Archives for November 2005

Bush Administration Lie about Iraq George W. Bush denied on Veteran’s Day that he had manipulated intelligence in order to take the country to war against Iraq. He said that the Democrats in Congress had seen the same evidence he had, and that the Clinton administration had also seen Iraq as a threat. Stephen Hadley, […]

Sister of Tawhid’s Anbar Cell Captured in Jordan Bombings Jordanian authorities have captured Sajida Mubarak Atrous al-Rishawi, the wife of suicide bomber Ali Hussein Ali al-Shamari, who detonated his belt bomb at the Radisson in Amman. She turns out to be the sister of the Anbar leader of the Monotheism and Holy War (al-Qaeda in […]

5 Dead in Baghdad Blast Sistani withdraws from Politics The 77 refitted T-72 Soviet-era tanks offered to Iraq by Hungary have finally arrived, at Taji base. The tanks were due in September. But in a larger sense the tanks are years overdue. There can be no effective Iraqi military response to the guerrilla movement without […]

Omani Embassy Killings Iraqis Suspected in Jordan Bombings First, Secretary of State Condi Rice called Friday for more Arab states to open embassies in Iraq. Then, guerrillas staged a drive-by shooting at the Omani embassy in Baghdad, killing 2 and wounding 4 persons. I think we may conclude a) that her visit is being monitored […]

67 Dead in Iraq Guerrilla Violence Oliver Poole of the Telegraph reports that suicide bombers hit a restaurant in Baghdad on Thursday that is a favorite of local police, killing at least 33 persons, mostly civilians. At least as many were wounded. In Tikrit to the north (the home town of Saddam Hussein), another bombing […]

Al-Qaeda in Iraq Claims Jordan Bombings Jordanians held an anti-terrorism demonstration in Amman on Thursday to protest the hotel bombings. The death toll rose to 59. The Times of London reported that “Bashir Nafeh, director of military intelligence chief in the West Bank, was named as being among the dead. He had stopped in Amman […]

McCain and the Oil Spots Senator John McCain has now jumped on the “oil-spot” bandwagon, urging that the US forces concentrate on making a handful of key cities safe rather than doing sweep and clear missions like Tal Afar and Husaybah. Unfortunately, this strategy is impractical, even if the US put 10,000 more troops in, […]

Sistani Aide Blasts Jaafari Government From BBC World Monitoring: November 11, 2005 AIDE SAYS IRAQ’S AL-SISTANI’S CRITICIZES PM AL-JA’FARI’S GOVERNMENT Text of report by Iraqi Al-Sharqiyah TV on 11 November The representative of Grand Ayatollah Al-Sayyid Ali al-Sistani has criticized the performance of Dr Ibrahim al-Ja’fari’s government and warned it against a failure in the […]

Chalabi Rides Again My article on Ahmad Chalabi and his revived connections to the Bush administration and the Neocons is at Salon.com. Excerpt: On the street in Iraq, people give nicknames to the big longtime-expatriate politicians whom the Americans brought back to Iraq. They call former transitional Prime Minister Iyad Allawi “Iyad the Baathist” because […]