A nation must think before it acts.
Middle East
Democracy’s Prospects in Iraq
For many, it now seems that the hopes and expectations of the large majority of Iraqis that a more participatory and tolerant society would be created in the wake of the fall of the Baathist regime of Saddam Hussein...
Read more »American Challenges in Post-Conflict Iraq
The post-conflict reconstruction in Iraq being undertaken by the U.S. and its Coalition partners is a monumental task, with numerous factors complicating American efforts and contributing to unrest in the country. Two of the most important of these are...
Read more »Observations on the War
The War on Terrorism is now two-and-a-half years old. As the candidates prepare for the 2004 Presidential election, the fog of partisanship will soon obscure much of what has been done, and not done. That in mind, a few...
Read more »A Changed World
This FPRI E-Note is a condensed version of the Kissinger Lecture delivered by former Secretary of State George P. Shultz on February 11, 2004, at the Library of Congress. We are at one of those special moments in history:...
Read more »The Strategic Balance in the Middle East: an Israeli Perspective
This essay is based on a talk to the FPRI Sponsors Forum on January 29, 2004. The Forum is regularly hosted by Pepper Hamilton LLP (www.pepperlaw.com). The Middle East has been divided for decades between radical forces challenging the...
Read more »Who Is Yasir Arafat?
In the summer of 1994, Yasir Arafat made a telephone call to Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin with a special request. After months of tortuous secret negotiations that came close to collapse on many occasions, the two leaders had...
Read more »The American Encounter with Islam
Most analyses of terrorism and Islam following the September 11 attacks have stressed the thousand-year conflict with Christianity and the West. Although Muslims define themselves and the Christian West in terms of religion, Western countries view relations among themselves...
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Islam in America
Though most of us think of the American relationship with Islam as a modern phenomenon, the encounter in fact goes back to the very first days of the nation. That encounter was from its first a troubled affair and...
Read more »The Road to Palestine
On June 4, 2003, President George W. Bush personally renewed the latest American quest for Arab-Israeli peace. Presiding over a summit at the Jordanian port of Aqaba, with King Abdullah of Jordan, Prime Minister Sharon of Israel, and the...
Read more »War
On Wednesday evening, March 19, 2003, George W. Bush announced the beginning of operation “Iraqi Freedom.” He preceded this terse announcement two days earlier by demanding the departure of Saddam Hussein and his sons, while offering a broad justification...
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