Archives for August 2006

Hizbullah Rejects Syrian Position Lebanese Army Begins reaching South DPA/ al-Zaman report that [Ar.] in Beirut, Hizbullah declined to adopt the position of Syrian President Bashar al-Asad in accusing the reformist politicians of standing against Hizbullah and the resistance in Lebanon. (Bashar has a feud with the 14 March group, but Hizbullah joined it in […]

The Blue Jinn: Cole in Salon on Iraqi Speaker My article in Salon.com on the controversy surrounding the Speaker or President of the Iraqi parliament, Dr. Mahmoud Mashhadani. By the way, a jinn or djinn is a genie as in genie in a bottle. I don’t actually think they are blue in the Thousand and […]

Marsh Arabs Attack Basra Governor 22 Killed, 93 Wounded in Baghdad Bombings Security Collapses in Mosul The Gulf Daily News writes that bombs killed 22 and wounded 93 in the center of Baghdad on Wednesday. Later reports put the deaths at 25. ‘ BAGHDAD: Three car bombs hit commercial districts of downtown Baghdad yesterday, killing […]

Battle of the Speeches Breaks out in Wake of Lebanon War Israel shot 5 Hizbullah fighters on Tuesday and Hizbullah fired ten rockets inside Lebanon at Israel troops. Emergency workers dug 38 bodies of civilians out of the rubble in Lebanon. But despite these provocations, the ceasefire more or less held. The Israelis were towing […]

Civil War Violence Reaches New Heights in Iraq Religious Group Clashes with Police in Karbala Bush Opposes Partition Faith-based civil war violence killed 110 civilians each day in July, a new report shows, which is a new one-month record. The deaths come in the midst of a new security program and extra checkpoints pushed by […]

Close: The Building War on Iran Ray Close, a retired CIA analyst of Arab affairs, writes: ‘ Despite vehement official assertions to the contrary, indications are increasing every day that the Bush Administration has already decided that conventional diplomacy will fail as a way to manage its confrontation with Iran, and that military action against […]

Fragile Ceasefire in Lebanon Naharnet/ AFP report ‘ A ceasefire aimed at silencing the guns in Lebanon remained fragile as thousands of Lebanese streamed back home to the devastated south and Hizbullah claimed it had emerged victorious. A day after the U.N.-brokered truce went into effect, a dozen rockets targeted Israeli positions in south Lebanon […]

Guest Comment: On the Occasion of Uri Grossman’s Death Todd Hasak-Lowy On the Occasion of Uri Grossman’s Death ‘ About five years ago I had the good fortune of hearing David Grossman, the Israeli writer, speak at an event in San Francisco. Grossman related the following anecdote: he was traveling on a bus in Israel […]

VL Day? Patrick McGreevy writes from Beirut: ‘ VL Day? It’s 11 pm in Beirut, and honking cars and motorbikes are cruising the Corniche while their occupants discharge Kalashnikovs into the black air shouting “Allahu Akbar.” If only we had electricity and lights, the triumph might be more believable. This seems like a time warp: […]