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Peter Bergen: Commentaries

The detainee hunger strike at Guantanamo Bay is entering its third month. Official reports say 100 of the detainees remaining at the detention camp are refusing food; lawyers for the detainees say the number is closer to 130. 

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Agencies often miss warning signs of attacksupdated Sat Apr 27 2013 13:46:53

In her classic 1962 study, "Pearl Harbor: Warning and Decision," Roberta Wohlstetter shows how the Japanese surprise attack on the U.S. naval base on December 7, 1941, should have been less surprising than it appeared at the time because there were warning signs known to the U.S. government that such an attack was possible.

Al Qaeda, Iran ... and Canada plot?updated Tue Apr 23 2013 11:15:47

The news that Canadian law enforcement on Monday arrested two men accused of planning to derail a passenger train in the Toronto area has attracted much attention, in part, because the plotters are also charged with "receiving support from al Qaeda elements in Iran."

Nine questions about the Boston bombersupdated Fri Apr 19 2013 22:33:26

We don't yet know how or why the Tsarnaev brothers, the alleged Boston Marathon bombers, decided to carry out their attacks, but a look at how their stories correlate with those of some other terrorists living in the West could provide some answers to the questions that many are now asking about them.

Ricin: Almost never deadly updated Fri Apr 19 2013 07:36:36

In the years since the terrorist attacks of 9/11, eight people have been arrested in the United States for attempting to make the deadly poison ricin with the intent of using it for an act of politically motivated violence, according to terrorism data collected by the New America Foundation.

Why terrorist bombings have been rare in U.S. in past decadeupdated Tue Apr 16 2013 09:50:48

It's too early to tell who is responsible for Monday's bombings in Boston. Yet after an incident like this, everyone is looking to find out who did it and why.

Syria rebel group's dangerous tie to al Qaedaupdated Wed Apr 10 2013 09:23:37

On Tuesday, al Qaeda's affiliate in Iraq announced that it had merged with the Syrian opposition group Jabhat al-Nusra to form the "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant."

Growing threat of extreme right-wing violenceupdated Thu Apr 04 2013 09:53:28

On the evening of March 19, Tom Clements, the director of Colorado's prison system, was shot and killed when he answered the door of his home near Colorado Springs.

Strange bedfellows -- Iran and al Qaedaupdated Sun Mar 10 2013 07:56:50

The appearance Friday in a lower Manhattan courtroom of Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, Osama bin Laden's son-in-law and one-time al Qaeda spokesman, to face charges of conspiracy to kill Americans underlines the perhaps surprising fact that members of bin Laden's inner circle have been living in Iran for the past decade or so.

Trying Osama's son-in-law in New York makes senseupdated Fri Mar 08 2013 07:55:46

George Venizelos, the FBI's assistant director in charge, asserted Thursday in a written statement that the recently arrested "Sulaiman Abu Ghaith held a key position in al Qaeda, comparable to a consigliere in a mob family."

The new story of the death of Osama bin Ladenupdated Tue Feb 12 2013 10:15:02

On Monday Esquire magazine published a massive profile of the Navy SEAL who says he shot Osama bin Laden.

John Brennan, Obama's counterterroristupdated Wed Feb 06 2013 20:35:13

When Vice President Joe Biden and Defense Secretary Robert Gates advised President Barack Obama in late April 2011 that sending a Navy SEAL team into Pakistan to capture or kill Osama bin Laden was not worth the various risks that this operation entailed, John Brennan, the president's top counterterrorism adviser, urged the president to authorize the raid.

Should we still fear al Qaeda?updated Sun Feb 03 2013 09:49:57

The attack in January on a gas facility in Algeria by an al Qaeda-linked group that resulted in at least 37 dead hostages has sparked an outpouring of dire warnings from leading Western politicians.

Abandon Afghanistan? A dumb ideaupdated Thu Jan 10 2013 07:43:49

Afghan President Hamid Karzai will meet with President Barack Obama on Friday to discuss the post-2014 American presence in Afghanistan.

John Brennan, Obama's drone warriorupdated Mon Jan 07 2013 13:27:54

President Barack Obama has nominated his top counterterrorism adviser, John Brennan, to be the next director of the CIA.

Senior senators slam 'Zero Dark Thirty' torture scenesupdated Thu Dec 20 2012 13:07:12

On Wednesday, three senior U.S. senators sent Michael Lynton, the CEO of Sony Pictures, a letter about "Zero Dark Thirty," the much-discussed new movie about the hunt for Osama bin Laden, which described the film as "grossly inaccurate and misleading."

