Terrorism | AEIdeas

Friday, May 24, 2013

Foreign and Defense Policy, Middle East and North Africa

Two Iranian presidential candidates wanted for 1994 terrorist attack in Argentina

Roger Noriega | May 23, 2013, 4:20 pm

After the government of Argentine President Cristina Kirchner agreed in January to work with Iran to form a so-called “truth commission” to investigate the 1994 bombing of the Jewish community center (AMIA) in which eight Iranian officials are implicated, many … read more >

Foreign and Defense Policy, Terrorism

Spillover from Mali

Katherine Zimmerman | May 23, 2013, 3:26 pm

In a major speech today, President Barack Obama justified the continued use of targeted strikes to combat the al Qaeda network, adding that another part of America’s strategy is to address the underlying grievances that allow groups within the network … read more >

Image Credit: The Israel Project (Flickr) (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Foreign and Defense Policy, Terrorism

Grievance isn’t the problem, ideology is

Michael Rubin | May 23, 2013, 2:58 pm

There are two general ways to look at what motivates terrorism: One school argues that grievance motivates terrorism, while the other suggests that ideology does. Alas, in his National Defense University speech, President Obama seemed to put himself in the … read more >

Foreign and Defense Policy, Terrorism

Obama shouldn’t paralyze drone policy

Michael Rubin | May 23, 2013, 2:32 pm

As I write this, President Obama is delivering what the White House billed as a major speech in which he sought to recalibrate and redefine US counterterrorism strategy. One of the debates Obama sought to resolve was the question regarding … read more >

Image Credit: US Air Force Senior Airman Gino Reyes

Foreign and Defense Policy, Terrorism

A new push to bring terrorists to America? Oh please, oh please…

Marc Thiessen | May 23, 2013, 2:08 pm

A senior administration official says that President Obama “will call on Congress to lift restrictions on detainee transfers from GITMO. He will indicate that he is asking the Department of Defense to designate a site in the United States where … read more >

Politics and Public Opinion

Public opinion and the Boston bombing: 5 takeaways

Andrew Rugg | May 8, 2013, 10:10 am

It’s now been several weeks since the Boston bombing. Pollsters have subsequently released several polls gauging the opinions of Americans on a host of issues related to terrorism and the bombings themselves. Below are some of the major takeaways. Domestic … read more >

Foreign and Defense Policy, Europe and Russia

Don’t let Russia exploit Tsarnaev brothers’ links to Chechnya

Leon Aron | April 30, 2013, 1:12 pm

At the end of my recent Q&A about the Chechen connection to the Boston marathon bombings, I suggested that the US should be wary of the Kremlin’s inevitable attempt to exploit the Tsarnaev brothers’ links to Chechnya and Dagestan. This … read more >

Image Credit: Susan E Adams (Flickr) (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Politics and Public Opinion

Polls on terrorism and the Tea Party

Karlyn Bowman and Andrew Rugg | April 26, 2013, 8:56 am

Give the government some credit: The polls in recent weeks have been filled with bad news for Washington. When Gallup asks about the most important problem facing the country, around 15% in recent months have spontaneously mentioned dysfunction in Washington. … read more >

Foreign and Defense Policy, Terrorism

Really? ‘A law enforcement approach to terrorism’?

John Yoo | April 19, 2013, 10:57 pm

How is this a victory for traditional law enforcement? Two young brothers, lightly armed, killed several innocent civilians, wounded 170, killed an officer and wounded another, and shut down one of America’s great cities. We had a whole city trapped … read more >

Chechen elders block a convoy of Russian army troops during the 1994 conflict. Image Credit: Northfoto / Shutterstock.com

Foreign and Defense Policy, Europe and Russia, Terrorism

Understanding Chechnya, jihad, and the region’s deep ties with al Qaeda: Q&A with Leon Aron

Leon Aron | April 19, 2013, 11:00 am

The news out of Boston is coming fast, and some of it will certainly turn out to be inaccurate. Right now, two men are believed to be the perpetrators of the Boston Marathon terrorist attack on April 15, 2013 that … read more >