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Terrorism - Counterinsurgency
Syria's Inglorious Basterd
![[Khaled al-Hamad, left, in a photo from Omar Al-Farouk Brigade Facebook page]](/content_images/3/sm_abuSakkar.jpg "[Khaled al-Hamad, left, in a photo from Omar Al-Farouk Brigade Facebook page]")
On 13 May 2013, Human Rights Watch released a statement attesting to the authenticity of a disturbing video that circulated first on Syrian pro-regime websites and then on social media. In it, a Syrian man cuts open a dead regime soldier’s chest, pulls his heart and lung out, threatens “Alawite dogs” that they will all face a similar fate, and takes a bite of the viscera while addressing the video camera. This latest sectarian evocation by a member of the armed opposition, Khalid al-Hamad (“Abu Sakkar”), was simplistically depicted by many US and Gulf media outlets as an isolated abomination perpetrated by a savage man. However, the incident tells a more complex story ...
Keep Reading »Showtime's Homeland and the US Media
I took advantage of a recent promotion by my cable company to power-watch both seasons of Showtime’s Homeland. Before taking this plunge, I had purposely stayed away from Argo and Zero Dark Thirty, which have Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) heroes pitted against Muslim enemies. I never tuned into any of the seasons of 24, a show that shares the same producers with Homeland, who have teamed up with the Israeli crew who created Homeland’s precursor, Hatufim (“Hostages”). I did watch Covert Affairs while it remained a silly look at a CIA operative’s activities around the world. I had to stop when the main character successfully convinced a Yemeni official to be a ...
Keep Reading »On the Margins Media Roundup (March)
![[The United Nations World Food Programme distributes food in Bamako, Mali, following the displacement of over 380,000 Malians. Image by DFID/ Flickr.]](/content_images/3/sm_ScreenShot2013-03-20at11.05.55AM.png "[The United Nations World Food Programme distributes food in Bamako, Mali, following the displacement of over 380,000 Malians. Image by DFID/ Flickr.]")
[This is a roundup of news articles and other materials circulating on Mali, South Sudan, Somalia, Djibouti, and Comoros Islands and reflects a wide variety of opinions. It does not reflect the views of the On the Margins Editors or of Jadaliyya. You may send your own recommendations for inclusion in each month's roundup to info@jadaliyya.com.] Somalia Somalia Donors Step Up To Help With Rebuilding Efforts Major Western donors announce aid for Somalia to promote stability and recovery. Somalia’s humanitarian needs should come first The author argues that recent million-dollar pledges to the fragile Somali government may be misguided. Rights group urges ...
Keep Reading »London Event -- Algeria, Mali: Another Chapter in the “Global War On Terror”? (9 March)
![[Algeria Solidarity Campaign logo. Image from algeriasolidarity.org]](/content_images/3/sm_asclogoweb030213.jpg "[Algeria Solidarity Campaign logo. Image from algeriasolidarity.org]")
Algeria, Mali: Another Chapter in the “Global War On Terror”? 9 March 2013, 4:30 p.m. Khalili Lecture Theatre, SOAS, London As the dreadful hostage crisis at the BP-operated In Amenas gas plant in Algeria came to an end on January 19th, the British Prime Minister, David Cameron claimed, like George Bush Jr and Tony Blair before him, that the country faced an "existential" and "global threat" to "our interests and way of life". Ten years after the devastating war against Iraq and following the NATO onslaught on Libya two years ago; Western troops are again intervening in Mali to “fight Islamist extremists”. ...
Keep Reading »US Drones Blow Up Any Hope of Close Ties with Yemenis
![[Some of the 26 children of Saleh Qaid Toayman, who was killed with one of his sons in an airstrike on Oct. 14, 2011. The family says the eldest son, Azzedine, has joined an al-Qaida-affiliated group to avenge the father's death. The group's black banner hangs in the family's home. The family says the militant group gives them a monthly stipend. Image by Kelly McEvers/NPR.]](/content_images/3/sm_yemen_drone3_wide-99b7563b972d4690efcad77614624f1f9f4b5645.jpg "[Some of the 26 children of Saleh Qaid Toayman, who was killed with one of his sons in an airstrike on Oct. 14, 2011. The family says the eldest son, Azzedine, has joined an al-Qaida-affiliated group to avenge the father's death. The group's black banner hangs in the family's home. The family says the militant group gives them a monthly stipend. Image by Kelly McEvers/NPR.]")
