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Articles on Saddam Hussein

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Supporters of Ukraine, like these demonstrators in Boston on Feb. 27, 2022, are likely to be disappointed by any peace deal. Vincent Ricci/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Lessons in realpolitik from Nixon and Kissinger: Ideals go only so far in ending conflict in places like Ukraine

The US frequently chooses to put its own interest ahead of its professed values. That approach to foreign policy is called ‘realpolitik’ and it may lead to an unsatisfying peace deal in Ukraine.
A Ukrainian police officer is overwhelmed by emotion after comforting people evacuated from Irpin on the outskirts of Kyiv on March 26, 2022. History shows that wars launched for nebulous reasons generally backfire on those who launch them. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

Ukraine war: The history of conflict shows how elective wars ultimately fail

It’s difficult for regimes to galvanize public opinion or maintain people’s willingness to accept the sacrifices associated with a war waged for questionable reasons.
At the Amna Suraka museum in Iraq, exhibits show the torture that was carried out in the cells. Hélène Veilleux/Flickr

How someone becomes a torturer

Interviews with former torturers in Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq reveal what it takes to be a torturer – which could help explain how to reduce the number of people who get tortured around the world.
On Aug. 16, 2021, thousands of Afghans trapped by the sudden Taliban takeover rushed the Kabul airport tarmac. AP Photo/Shekib Rahmani

Afghanistan only the latest US war to be driven by deceit and delusion

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the US Afghanistan pullout is not a repeat of failures in other recent wars. “This is not Saigon,” he said. A seasoned foreign policy expert disagrees.
Shiite Muslims attend a mourning ritual during the Islamic month of Muharram, in the central shrine city of Karbala. Photo by Mohammed SAWAF / AFP) (Photo by MOHAMMED SAWAF/AFP via Getty Images

The largest contemporary Muslim pilgrimage isn’t the hajj to Mecca, it’s the Shiite pilgrimage to Karbala in Iraq

Millions of Muslims travel to Karbala in Iraq for one of the largest annual pilgrimages. The pilgrimage has adapted and changed over its centuries-old history.
U.S. special operations troops are a crucial element of the fight against terrorism. AP Photo/Wally Santana

In the terrorism fight, Trump has continued a key Obama policy

Sending specially trained operatives into hostile territories dates back to Colonial days. In the past decade, special operations forces have become central to America’s counterterrorism efforts.
Benny Marty/Shutterstock.com

US and Iran have a long, troubled history

Some of the major events in US-Iran relations highlight the differences between the nations’ views, but others presented real opportunities for reconciliation.
A memorial procession for Sgt. James Johnston, who was killed in Afghanistan in June, passes through Trumansburg, N.Y., Saturday, Aug. 31, 2019. AP/David Goldman

From Vietnam to Afghanistan, all US governments lie

US officials have consistently lied over decades about progress in the Afghanistan war. The lies are no surprise, writes a foreign affairs scholar – but they have profound consequences.
A mass grave is excavated in Khan Al-Rubea in 2003 that witnesses say is filled with the remains of Shia whom Saddam executed in 1991. AP/Hasan Sarbakhshian

Broken trust: How Iraqis lost their faith in Washington, long before the Kurds did

Distrust of the US – even if misplaced – can linger for decades, thwarting Washington’s foreign policy goals. A former US diplomat in Iraq reflects on that country’s skepticism of US aid efforts.
President Harry S Truman established the initial version of the National Intelligence Council. AP Photo

An invisible government agency produces crucial national security intelligence, but is anyone listening?

The National Intelligence Council works inside government but is little understood outside. Yet it has helped respond to almost all the major foreign policy challenges of the last 40 years.
Family members of Sunni men and boys in Iraq accused of supporting ISIS hold up pictures of their arrested relatives. AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo

Iraq’s brutal crackdown on suspected Islamic State supporters could trigger civil war

Iraq beat the Islamic State. Now, its Shia government is jailing and even executing all suspected terrorists – most of them Sunni Muslims. The clampdown may inflame a centuries-old sectarian divide.

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