Epstein Secrets

July, 2008 Dear Mom and Margot, I have just taken off from Baghdad (successfully) after five days traveling throughout Iraq. I met with senior Iraqi officials, farmers, shop keepers, managers of state owned busines

re troops from Anbar Province (a Sunni province) and they join the battle and, with some US assistance, they turn the tide. In the Battle of Basra, the Iraqi Army, for the first time took the lead in engaging the insurgents. The Iraqi army, initially faltered, adjusted both their tactics and the composition o

week The Next Iraq War Babak Dehghanpisheh and Eli Lake December 12, 2011 -- A convoy carrying Qassim Fandawi sped down the desert highway toward Baghdad last month, but roughly 12 miles west of the capital, a roadside bomb blasted the vehicles. Fandawi, the governor of Anbar province, escaped unharm

he same day that U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta addressed the Senate Armed Services Committee about the readiness of Iraqi troops, the head of the Iraqi Army, Babakir Zebari, was being feted like a royal in Tehran. Zebari, who has made headlines in the past by announcing that American troops should stay

laid siege to Samarra, the site of one of Shiism's most storied shrines. It would be no surprise if the next few weeks brought them to the gates of Baghdad. But an assault on Baghdad, or even its capture, would be an illusory victory. It can only end in defeat — and the strengthening of the insurgents'

l need in the street fighting that ensues. Moreover, rather like what happened in Syria, the Sunni offensive is likely to spur a transformation of the Iraqi Army from the sorry mess it is now into a more resilient and operationally effective force. In Syria, the army reeled in the face of the rebellion in 20