Late last year I escorted the US radio journalist Kelly McEvers to Abyan, a governorate in South Yemen. Government troops and local militias had been battling fighters from Ansar al-Sharia, an al-Qaeda affiliate, and had forced them from the area only two days earlier. There were reports that some had shaved their beards and stayed. If they had known an American reporter was around, they would have had a golden opportunity for a kidnapping. Before we boarded the plane in Beirut, I had told McEvers that I would assure her safety. As one of the rare Americans who understand Yemen well, she knew that I was saying I would do whatever it took to protect her, putting her ...
Keep Reading »If You Are From the North, You Are Guilty: On the Alienation and Abandonment of Internally Displaced Northern Malians
![[Ansar Eddine rebels. Photo by Anne Look via Wikimedia Commons]](/content_images/3/sm_9E1DF1EF-14DF-4E92-AE8B-508AE5BE317B_mw1024_n_s(2).jpg "[Ansar Eddine rebels. Photo by Anne Look via Wikimedia Commons]")
A displaced Timbuktian entered a store in Bamako. “As-salamu alaykum,” he said. The manager stiffened and eyed him suspiciously. “Why do you greet me with ‘As-salamu alaykum?’” he asked. “Because we are both Muslim,” the Timbuktian said in the heavily-accented Bambara typical of the Songhay of northern Mali. “No, we are in Bamako. Here we do not say ‘As-salamu alaykum.’ And why don’t you speak Bambara?” “I do speak some Bambara,” the Timbuktian replied. “But I am from the north, where we don’t speak Bambara. And I greeted you as I did because it is what I’m used to, and because we are both brothers in Islam, aren’t we?” To this, the manager said, “This is Mali. We ...
Keep Reading »Pakistan: Countering Militancy in PATA
![[ICG logo. Image from crisisgroup.org]](/content_images/3/sm_ICGlogoweb.jpg "[ICG logo. Image from crisisgroup.org]")
[The following report was issued by International Crisis Group on 15 January 2013.] Pakistan: Countering Militancy in the PATA Executive Summary Pakistan’s Provincially Administered Tribal Areas (PATA), which include Swat and six neighbouring districts and areas in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province (KPK), remains volatile more than three years after military operations sought to oust Islamist extremists. Militant groups such as the Sunni extremist Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi (TNSM) and its Pakistani Taliban-linked Fazlullah faction are no longer as powerful in Swat and other parts of PATA as they were in 2008 and early 2009, but their leaders and foot ...
Keep Reading »Regarding the Torture of Others in "Zero Dark Thirty"
Much of the hype and controversy surrounding Zero Dark Thirty centers on the issue of torture. The acting director of the CIA as well as three US senators have criticized the film for exaggerating the role of “enhanced interrogation techniques” in the search for Osama bin Laden, while commentators have criticized the film for advocating torture, some going so far as to call the film’s director, Kathryn Bigelow, an “apologist for evil.” Cinematographically, the film has received rave reviews, garnering five academy award nominations, among them best picture and best actress for Jessica Chastain’s depiction of CIA agent Maya. Yet what is at stake when the torture of ...
Keep Reading »List of Children Killed by Drone Strikes in Yemen and Pakistan
![[Drones Watch logo. Image from droneswatch.org]](/content_images/3/sm_droneswatchlogoweb.jpg "[Drones Watch logo. Image from droneswatch.org]")
[The following list was issued by Drones Watch on 20 January 2013. The names were compiled from The Bureau of Investigative Journalism reports.] PAKISTAN Name | Age | Gender Noor Aziz | 8 | male Abdul Wasit | 17 | male Noor Syed | 8 | male Wajid Noor | 9 | male Syed Wali Shah | 7 | male Ayeesha | 3 | female Qari Alamzeb | 14| male Shoaib | 8 | male Hayatullah KhaMohammad | 16 | male Tariq Aziz | 16 | male Sanaullah Jan | 17 | male Maezol Khan | 8 | female Nasir Khan | male Naeem Khan | male Naeemullah | male Mohammad Tahir | 16 | male Azizul Wahab | 15 | male Fazal Wahab | 16 | male Ziauddin | 16 | male Mohammad Yunus | 16 | male Fazal Hakim | 19 | ...