Gun violence is a national security issueupdated Tue Dec 18 2012 07:42:16

The proliferation of semiautomatic weapons in the hands of Americans of the types that were used in the Newtown massacre is sometimes framed as a public health issue in the United States.

A feminist film epic and the real women of the CIAupdated Thu Dec 13 2012 16:25:52

The star of the new film "Zero Dark Thirty" is a flame-haired female CIA analyst Maya (played by Jessica Chastain) who is obsessed with finding Osama bin Laden.

'Zero Dark Thirty': Did torture really net bin Laden?updated Mon Dec 10 2012 15:58:16

"Zero Dark Thirty" is a likely shoo-in, deservedly, for Oscar nominations for best director (Kathryn Bigelow) and best screenplay (Mark Boal) and perhaps a slew of other categories.

Republican obsession with Benghazi makes no senseupdated Tue Nov 27 2012 19:25:50

Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice, a possible nominee to be the next secretary of state, came to Capitol Hill Tuesday to perform a private mea culpa to key Republican senators for her erroneous initial public statements about the perpetrators of the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi in September in which four Americans were killed.

Tough choice for Obama on Petraeus' successorupdated Tue Nov 13 2012 11:24:34

In choosing a new CIA director to replace David Petraeus, President Barack Obama has a range of well-qualified candidates to choose from, although some of the most qualified were in management roles at the CIA when controversial interrogation techniques were used by agency interrogators questioning al Qaeda prisoners and the CIA was maintaining secret prisons overseas to detain members of al Qaeda.

How Petraeus changed the U.S. militaryupdated Sat Nov 10 2012 11:27:13

Historians will likely judge David Petraeus to be the most effective American military commander since Eisenhower.

Jihadi terror suspect could face tough odds in courtupdated Fri Oct 19 2012 08:58:19

The man charged Wednesday with attempting to blow up the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the latest alleged jihadist to be charged in a law enforcement sting, may or may not have had the capability to create a major terrorist incident. But if his case follows the pattern of other similar sting operations, what is clear is that he faces very long odds in court.

Romney's sorta-kinda call to arms updated Tue Oct 09 2012 08:49:17

On Monday, Mitt Romney delivered what his campaign billed as a major foreign policy address, in which he sought to distinguish himself from the man he called the "lead from behind" president.

A dangerous new world of dronesupdated Mon Oct 01 2012 10:21:05

A decade ago, the United States had a virtual monopoly on drones.

Extremists and leaders incite violent protests updated Thu Sep 13 2012 11:54:06

On November 2, 2004, Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh was bicycling to work in Amsterdam when he was shot eight times at close range. He died instantly, but in a fit of rage, his assailant, Dutch-Moroccan Mohammed Bouyeri, also attempted to cut off his head with a machete.

11 years after 9/11: Who are the terrorists?updated Tue Sep 11 2012 07:14:50

On August 15, Floyd Lee Corkins allegedly walked into the Family Research Council in Washington, a conservative think tank, and shot the building manager Leo Johnson in the arm, saying something along the lines of, "I don't like your politics," as he did so.

Drone is Obama's weapon of choiceupdated Wed Sep 05 2012 17:09:00

Covert drone strikes are one of President Obama's key national security policies. He has already authorized 283 strikes in Pakistan, six times more than the number during President George W. Bush's eight years in office.

Sense and nonsense about Obama and Osamaupdated Wed Aug 29 2012 16:39:11

On Wednesday some media outlets, including CNN, obtained copies of the heavily embargoed book "No Easy Day" by Mark Owen, the pseudonym of one of the Navy SEALs who was part of the mission that killed Osama bin Laden.

Are 'Swift Boat' attacks on Obama bogus?updated Fri Aug 17 2012 10:12:51

A group of former U.S. military and intelligence officers, including retired Navy SEALs, appear in a 22-minute documentary that was released on Wednesday asserting that the Obama administration has leaked considerable classified intelligence about the raid that killed Osama bin Laden for political gain.

Shootings by Afghan forces take growing toll on NATO troopsupdated Mon Aug 13 2012 17:49:32

Before dawn on Friday, a man wearing an Afghan uniform shot and killed three U.S. soldiers during a meeting to discuss local security issues in the southern province of Helmand.

