the most important issues in the Middle East.

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Adil E. Shamoo

I agree a great deal with Stephen Zunes's assessment regarding the new administration. And I derive most of my attitude toward this administration on foreign policy from the people appointed to run it. The appointments are in line with standard Democratic Party line on foreign policy. The Democratic Party leadership is derived from the realists' school of thought, as is the Republican leadership. This means that the moral component in our foreign policy is lacking despite some claims to the contrary. Of course, when the moral component accidentally matches our interest, we use it, and when it doesn't we discard it.

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