Keep Reading »Focus sur le Mali, troisième partie: Une périlleuse démonstration de force de l'ancienne puissance coloniale
![[Les habitants de Tombouctou protestent contre la prise de contrôle par le groupe islamiste Ansar al-Din. Image par Jemal Oumar/Magharebia.]](/content_images/3/sm_ScreenShot2013-01-22at9.44.57AM.png "[Les habitants de Tombouctou protestent contre la prise de contrôle par le groupe islamiste Ansar al-Din. Image par Jemal Oumar/Magharebia.]")
[Cet article est le troisième d'une série de trois, avec des perspectives différentes sur les développements au Mali. Les articles précédents - « Mali in Focus, Part One: The Jihadist Offensive Revisited » et « Focus sur le Mali, deuxième partie: Une guerre qui menace toute la région » ] Large consensus politique sur la scène politique intérieure, soutien de la communauté internationale, urgence de la situation face à l'avancée rapide des milices islamistes, tout à première vue concourt à justifier l'intervention militaire française au Mali. Derrière la prétendue légitimité de « l'opération Serval&nbs
Keep Reading »Focus sur le Mali, deuxième partie: Une guerre qui menace toute la région
![[Des combattants islamistes armés traversent à vive allure la frontière entre la Mauritanie et le Mali le 21 mai. Image de Jemal Oumar/Flickr.]](/content_images/3/sm_ScreenShot2013-01-18at11.35.19AM.png "[Des combattants islamistes armés traversent à vive allure la frontière entre la Mauritanie et le Mali le 21 mai. Image de Jemal Oumar/Flickr.]")
[Cet article est le deuxième d'une série de trois, avec des perspectives différentes sur les développements au Mali. Le premier article - « Mali in Focus, Part One: The Jihadist Offensive Revisited » ] « …Ce conflit est légitime et vital pour la sécurité des Français. Nous ne pouvons pas espérer conserver nos modes de vie et notre prospérité si nous n'allons pas à l'extérieur du territoire national participer à la stabilisation et au règlement des crises, à l'éradication des menaces qui finiraient immanquablement par venir nous menacer à l'intérieur du territoire national. » Ces mots ont été prononcés par le général de division ...
Keep Reading »Torture, Drones, and Detention: A Conversation Between Laleh Khalili and Lisa Hajjar
![[Crop of event poster.]](/content_images/3/sm_lalehlisa.jpg "[Crop of event poster.]")
The following is an audio recording of a joint book talk held on 16 January 2013. Laleh Khalili and Lisa Hajjar recently published their Time in the Shadows: Confinement in Counterinsurgencies and Torture: A Sociology of Violence and Human Rights, respectively. The event was held at the School of Oriental and African Studies, and featured a conversation between the two authors entitled "Torture, Drones, and Detention: The Vagaries of Liberal Warfare." The discussion ranged from the Boer War to Drone Warfare, legal torture, the role of law and everything in between.
Keep Reading »The Constitution Project's Task Force on Detainee Treatment
[The following report was issued by the The Constitution Project on 16 April 2013.] The Report of the Constitution Project's Task Force on Detainee Treatment Statement of the Task Force This report of The Constitution Project’s Task Force on Detainee Treatment is the result of almost two years of intensive study, investigation and deliberation. The project was undertaken with the belief that it was important to provide an accurate and authoritative account of how the United ...
Keep Reading »Salafism in Tunisia: An Interview with a Member of Ansar al-Sharia
The emergence of Salafi movements in post-Ben Ali Tunisia surprised both the international community and many in Tunisia itself. The astonishment was such that when the first Salafi demonstrations took place in downtown Tunis, journalists and observers were talking quite confusingly about the phenomenon. Some accused men of the former regime of having organized the demonstrations by these bearded men, others claimed they were members of the Tahrir Party (a pan-Islamist movement), and others still labeled ...
Keep Reading »Mapping Muslims: NYPD Spying and Its Impact on American Muslims
[The following press release and report were issued by the Muslim American Civil Liberties Coalition (MACLC), and its partner organizations the Creating Law Enforcement Accountability and Responsability (CLEAR) project of CUNY School of Law, and the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF).] New Report Launch: NYPD and Its Impact on American Muslims On March 11, 2013, members of the American Muslim community will release findings from a ground-breaking new report, Mapping Muslims: NYPD ...
