If there was ever an example of an article by people who don't get out enough, it is this one by two leading inside-the-beltway enthusiasts for a bigger U.S. military footprint in Iraq

It is as fatuous to imagine that Iraqi political leaders would accept a return of U.S. troops to Iraq, as it is strange to argue that recent sectarian violence was precipitated by the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq.

Emile Nakhleh in the Financial Times on inevitable intervention in Syria

"So what should be done? The assistance should begin with establishing a haven for the opposition and the military personnel who defect from the regime, as in northern Iraq in 1991. Food, water, clothes, medical supplies and technical equipment should be dropped into the safety zone. Ankara would have to play a critical role in planning, and ultimately in maintaining and supplying the zone, as it would almost certainly have to be contiguous to Turkey.
"If Syrian forces violate the sanctuary, the west should arm the opposition and work with military defectors to organise more effective resistance. If that fails to deter the regime’s brutality and more deaths occur, the west should consider putting a limited number of “boots on the ground”, beginning with the “liberated” zone."

Six months ago Barack Obama called for Bashar al-Asad to step out of the way, so what is new about U.S. policy vis-a-vis Syria is not regime change lite, but an inching forward to intervention in Syria. The modality will be "humanitarian relief" but the effective delivery of aid cannot be done without security.  Since neither the Syrian government nor the fractious opposition can or will provide security, someone else will have to be involved. This means there will be a level of military intervention that will likely only increase with time. This may be the right answer, but we should not confuse ourselves about the slippery slope that follows, even if the initial involvement is limited to "safety zones" as Emile Nakhleh suggests, or the more elaborately sketched "no-kill zones" promoted by Anne-Marie Slaughter.  Absent a willing government in Damascus, any attempt to effectively bring a halt to the reprehensible violence in Syria will require armed intervention no matter the euphemism that is employed. 

Sealed report documenting the case for crimes against humanity by Bashar al-Asad and others

"The United Nations has drawn up a list of the most senior officials in the Syrian regime, including, it is claimed, President Bashar al-Assad himself, who it says should be investigated for ordering "crimes against humanity" and other gross human rights violations."

November 2011 report the UN's Human Rights Report.

Fitting remembrance of Marie Colvin from Jim Muir

The dauntless Marie Colvin falls in Baba Amr, Homs after filing yet another no holds barred report--“a complete and utter lie that they are only targeting terrorists…the Syrian army is simply shelling a city of cold, starving civilians.”

Links to Marie Colvin's last TV interview on February 22, just hours before she and Remi Ochlik were felled by Syrian fire.  Other pertinent connections are found in the Telegraph piece.  On February 21, 2012, she was featured on the BBC giving a first hand and trenchant account of persistent, indiscriminate Syrian tank and artillery fire.

Remi Ochlik, the 28-year old French photojournalist, was killed at Colvin's side.  His photographs from Libya were honored last month with a first prize from World Press Photo and much of his work may be viewed at his website.

Reports from the scene suggest a purposeful efforts by the Syrian forces to target anyone--whether seasoned correspondent or citizen-journalist attempting to get news out of the city.  "Abu Abdu al-Homsi, an opposition activist, said the Syrian Army had cut phone lines into the city and were bombing any buildings where they detected mobile phone signals."

Just the day before, Rami el-Sayed the Syrian blogger whose videos regularly gave lie to Syrian government claims that its forces were not targetting civilians or pursuing a scorced earth strategy.



"He was killed because his pictures portrayed truth..."  Allah yirhamu.

In a tribute on Bambuser, his call for action was posted:

"Babaamr is facing a genocide right now. I will never forgive you for your silence. You all have just give us your words but we need actions. However our hearts will always be with those who risk their life for our freedom. I know what we need! We need campaigns everywhere inside Syria and outside Syria, and now we need all people in front of all embassies all over the world. In a few hours there will be NO place called BabaAmr and I expect this will be my last message and no one will forgive you who talked but didn't act."

