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761. Dysfunction and Decline: Lessons Learned From Inside al-Qa'ida in Iraq

Author:
Brian Fishman
Publication Date:
03-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Combating Terrorism Center at West Point
Abstract:
Al-Qa`ida in Iraq (AQI) is a shadow of its former self, primarily because broad sectors of Iraq's Sunni population rejected it after more than three years of active and tacit cooperation. Anger over AQI's brutal radicalism infused the Sunni backlash against jihadists, but AQI also made two fundamental strategic overreaches that exacerbated its alienation from Sunnis in Iraq. First, it incited a sectarian backlash from Iraqi Shi'a without the means to defend Iraq's Sunnis from the onslaught it provoked. Second, AQI created a formal political entity, the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI), to dominate Iraq after a U.S. withdrawal without adequate support from Iraq's Sunni population.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Political Violence, Terrorism, and War
Political Geography:
United States, Iraq, Middle East, and Arabia

762. Análisis cuantitativo del terrorismo internacional en Europa occidental (1968-2008)

Author:
Domingo Jiménez Martín
Publication Date:
01-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Athena Intelligence Journal
Institution:
Athena Intelligence
Abstract:
The purpose of the present quantitative study is to explain the international terrorism activities in Western Europe. The data set contains information on terrorismrelated events in West European countries (data has been collected for the period from 1968-2008) and includes information about tactical, political or geographical criteria. International terrorism has been an important part of the Contemporary European History, the trend is not going to disappear and we need foresight tools to know the threat.
Topic:
Terrorism
Political Geography:
Europe

763. ¿Es necesario tipificar el delito de financiación del terrorismo en el Código Penal español?

Author:
Isidoro Blanco Cordero
Publication Date:
01-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Athena Intelligence Journal
Institution:
Athena Intelligence
Abstract:
The contribution analyzes whether the terrorist financing offence as defined in international conventions is punishable under the Spanish criminal legislation. The analysis concludes that not all elements of the international offence are included in the Spanish legislation, and that a reform of the Spanish penal code is necessary. However, a 2008 draft reform approved by the Spanish government introduces this offence and consists of a literal copy of the international instruments. It seems appropriate to take into account the peculiarities of Spanish criminal law when adopting international standards.
Topic:
International Relations and Terrorism
Political Geography:
Spain

764. To what extent was Western intelligence at fault in failing to indentify the nature of the terrorist threat before 9/11 and its aftermath?

Author:
Fernando Celaya
Publication Date:
01-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Athena Intelligence Journal
Institution:
Athena Intelligence
Abstract:
In reflecting on the extensive literature and research on intelligence failures and particularly that which ensued in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the US, Indonesia and those in Europe, this analysis concludes that intelligence, and particularly Western intelligence, cannot be completely at fault for the failure to identify appropriately and forewarn about the occurrence of historical discontinuity events. Western policymakers, economic advisers, as well as socio-economic elites' performance throughout the 1980s and 1990s reveals flaws in long-term policy planning and decision-making with serious repercussions for strategic intelligence analysis. The inability to forecast historical discontinuity events is a key element of intelligence and policy which needs further revision.
Topic:
Islam and Terrorism
Political Geography:
United States and Europe

765. Una primera aproximación a la Decisión Marco 2008/919/JAI de 28 de noviembre de 2008, que modifica la Decisión Marco del Consejo 2002/475/JAI, de 13 de junio de 2002, sobre la lucha contra el terrorismo

Author:
Luis Aparicio Díaz
Publication Date:
01-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Athena Intelligence Journal
Institution:
Athena Intelligence
Abstract:
This paper analyzes the new amendment of the Framework Decision 2002/475/JHA on combating terrorism operated by the Council Framework Decision 2008/919/JHA of 28 November 2008. We study this change referred to the non amended Framework Decision, specially the public provocation to commit a terrorist offence, acts of recruitment for terrorism and acts of training for terrorism. We analyze too the new problems in the Spanish Criminal Law arisen from those changes. And finally we propose three new crimes to transpose this amendment into the Spanish Criminal Code.
Topic:
Terrorism
Political Geography:
Spain

