Examining the events leading up to recent fighting in Anbar province and what it might mean for Iraq's future.

What are Saudi Arabia’s foreign policy options surrounding the recent outburst of sectarian conflict in Iraq?

While a surge in Afghanistan and protests in Iran have been grabbing all of the headlines, Iraq’s political landscape has quietly started to heat up in the lead up to elections next March.

A reinterpretation of the recently signed U.S.-Iraq security pact leaves loopholes in the agreement undermining the very concessions originally negotiated.  U.S. troops will no longer be compelled to vacate Iraqi cities as called for by the Status-of-Forces Agreement (SOFA).  Exposing the deal’s loopholes threatens a rejection by the Iraqi public via the proposed July 2009 national referendum.

The United States has begun signalling a new strategy in the seven-year long Afghanistan War: peace talks with the Afghan Taliban.

The October 26th U.S. military strike inside Syria ostensibly targeting an alleged high-level al-Qaeda in Iraq operative is an indication of the Bush administration's attempt to counter Syria’s growing influence via a show of force.

The recently negotiated US-Iraq Status-of-Forces security pact signals the beginning of the end of the U.S. occupation of Iraq.

The proposed US-Iraqi security pact, required to be in place by January 1, 2009, appears increasingly doubtful.

The Iraqi Sunni insurgent groups recently allied with, and paid by, the Americans officially came under command of the Shi’a controlled Baghdad government on Wednesday.  The American peace deal with the Sunni insurgent groups is seen as the single most vital factor in the de-escalation of violence in Iraq. 

Washington has repeatedly denied wanting a permanent military presence in Iraq, however a secret security agreement is being negotiated in Baghdad that would perpetuate the US military occupation of Iraq indefinitely, give free reign to US forces conducting the “war on terror”, and help contain Iran’s influence in the region.