The Foreign Service Journal, February 2003

national Peace launched “Crisis in Iraq” — a comprehensive new online resource accessible from the Carnegie home page ( www.ciep.org ), w ith news, analysis and information on Iraq. The Web page features “Iraq: An Alternative Approach,” a detailed discussion of the policy of “coercive inspections” that Carnegie proposes as a middle road between do- nothingism and a rush to war. Also featured are “current news,” with user-friendly links to the latest on Iraq from three major U.S. dailies; and “key resources,” with links to salient U.N., U.S., and British documents, fact sheets and congressional hear- ings. This Web page is updated daily. An MSNBC News special report, “Oil, the Other Iraq War” ( www. msnbc.com/news/IRAQOIL_Front .asp ) pr ovides insight into one very important aspect of the geopolitical dimensions of the Iraq issue: Iraq sits on the second largest reserve of oil in the world. This Web site features sev- eral interactive backgrounders, full of facts but highly capsulized, on how the U.S., Russia and Saudi Arabia view Baghdad, an overview of Iraq’s energy picture (including the international investors behind its resurgence as an oil power), a primer on oil production and use, and cursory historical back- ground on Iraq’s conflict with the world. For an exhaustive look at the issue, there is the University of Michigan’s online Documents Center ( www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/ iraqwar.html ). H ere, in “Iraq War Debate — 2002,” one can find anno- tated links to documents and informa- tion on threat assessments, military issues, the political aftermath of war (featuring all the various Iraqi interest groups), U.S. interest groups (includ- ing prominent individuals’ speeches on Iraq, public opinion polls on the subject, and war opposition groups), and much more. For a broader look at developments and policy issues in the region, the Brookings Institution’s Saban Center for Middle East Policy ( www. brook.edu/dybdocroot/fp/saban/ sabancenter_hp.htm ) h as up-to- date analysis and links to other resources. The Heritage Foundation has a Middle East research program ( www.heritage.org/Research/ MiddleEast/index.cfm ), as does the Hudson Institute ( http://mes. hudson.org/index.cfm ). T he Rand Corporation’s Center for Middle East Public Policy Web site ( www.rand. org/nsrd/cmepp ) al so has an exten- sive listing of its studies and research publications. C Y B E R N O T E S 12 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / F E B R U A R Y 2 0 0 3