Right-wing extremist terrorism as deadly a threat as al Qaeda?updated Tue Aug 07 2012 13:36:00

The word "terrorism" in the United States usually brings to mind plots linked in some way to al Qaeda, while the danger posed to the public by white supremacists, anti-abortion extremists and other right-wing militants is often overlooked.

What's working in Pakistanupdated Mon Jul 23 2012 08:36:37

Pakistan can't get no respect.

Drones decimating Taliban in Pakistanupdated Tue Jul 03 2012 17:03:54

On Sunday a missile launched from a U.S. drone struck a house in Pakistan's remote tribal agency of North Waziristan, killing eight suspected militants, most of whom were loyal to the Pakistani Taliban commander, Hafiz Gul Bahadur. Bahadur has reportedly overseen multiple attacks against NATO troops in Afghanistan.

Obama leak 'scandal' is wildly overblownupdated Wed Jun 20 2012 08:22:35

On Monday, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney called for the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate a series of recent leaks that critics charge are designed to bolster the national security credentials of the Obama administration.

Obama ramps up covert war in Yemenupdated Mon Jun 11 2012 09:10:50

President Obama is celebrated and criticized for greatly accelerating the number of CIA drone attacks in Pakistan, but the similar covert war that he has launched in Yemen has received considerably less attention.

And now, only one senior al Qaeda leader leftupdated Tue Jun 05 2012 16:04:37

The news that Abu Yahya al-Libi, the No.2 leader of al Qaeda, is now confirmed to have been killed in a CIA drone strike in Pakistan's tribal region along the border with Afghanistan further underlines that the terrorist group that launched the 9/11 attacks is now more or less out of business.

G8 and NATO-athon, with Pakistan at the tableupdated Tue May 15 2012 14:41:24

It's the diplomatic equivalent of hosting both the World Cup and the World Series in the same country on the same weekend.

Would any president have made the call to kill bin Laden? updated Fri May 04 2012 11:46:05

At a campaign event Monday in New Hampshire, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney asserted that he too would have made the decision to send a U.S. Navy SEAL team to kill Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan, telling reporters, "Of course, even Jimmy Carter would have given that order."

A visit to Osama bin Laden's lairupdated Thu May 03 2012 07:27:42

We climbed the stairs to the third floor, where Osama bin Laden died early in the morning of May 2, 2011. I stepped into the bedroom where he was killed and looked up at the ceiling, where you could still see the patterns of blood that had spurted from bin Laden's head when the bullet fired by a U.S. Navy SEAL tore through the terrorist leader's face.

Bin Laden: Seized documents show delusional leader and micromanagerupdated Mon Apr 30 2012 18:06:31

There is no better way for historians to assess Osama bin Laden's thinking and the real state of al Qaeda as it was understood by its leaders in the years after 9/11 than the "treasure trove" of more than 6,000 documents that were recovered by the U.S. Navy SEALs who raided bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, a year ago.

Afghan army, police pose growing risk to U.S., NATO troopsupdated Thu Mar 29 2012 08:05:40

Nearly one out of every five NATO soldiers killed in Afghanistan this year were killed by Afghan police or army forces. Nine of the 16 victims were U.S. soldiers.

Bin Laden's final days -- big plans, deep fearsupdated Fri Mar 16 2012 17:44:03

Tapping away at his computer in the study of the suburban compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, that he called home for the last years of his life, Osama bin Laden wrote memos urging his followers to continue to try to attack the United States, suggesting, for instance, they mount assassination attempts against President Obama and Gen. David Petraeus.

Measuring the homegrown terrorist threat to U.S. militaryupdated Wed Dec 07 2011 09:27:38

On Wednesday, the Senate and House homeland security committees held their first-ever joint hearing, on the 70th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor, to address what has become a familiar theme for both committees -- the threat from "homegrown" terrorists.

What's behind the furor in Pakistan?updated Thu Nov 24 2011 14:25:03

Pakistani-American businessman Mansoor Ijaz has set off a political firestorm in Pakistan with his claims that he was brokering an offer from Pakistan's civilian leaders to the Pentagon to unseat the leadership of the Pakistani military.

U.S.-Pakistan: Divorce is not an optionupdated Thu Sep 01 2011 10:32:43

Pakistan, and Pakistani-American relations, confront their worst crises in recent memory.

