BU Now » Middle East

Secret U.S. military ops in MidEast

Dick Taffe — Tue, 25 May 2010 18:58:31 +0000

The New York Times reports that Gen. David Patraeus, the top American commander in the Middle East, has ordered a broad expansion of clandestine military activity across the region in an effort to disrupt militant groups or counter threats. International Relations Professor Joseph Wippl, director of the BU Center for International Relations and a 30-year CIA operations officer, says the U.S. Armed Forces and the CIA have always had different areas of responsibility and he presumes Defense Secretary Gates knows the boundaries.

“The problem is balancing, on the one hand, the need for tactical intelligence to defend the United States with, on the other hand, the temptation to engage needlessly with U.S. military forces.”

Contact Joseph Wippl, 617-353-8992, jwippl@bu.edu

Obama and the Middle East

Dick Taffe — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 13:52:35 +0000

President Obama’s trip to the Middle East this week is a chance to change the political dynamic of U.S. relations in that region. College of Communication Professor Linda Killian, director of the BU Washington Center and a senior scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center, says Obama’s message to Muslims should mix sensitivity and tough love. “We do want a partnership with these nations,” Killian writes in a U.S. News & World Report commentary, “but that requres give-and-take from both sides.”

Contact Linda Killian, 202-486-9598, lkillian@bu.edu

Build on Bush’s Middle East Progress

Dick Taffe — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 15:32:13 +0000

Journalism Professor Robert Zelnick, former ABC News correspondent, a Hoover Institute fellow, and author of “Israeli Unilateralism: Beyond Gaza,” says Obama should build on Bush’s Middle East progress. With Secretary of State Clinton in the region, Zelnick suggests in the Christian Science Monitor how this can be done.

“If (U.S. special envoys George Mitchell and Dennis Ross) can learn from Bush’s mistake and embrace the positive aspects that came from his administrration, they could save themselves many redundant steps on the road to peace. If full-dress negotiations do produce accord, the key would then be ‘shelving’ agreement until the Palestinian Authority reestablishes sufficient control to implement it.”