The Mujahedin-E Khalq (MEK)


Book Description

Comments on Study by Senior Former US Officials: Ambassador Bloomfield’s objective and thorough review of the history of the [MEK] since the early 70’s is a study that needs to be read by all. His work will be particularly useful to those in our administration charged with developing policy that is fair and consistent with the facts. --Former National Security Advisor General James L. Jones [This] unbiased review of the MEK’s history and goals…is long overdue, and a serious read for national security leaders developing regional and international policy on the MEK after its de-listing. --Former US Coordinator for Counterterrorism LTG Dell L. Dailey Ambassador Bloomfield’s analysis provides the most accurate assessment publicly available for understanding this long-maligned organization [the MEK], placing it in its proper local and historical context in pre- and post-revolutionary Iran. --Former State Department Director of Policy Planning and Special Envoy Ambassador Mitchell Reiss During my time as the Commander in Iraq from 2004-2007, my intelligence analysts struggled to reconcile reports about the MEK's past with reports from our leaders at Camp Ashraf on their daily interactions with the MEK. We would have welcomed this detailed look at their history. --Former US Army Chief of Staff General George W. Casey, Jr. This study portrays – devastatingly – how bureaucratic commitment to a point of view…can drive some within that bureaucracy to fight the impingement of inconvenient reality on their policy-driven view of the world. --Former US Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey Ambassador Linc Bloomfield’s account is tough but fair in setting the record straight….This report will benefit the policy process in Washington as the US seeks more effective approaches to avoiding a nuclear-armed Iran. Former Governor of New Mexico, Member of Congress and --US Ambassador to the UN Bill Richardson




The Iranian Mojahedin


Book Description

'A first-rate study that not only goes far in explaining the key events of the last decade but also implicitly substantiates the classic Crane Brinton analysis.'Bernard Weiss, History: Review of New Books




The Mujahedin-e Khalq in Iraq


Book Description

The U.S. government classified members of the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MeK), a cult and designated foreign terrorist organization that was listed as an enemy force in Iraq, as civilian protected persons rather than combatant prisoners of war under the Geneva Conventions. A RAND study of this controversial decision recommends that MeK members be repatriated to Iran, which has promised amnesty to the group and appears to have upheld its commitment.




Tehran Rising


Book Description

Iran is the most significant current threat to the United States, the Middle East, and the West. As the evidence demonstrating this threat mounts, one thing remains clear to Ilan Berman: 'Washington is woefully unprepared to deal with this mounting peril.' Berman's approach is hard-hitting, provocative, alarmist, and unflinchingly critical. But he takes the indictment of Iran one step further providing what has been missing so far in the foreign policy discourse regarding Iran_both within the U.S. government and outside it_policy prescriptions designed to contain Iran's strategic ambitions.




The United Nations and Human Rights in Iraq


Book Description

Tahar Boumedra was Chief of the Human Rights Office of United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), and adviser to the Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG) on Camp Ashraf affairs from 2009 until 2012. He was the Regional Director of Penal Reform International (PRI) for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), based in Amman, Jordan. He was working with the MENA governments to introduce human rights based reforms in the penal and prison systems in the region. In November 2008, he was offered the position of Chief of UNAMI Human Rights Office who also represents the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (HCHR) in Iraq.




The Iran–Iraq War


Book Description

The Iran-Iraq War is one of the largest, yet least documented conflicts in the history of the Middle East. Drawing from an extensive cache of captured Iraqi government records, this book is the first comprehensive military and strategic account of the war through the lens of the Iraqi regime and its senior military commanders. It explores the rationale and decision-making processes that drove the Iraqis as they grappled with challenges that, at times, threatened their existence. Beginning with the bizarre lack of planning by the Iraqis in their invasion of Iran, the authors reveal Saddam's desperate attempts to improve the competence of an officer corps that he had purged to safeguard its loyalty to his tyranny, and then to weather the storm of suicidal attacks by Iranian religious revolutionaries. This is a unique and important contribution to our understanding of the history of war and the contemporary Middle East.




Losing an Enemy


Book Description

The definitive book on Obama's historic nuclear deal with Iran from the author of the Foreign Affairs Best Book on the Middle East in 2012 This timely book focuses on President Obama's deeply considered strategy toward Iran's nuclear program and reveals how the historic agreement of 2015 broke the persistent stalemate in negotiations that had blocked earlier efforts. The deal accomplished two major feats in one stroke: it averted the threat of war with Iran and prevented the possibility of an Iranian nuclear bomb. Trita Parsi, a Middle East foreign policy expert who advised the Obama White House throughout the talks and had access to decision-makers and diplomats on the U.S. and Iranian sides alike, examines every facet of a triumph that could become as important and consequential as Nixon's rapprochement with China. Drawing from more than seventy-five in-depth interviews with key decision-makers, including Iran's Foreign Minister Javad Zarif and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, this is the first authoritative account of President Obama's signature foreign policy achievement.




Iraq, Its Neighbors, and the United States


Book Description

"[This book] examines how Iraq's evolving political order affects its complex relationships with its neighbors and the United States. The book depicts a region unbalanced, shaped by new and old tensions, struggling with a classic collective action dilemma, and anxious about Iraq's political future, as well as America's role in the region, all of which suggest trouble ahead absent concerted efforts to promote regional cooperation. In the volume's case studies ... [scholars] review Iraq's bilateral relationships with Turkey, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the Gulf Arab states, Syria, and Jordan and explore how Iraq's neighbors could advance the country's transition to security and stability. The volume also looks at the United States' relations with and long-term strategic interests in Iraq and offers recommendations for how the United States can help Iraq strengthen and grow"--Page 4 of cover.




Trends in Outside Support for Insurgent Movements


Book Description

The most useful forms of outside support for an insurgent movement include safe havens, financial support, political backing, and direct military assistance. Because states are able to provide all of these types of assistance, their support has had a profound impact on the effectiveness of many rebel movements since the end of the Cold War. However, state support is no longer the only, or indeed necessarily the most important, game in town. Diasporas have played a particularly important role in sustaining several strong insurgencies. More rarely, refugees, guerrilla groups, or other types of non-state supporters play a significant role in creating or sustaining an insurgency, offering fighters, training, or other forms of assistance. This report assesses post-Cold War trends in external support for insurgent movements. It describes the frequency that states, diasporas, refugees, and other non-state actors back guerrilla movements. It also assesses the motivations of these actors and which types of support matter most. This book concludes by assessing the implications for analysts of insurgent movements.




On Point


Book Description

Den amerikanske hærs første officielle historiske beretning om operationerne i den anden Irakiske Krig, "Operation Iraqi Freedom", (OIF). Fra forberedelserne, mobiliseringen, forlægningen af enhederne til indsættelsen af disse i kampene ved Talil og As Samawah, An Najaf og de afsluttende kampe ved Bagdad. Foruden en detaljeret gennemgang af de enkelte kampenheder(Order of Battle), beskrives og analyseres udviklingen i anvendte våben og doktriner fra den første til den anden Golf Krig.