Keep Reading »Event: Proxy and Invisible Detention in the US Counterinsurgencies in Iraq and Afghanistan (12 March 2013, Rutgers University)
Proxy and Invisible Detention in the US Counterinsurgencies in Iraq & Afghanistan 12 March 2013, 5:00 - 6:30 p.m. Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey The Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Rutgers University presents "Proxy and Invisible Detention in the US Counterinsurgencies in Iraq & Afghanistan," a talk by Dr. Laleh Khalili, Reader in Politics of the Middle East SOAS, University of London. This talk examines the use of proxies by the United States in ...
Keep Reading »Globalizing Torture: CIA Secret Detention and Extraordinary Rendition
[The following report was issued by the Open Society Foundations on 5 February 2013.] Globalizing Torture: CIA Secret Detention and Extraordinary Rendition Executive Summary Following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) commenced a secret detention program under which suspected terrorists were held in CIA prisons, also known as “black sites,” outside the United States, where they were subjected to “enhanced interrogation ...
Keep Reading »Obama's Drone Leaks: New Imminence, Old Tactics
The Senate Armed Services Committee did not mention drones a single time during Senator Chuck Hagel's confirmation hearings last week. That oversight, however, says a lot more about the politics surrounding the hearings than it does about the enduring salience of drone technology to US national security policy. The Department of Justice's "white paper" obtained by NBC on Monday affirms that. The paper, drafted for some members of Congress and a less detailed ...
Keep Reading »The Very Risky Bet of Hollande in Mali: The Probable Long-Term Disaster
On 11 January, France's President François Hollande sent in troops to Mali, a few immediately but then 3500, a sizeable number. The stated objective was to fight against the various Islamic fundamentalists who had taken control of northern Mali. It was what the French would call a gageure - a word that derives from gage in the sense of a bet. It basically means undertaking something very difficult to achieve. I think one might best translate it as a "risky bet" and in this case, I would say it ...
Keep Reading »Mali in Focus, Part Three: A Dangerous Show of Force from a Former Colonial Power
[This article is the final of a three-part series featuring different perspectives on the recent developments in Mali. Previously published: "Mali in Focus, Part One: The Jihadist Offensive Revisited" and "Mali in Focus, Part Two: A War That Threatens the Entire Region"] Broad political consensus in the domestic political sphere, support from the international community, and the urgency of the situation due to the rapid advance of Islamist militias—together, at first glance, these ...
Keep Reading »Early Perspectives from Algeria on Northern Mali and French Intervention
Thus far, Algerian press coverage and reactions are divided on France’s military intervention in northern Mali, Operation SERVAL, as well as the additional thrusts in the south by Mali’s jihadist coalition. Skepticism that has been prevalent in Algerian media coverage of calls for the internationalization of the Malian crisis remains a strong thread in opinion and editorial writing nonetheless. While significant strands of elite opinion—especially at the political level—appear to have somewhat rallied to ...
Keep Reading »Human Rights Watch Statement on Zero Dark Thirty
[The following statement was released by Human Rights Watch on 11 January 2013.] The movie Zero Dark Thirty, which depicts the hunt for Osama bin Laden, wrongly suggests that torture was an ugly but useful tactic in the fight against terrorism. It also falsely implies that information obtained through torture was critical to finding bin Laden. As the film-makers note, it is a fictionalized account, not a documentary. The use of torture violates US law and the ...
Keep Reading »Mali in Focus, Part One: The Jihadist Offensive Revisited
[This article is the first of a three-part series featuring different perspectives on the recent developments in Mali.] Although the jihadists in northern Mali share the same radical Islamist substrate, we were expecting to see Iyad Ag Ghaly’s Ansar Eddine (AD) movement cloak itself in a more moderate attitude in return for having obtained a respectable status in the Azawad conflict. This was the wish expressed by several international mediators—namely Algeria and Burkina Faso—given the different ...
Keep Reading »US Department of Homeland Security's Media Monitoring Manual
The following link directs you to portions of the US Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) 2011 Media Monitoring Desktop Reference. It was made available through the efforts of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, which filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request and subsequent law suit to obtain the documents. The manual identifies many of the problematic monitoring practices of DHS and contains a (broad) list of (extremely vague) key words DHS uses to monitor the internet (inlcuding ...
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