766. The Obama Administration and the Americas: A Promising Start

Author:
Abraham F. Lowenthal
Publication Date:
07-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Washington Quarterly
Institution:
Center for Strategic and International Studies
Abstract:
Because the new administration of President Barack Obama inherited the most demanding agenda, both at home and abroad, that any U.S. government has faced in many decades, few observers expected that it would devote much attention to U.S. relations with Latin America and the Caribbean. None of the countries of the Americas presents an imminent threat to U.S. national security. None is likely to be the source or target of significant international terrorism. With so much else to attend to, the Obama administration might well have relegated Latin America to the distant backburner.
Topic:
Terrorism
Political Geography:
United States and America

767. The Middle East Security Agenda: An Israeli Assessment

Author:
Michael Herzog
Publication Date:
05-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Abstract:
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen—I'm very happy to be here. It is a great pleasure to be speaking to this distinguished audience. On a personal note I must say I spent two wonderful years at the Institute. I have high esteem for the work done at the Institute. This is, I think, a fountain of knowledge, a powerhouse of policy ideas. The Institute, I think, has an impact and makes a difference.
Topic:
Security, Political Violence, Defense Policy, and Terrorism
Political Geography:
Middle East and Israel

768. Peace through Security: America's Role in the Development of the Palestinian Authority Security Services

Author:
Keith Dayton
Publication Date:
05-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Abstract:
The following is a transcript of a keynote address delivered by Lt. Gen. Keith Dayton to The Washington Institute's 2009 Soref Symposium on May 7, 2009. General Dayton currently serves as U.S. security coordinator for Israel and the Palestinian Authority, a post he has held since 2005. He recently accepted appointment for another two-year term.
Topic:
Security, Defense Policy, Debt, Peace Studies, and Terrorism
Political Geography:
Washington and Middle East

769. Transition in Egypt: Radicals on the Rise?

Author:
Myriam Benraad and Mohamed Abdelbaky
Publication Date:
09-2009
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Abstract:
Amid the uncertainty over Egypt's impending political succession, Egyptian security forces have cracked down on the Muslim Brotherhood (MB), the country's largest opposition group, in an attempt to curtain MB participation in Egyptian political life. Since late June, the government has arrested dozens of mid- and high-level Islamists, including the leader of the movement's guidance council, Abd al-Muanem Abu al-Fatouh. These Islamists oppose President Hosni Mubarak's bid for a sixth presidential term and reject his son Gamal as a potential replacement in 2011. After more than a decade of relative political moderation and successful deradicalization of the main Islamist groups, Cairo's policy of exclusion and persecution threatens to foment a return to radical Islamism in Egypt.
Topic:
Political Violence and Terrorism
Political Geography:
Middle East, Arabia, and Egypt

770. Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan: Hamas in Ascendance

Author:
Hassan Barari
Publication Date:
09-2009
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Abstract:
In early September, three senior leaders of Jordan's Muslim Brotherhood (MB) resigned from the organization's executive bureau after it voted to dissolve the MB political department -- one of the few remaining components of the organization controlled by moderates. The resignations were a protest against not only the executive bureau's decision, but also the MB's increasingly close affiliation with Hamas. Today, the Jordanian MB is facing an unprecedented internal crisis, pitting the traditional moderate East Bank leadership -- Jordanians who are not originally Palestinian -- against the powerful pro-Hamas Palestinian-led element. Lately, these divisions have been aggravated by Hamas political bureau head Khaled Mashal's apparent efforts to exploit the shifting balance of power within the MB to further his own organization's agenda in Amman. Ironically, Jordanian authorities -- who have long prided themselves on managing the Islamist issue -- have done little to stem the tide.
Topic:
Security, Political Violence, Islam, Politics, and Terrorism
Political Geography:
Middle East, Palestine, and Arab Countries