John McCain: We Need a Strategy for the Middle East 10/25/2017 9:52:36 PM   facebook Google+ ► Print The chairman of the Senate Arms Services Committee, Senator John McCain WASHINGTON, New York Times, October 24, 2017   — Clashes this month between elements of the Iraqi security forces and Kurdish fighters around  Kirkuk  are deeply troubling, in particular because of the United States’ longstanding friendship with the Kurdish people. These clashes are also emblematic of a broader, more troubling reality: Beyond our tactical successes in the fight against the Islamic State, the United States is still dangerously lacking a comprehensive strategy toward the rest of the Middle East in all of its complexity. This is the unfortunate legacy that the Obama administration left for its successor. President Trump’s  call this month  for a broader strategy to confront Iran’s malign influence across the Middle East was an en...

ANALYSIS: Regional terror make IRGC expulsion more imperative 10/23/2017 8:25:22 PM   facebook Google+ ► Print Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Terrorist By Shahin Gobadi Al Arabiya, 23 October 2017 -The role of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) in the attack on Kirkuk and various cities in Iraqi Kurdistan, which displaced a large number of people in the area, once again highlighted the IRGC's destructive role in regional crises. The Peshmarga Force commander said in Kirkuk on Sunday, October 15, 'The Iraqi Army and Popular Mobilization Forces (Hashd al-Shaabi) are not the only ones who attack us. We have 100% accurate knowledge that the IRGC are also present among them.' Qassem Soleimani, the head of the IRGC’s terrorist Quds Force, was plotting in Sulaimaniyah, Baghdad, and other areas of Iraq in the days immediately before the attacks. Former US ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, tweeted on October 11, 'Qud...

Tillerson lands in Riyadh at start of Gulf, South Asia tour 10/21/2017 6:22:52 PM U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson gathers his things to board his plane to depart for a several day Mideast trip, Friday, Oct. 20, 2017 RIYADH (Reuters) OCT, 21, 2017  - U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson arrived in Riyadh on Saturday to attend a landmark meeting between officials from Saudi Arabia and Iraq aimed at improving relations between the two countries and countering Iran’s growing regional influence. The chief U.S. diplomat flew into King Salman Air Base a little more than a week after U.S. President Donald Trump unveiled a strategy to contain Iran and compel Tehran to agree to close what he charged are flaws in the multinational 2015 deal designed to prevent Iran developing nuclear weapons. Tillerson’s only official meeting on Saturday was a working dinner with Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir. He was stopping in Saudi Arabia on the first leg of a...