Don't count on a peace deal with Talibanupdated Tue May 24 2011 13:30:13

Recently, both The Washington Post and the German magazine Der Spiegel have reported on meetings between U.S. officials and representatives of the Taliban that have taken place in Germany to discuss some form of peace negotiations.

Al Qaeda responds to CNNupdated Thu Mar 31 2011 07:48:30

In late February I posted a piece on CNN.com titled "Al Qaeda the loser in Arab revolutions" making the point that Osama bin Laden must be watching the events in the Middle East unfold with a mixture of glee and despair.

Why Libya 2011 is not Iraq 2003updated Sun Mar 20 2011 09:44:41

A critique of the U.S. involvement in the military intervention in Libya that will no doubt be common in coming days is that the Obama administration is making a large error by embarking on a war with a third Muslim country, as if reversing Moammar Gadhafi's momentum against the rebels will be a rerun of the debacle of the war against Saddam Hussein.

Al Qaeda the loser in Arab revolutionsupdated Wed Feb 23 2011 12:14:49

Osama bin Laden must be sitting in his comfortably appointed hideaway somewhere in northwest Pakistan watching the events in the Middle East unfold with a mixture of glee and despair.

Why U.S. can't find Osama bin Ladenupdated Tue Oct 19 2010 07:34:47

American taxpayers have forked over around half a trillion dollars to U.S. intelligence services since the 9/11 attacks, yet nearly a decade after al Qaeda assaults on New York and Washington, the American intelligence community still cannot answer the most basic of questions:

Mission accomplished in Iraq?updated Tue Aug 31 2010 09:04:46

On May 1, 2003, aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, President George W. Bush announced "major combat operations" in Iraq had ended. The defeat of Saddam Hussein, he told the American people, was "a crucial advance in the campaign against terror."

Petraeus, the Ph.D. warrior, faces big testupdated Thu Jun 24 2010 10:44:30

He is arguably the most well-known American general since MacArthur, and perhaps the most effective since Eisenhower.

Drone war hitting its targetsupdated Wed Jun 09 2010 07:38:07

Last week the U.N.'s senior official for extrajudicial executions, Philip Alston, argued in a critical report and remarks delivered in Geneva, Switzerland, that the United States should explain the legal rationale for the CIA's campaign of drone strikes in northwest Pakistan, which he characterized as "a vaguely defined license to kill" that has created "a major accountability vacuum."

Commentary: Where's Osama bin Laden?updated Fri Sep 11 2009 07:31:58

Eight years after September 11, the "war on terror" has gone the way of the dodo. And President Obama talks instead about a war against al Qaeda and its allies.

Commentary: Cheney wrong on interrogationsupdated Mon Aug 31 2009 11:21:53

Former Vice President Dick Cheney said in an interview Friday that just-released CIA documents demonstrate the effectiveness of coercive interrogation techniques.

Commentary: More troops needed for Afghan warupdated Tue Aug 04 2009 09:42:38

CNN's Barbara Starr reported last week that Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, is expected to ask the Obama administration for additional troops and equipment for conducting intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, as well as more military resources to deal with roadside bombs and explosives.

Commentary: How many Gitmo prisoners return to fight?updated Mon Jul 20 2009 14:24:44

As President Obama awaits formal recommendations this month on issues surrounding the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, it is crucial that policymakers and the public have an accurate picture of the threat to the United States posed by those detainees already released.

Commentary: Afghan leader holding strong cardsupdated Tue May 05 2009 06:50:16

Afghan President Hamid Karzai travels to Washington this week to meet with President Obama and with his Pakistani counterpart Asif Zardari.

Commentary: Pakistan isn't fallingupdated Mon Apr 27 2009 15:24:31

In the past few weeks as the Pakistani Taliban have marched ever closer to the capital, Islamabad, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has sounded the alarm about the threat posed by the militants, who she said in congressional testimony pose "a mortal threat to the security and safety of our country and the world."

Commentary: Obama anti-terror plan could be doomed to failupdated Fri Mar 27 2009 19:03:08

The Obama plan for Afghanistan and Pakistan announced Friday has a great deal to recommend it, with its emphasis on protecting the Afghan population and delivering more aid directly to the Pakistani people instead of to the Pakistan army.

Commentary: Deals with Taliban could be dangerousupdated Mon Mar 09 2009 14:04:16

It is a longstanding cliché that there is no military solution in Afghanistan, only a political one.

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