Brad Hoff

New Declassified CIA Memo Presents Blueprint for Syrian Regime Collapse

by Brad Hoff | Feb 14, 2017 | Featured Articles

A newly declassified CIA document explored multiple scenarios of Syrian regime collapse at a time when Hafez al-Assad's government was embroiled in a covert "dirty war" with Israel and the West, and in the midst of a diplomatic crisis which marked an unprecedented level of isolation for Syria. The 24-page formerly classified memo entitled Syria: Scenarios of Dramatic Political Change was produced in July 1986, and had high level distribution within the Reagan administration and to agency directors, including presidential advisers, the National Security Council, and the US ambassador to...

New Ron Paul Interview: Hillary Clinton Could’ve Run as a Republican!

by Brad Hoff | Feb 8, 2017 | Blog

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7aTwIiWly8&feature=youtu.be Michael Tracey of TYT Politics interviews former U.S. Congressman and presidential candidate Ron Paul on the good and bad of Trump, his cabinet picks, prospects for continued interventionism, neocons in the deep state, nuclear build-up, resisting the pro-war media, liberty and security, Rand's resistance to Bolton in the Senate, and constitutionalism vs. empire. As of a mere few hours being live on YouTube, the interview has over 5000 views and 200+ comments. In this age of political uncertainty, Dr. Paul's message is...

Shadow Wars: An Explosive New History Documents the Rise of ISIS

by Brad Hoff | Feb 6, 2017 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy

Christopher Davidson's new book Shadow Wars: The Secret Struggle for the Middle East (Oneworld Publications) is an absolute must read. It's a mammoth of a tome at 528 pages with 119 pages of endnotes, but an addicting read as it thoroughly obliterates the standard narrative on Libya, Syria, Yemen, and other post 'Arab Spring' conflicts. To use the language of the BBC's Adam Curtis, it goes far deeper than the Hollywoodesque 'goodies' and 'badies' paradigm of foreign relations the American public is fed a steady diet of through cable news and pseudo-patriotic movies like Zero Dark Thirty....

Iran is a rational actor looking out for its own interests

by Brad Hoff | Feb 3, 2017 | Blog

The Trump administration has put Iran "on notice" over its testing of ballistic missiles. Of course, aggressive posturing against Iran is a great American pastime that all administrations have participated in for decades. Going after Iran is also low-hanging fruit in terms of domestic politics. As little as the American public knows about the histories of Iraq, Libya, Syria, Afghanistan, or other places where the US has intervened, it knows even less about the modern history of Iran (other that the '79-'81 embassy takeover and hostage crisis). So it's easy for American political leaders to...

This short video is still the best primer on media narratives and Syria

by Brad Hoff | Feb 1, 2017 | Blog

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqrMKIfHyjI This talk, titled “How can a Regional Accord Help End the War in Syria?” was delivered in May 2014 in Copenhagen, Denmark. While the presentation hasn’t been widely viewed, Nir Rosen’s 55-page written findings were circulated among U.S. government policy officials at the time. Foreign Policy Magazine featured Rosen’s proposal for a locally and regionally driven peace in an article, “Re-writing Syria’s War.” The still unpublished plan was considered at the White House in 2014, but never enacted. It was (contrary to the author's desire) leaked widely...

Senior CIA Officer: Here are the ways Bush and Saddam were just alike

by Brad Hoff | Jan 31, 2017 | Blog

If you've not yet obtained a copy of Debriefing the President: The Interrogation of Saddam Hussein, it is a must read. It is the retrospective of senior CIA analyst John Nixon, who was the first CIA officer to interrogate Hussein over a period of weeks. The book has received a lot of media attention as it reveals plenty of new shocking details concerning the disastrous US invasion and occupation of Iraq. For starters, Saddam remained aloof from the daily affairs of his own country and was actually writing a novel during the same time period the Bush administration was claiming that Saddam...

Chickenhawks out in force against Iraq War vet Tulsi Gabbard

by Brad Hoff | Jan 30, 2017 | Blog

Chickenhawk: a person who strongly supports war or other military action (i.e., a war hawk), yet who actively avoids or avoided military service. Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard's crime? She went on a fact finding trip to Syria in order to meet actual Syrians suffering the effects of war. She also met with President Assad in what she describes as an unplanned, impromptu sit down visit. She wants to end US covert participation in the war and prevent any plans for greater direct and overt intervention, something narrowly avoided back in September 2013. Gabbard is an Iraq War vet and is now an...

Of the writing of (ISIS) books, there is no end

by Brad Hoff | Jan 29, 2017 | Blog

Of the writing of many books, there is no end. —Ecclesiastes 12:12 And they're all pretty terrible. Each time I swing by my local Barnes & Noble it seems there's a couple new ISIS books on the shelf. They just keep appearing, and with little new to say. What's shown above is not all there is. The few Syria war reporting books available are also pretty lousy. They all stay within the conventional narrative one would hear on CNN or NBC. The available ISIS/Syria books in the brick-and-mortar stores swing from a "clash of civilizations" type narrative (Robert Spencer and Pamela Geller...

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Brad is a native Texan and US Marine veteran who after leaving the military began wandering around the Middle East, eventually making Syria his second home. He's authored multiple stories for his blog Levant Report which gained international attention. Find his writing at Antiwar.com, SOFREP, Foreign Policy Journal, The Canary (UK), and others.