June 23, 2014

United States Secretary of State John Kerry met with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki in Baghdad today to discuss the military crisis in Iraq. Sunni militants, including jihadist forces known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), have gained control of large areas of northern and western Iraq. In the past two days, militants captured four towns in the predominantly Sunni Anbar province—Anah, Qaim, Rawa, and Rutba. They also captured the airport in Tal Afar—situated between the town of Mosul (which was captured by militants two weeks ago) and the Syrian border. Other territory gained includes: a dam near Haditha that is important to Iraq’s electrical grid; Iraq’s enormous Baiji oil refinery, 130 miles (210 kilometers) north of Baghdad; and border crossings between Iraq and both Syria and Jordan.

Experts report that approximately 70 percent of Iraq's Anbar province, bordering both Syria and Jordan, has been captured by Sunni militants in 2014 (World Book map).

Iraq is in grave danger of breaking apart. Sectarian tensions in Iraq between Sunni and Shi`ite Muslims have greatly escalated over the past months. During the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein, who ruled from 1979 to 2003, Iraq’s Shi`ia majority was politically powerless. When a government was formed in 2006 with Nouri Maliki, a Shi’ite, as prime minister, experts on the Middle East strongly encouraged the new prime minister to make his government inclusive of both Sunnis and Shi’ites. Most experts agree that Maliki did not reach out to include Sunnis in the decision-making process in Iraq. The uprising of Sunnis in Anbar province began at the end of 2013. In January 2014, Sunni militants gained control of both Ramadi and Fallujah.

The disintegration of Iraq has repercussions far past the nation’s own borders. With Sunni militants now in control of border crossings into Syria, military experts fear that supply lines can easily be created between Syria and Iraq. In the civil war in Syria, ISIS has seized territory in Syria and fights against the rule of President Bashar al-Assad.  Supply lines between Iraq and Syria would increase the ability of Sunni militants to aid anti-government forces in Syria. ISIS hopes to create a new nation in Sunni-dominated areas of Iraq and Syria.

After meeting with Prime Minister Maliki for some 90 minutes, Secretary of State Kerry assured the government of Iraq of continued U.S. support, providing the Iraqis agreed to form a new and more inclusive government by July 1. Kerry stated,  “The future of Iraq depends on decisions made in the next few days and weeks.” About 300 U.S. military advisers are being sent to Iraq later this week.

Additional World Book articles:

• Iraq War
• Kurdistan
• Iraq 2012 (a Back in Time article)
• Iraq 2013 (a Back in Time article)
• Syria 2013 (a Back in Time article)

November 24, 2013

United States Secretary of State John Kerry has announced that Iran and the international community have reached a deal on Iran’s nuclear program, claiming it will make Israel and the Middle East a safer place. Secretary Kerry characterizes the pact as “a first step in making sure Iran could not have nuclear weapons.”

Iran has agreed, for a limited period, to curb some of its nuclear activities in return for the lifting of some international economic sanctions. Iran has also agreed to stop enriching (concentrating) uranium to create material with more than 5-percent U-235 and to dilute (weaken) much of its existing stores of 20-percent U-235 to 5 percent. Natural uranium contains 0.7 percent of an isotope of uranium known as U-235. U-235 is the only natural isotope of uranium whose nucleus (core) can easily be made to undergo fission—that is, to split into two nearly equal parts. The fission process releases the nuclear energy used in power plants and weapons. Most nuclear reactors at power plants in the United States use fuel that contains about 2- to 4-percent U-235. Nuclear weapons and the reactors for nuclear-powered ships require uranium with concentrations of about 90-percent U-235.

The agreement bars Iran from adding new centrifuges and capping or, in some cases, eliminating, stockpiles of uranium. (Centrifuges are rapidly spinning tubes used to enrich uranium.) In addition, Iran promised to open its nuclear facilities to unprecedented “daily” inspections.

The deal was condemned by the government of Israel as a “historic mistake” that rewards Iran while getting nothing in return. (Former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad repeatedly vowed that Iran would “eliminate the Zionist regime,” referring to Israel.)

International affairs experts suggest that the agreement, in fact, presents President Barack Obama with the opportunity to steer a new American course in the Middle East for the first time since the Iranian Revolution in 1979. They point out that after 34 years of estrangement, the United States and Iran have signed a diplomatic accord that opens the door to further progress. “No matter what you think of it, this is a historic deal,” stated Vali R. Nasr–dean of the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies–in an interview with The New York Times. “It is a major seismic shift in the region. It rearranges the entire chess board.”

September 27, 2012

United States Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced yesterday that U.S. intelligence officials have uncovered an explicit link between al-Qa`ida terrorist groups in North Africa and the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, on Sept. 11, 2012. That attack resulted in the deaths of four Americans, including the ambassador, Chris Stevens.

Secretary Clinton’s announcement was made at a special United Nations meeting on the current crisis in northern Mali, which has been overrun by Islamic extremists. According to the secretary, the extremists are allowing al-Qa’ida cells to operate out of Mali. “Now, with a larger safe haven and increased freedom to maneuver, terrorists are seeking to extend their reach and their networks in multiple directions,” she informed world leaders attending the meeting. “And they are working with other violent extremists to undermine the democratic transitions under way in North Africa, as we tragically saw in Benghazi.” Intelligence officials have reported that al-Qa’ida cells are also operating in Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, and possibly Pakistan.

Hillary Rodham Clinton became secretary of state of the United States in 2009. Prior to taking the post, Clinton, the wife of former President Bill Clinton, had represented New York in the United States Senate. (U.S. Department of State)

Sept. 11, 2012, was the 11th anniversary of the al-Qa’ida terrorist attacks on the United States that resulted in the deaths of nearly 3,000 people. At that time,  al-Qa`ida was an Afghanistan-based terrorist organization headed by Osama bin Laden. After hijacking four commercial airliners, the terrorists flew two jets into the World Trade Center twin towers, which subsequently collapsed. Terrorists crashed a third airliner into the Pentagon, the U.S. armed services headquarters in Arlington, Virginia. The attackers in the fourth airliner were overtaken by passengers, preventing them from crashing the plane into another Washington, D.C., landmark, possibly the White House or Capitol. The jet went down in an open field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, killing all aboard. The September 11 terrorist attacks prompted the administration of President George W. Bush to send forces into Afghanistan in October 2001 to clean out terrorist camps. That war continues in 2012.

Additional World Book articles:

• Afghanistan War
• Arab Spring
• National September 11 Memorial and Museum
• Afghanistan 2001 (a Back in Time article)
• New York City 2001 (a Back in Time article)
• Washington, D.C. 2001 (a Back in Time article)
• The Middle East: From Fall to Spring (a special report)
• Terrorism: America’s New Enemy (a special report)
• Passport to Reform: The INS and Homeland Security (a special report)