"I was shot by an Israeli sniper."--Anthony Shadid

Shadid was shot by the sniper in 2002 while reporting from Ramallah.  Compare this to the way the shooting was covered by the NYTimes (this convenient aloofness from key facts has also been noted by As'ad AbuKhalil).

"He was no stranger to injury, harassment and arrest. In 2002, while working for The Globe, he was shot and wounded in the shoulder as he walked on a street in Ramallah [ital. added], in the Israeli-occupied West Bank."

The Shadid quote [starts at about 41:30 in the interview] is from a fascinating interview conducted by Chris Lydon with lots of commentary by Anthony Shadid about Iraq,  how well or poorly Americans understand the Middle East, press bias, the chimera of objectivity, and his career.

[This 2002 piece by Sherry Ricchiardi titled "Bullying the Press" is relevant.]

"In a class of his own"--Emile Nakhleh on Anthony Shadid

Anthony Shadid's untimely and tragic death brings sorrow to all of us who have followed mass protests in the Arab world in the past year.  The New York Times' obituary this morning describes his grace, perception, intellect, and writing.  I would add, however, that his visceral appreciation of his culture and his burning desire to educate Western readers on the lives of normal people through elegant and graceful reporting are the hallmark of his short but awe-inspiring career.

The Stimson Center's "Seismic Shift" report last year on why so many Americans failed to anticipate the change in the Arab world in 2011 stated that only two groups understood the region well--NGO activists who have worked in the region for years and expert journalists who have covered the popular revolts that toppled dictatorial regimes.  Anthony Shadid headed the list of those journalists.  He was by every measure a distinguished journalist and a gentleman.  I had the honor and pleasure of listening to him at a number of meetings in Washington in recent years and was always impressed by his well-constructed arguments and his passion and compassion for the subjects of his reporting.  When the New York Times hired him from the Washington Post, the Times' management rightly admitted he was a great catch.  It's no exaggeration to say that Anthony Shadid was in a class of his own when it came to reporting, writing, and analyzing the complex cultural context of the societies he was covering. Often, government analysts would read Anthony Shadid’s analytic articles in the Times and before that in the Post whenever they wanted to learn about the cultural nuances in Arab societies. While many journalists focused on the "high politics" of ruling elites, Anthony Shadid delved into the "low politics" of the average people who struggled daily under the repression, corruption, and nepotism of those same ruling elites.  The annals of American journalism will be a vacant place without his reporting.  He will be missed sorely.  I personally will miss reading his elegant and informative reporting in the Times.  May God bless his soul.  Allah yerhamu [God have mercy on him]!

Emile Nakhleh

Former Senior Intelligence Office and author of A Necessary Engagement:  Reinventing America’s Relations with the Muslim World 

Devastating, horrible news--Anthony Shadid dies with his boots on in Syria

I have been reading Anthony's House of Stone, his pitch perfect and beautifully wrought chronicle of his struggle to bring his ancestral home in Marjayoun back to life.  The last phone conversation I had with him was a couple of years ago in Lebanon.  I reached him in south Lebanon and he described himself captured by the challenge of restoring his great grandfather's house.  I will have more to say about the book shortly, but for now I must simply express my profound sadness about Anthony's death.  So many who crossed paths with him will be pained by the loss of this gifted, brave and astounding man.

After the rose petals fall, the scent remains...

Earlier posts here on Anthony Shadid's work.

Entertaining and thoughtful comments by Robert Gates at William and Mary in February. He was speaking at an annual Charter Day ceremony that featured the award of well-earned honorary degree to James A. Bill, the eminent scholar of Iran.

Bill's papers have been donated to William and Mary and are available there to researchers.  http://scrc.swem.wm.edu/?p=collections/findingaid&id=6269&q=&rootcontentid=21263#id21263

Five questions about the Arab Spring asked by the Foreign Policy Association