Archives for October 2006

MESA Letter on Judt Speech Cancellation This letter went out from the Committee on Academic Freedom of the Middle East Studies Association over my signature as president of the Middle East Studies Association. Many thanks to all the colleagues who worked so hard on it: October 19, 2006His Excellency Christopher KastryzkConsul-GeneralRepublic of Poland233 Madison AvenueNew […]

11 GIs Killed; 70 Dead in Oct.; Bush: This is their Tet; Maliki Sees Sistani Iraqi guerrillas killed 11 US troops on Wednesday, one of the highest tolls in a single day seen in the course of the war. Since October 1, some 70 US troops have been killed. This level of violence resembles November, […]

Year One of the Empire Bush: Resistance is Illogical Bush and a supine, cowardly Congress shredded the US Constitution on Tuesday, abolishing the right of a court review (habeas corpus) for some classes of suspect. Suspect, mind you, not proven criminal. In other words, we have to be confident that George W. Bush is so […]

31 Percent Increase in Iraq Poverty 60 Percent Unemployment 30 Bodies Found in Baghdad Sabrina Tavernise reports that US troops were called in by the police at Balad north of Baghdad to help quell a raft of death squad attacks by Shiite militiamen on Sunni Arab inhabitants. On Monday evening, mortar shells slammed into buildings […]

130 Killed in Wave of Sectarian Attacks Bush called Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Monday to reassure him that it was not true that the US planned to dump him if he had not produced better results in two months. Bush hasn’t dumped Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, who has not produced better results for […]

The End of Press Freedom in Iraq? Al-Zaman, the Times of Baghdad, reports [Ar.] that press freedom may soon be a thing of the past in Iraq. The Iraqi parliament on Monday passed a resolution calling on the president of Iraq, Jalal Talabani, to intervene to close down the offices of the al-Sharqiyah television channel […]

Bloodbath in Kirkuk; Sunni Radicals seek Islamic Republic; Sunni Party Challenges Confederacies Al-Zaman [Ar.] reports that 5 car bombings killed 11 [late reports say 13], wounded 55, left buildings and commercial centers ablaze, and shook the northern oil city of Kirkuk to its core on Sunday, sending residents inside and emptying the city’s streets. About […]

Murtha on Administration Name-Calling Rep. John P. Murtha is among the bravest men in the US Congress. He minds chickenhawks like Dick Cheney and George W. Bush insinuating that he is a coward or a defeatist for arguing that the US should draw down its troops in Iraq and let the Iraqis sort things out […]

Over 90 Dead in Civil War Violence Shiite Militiamen Kill 27 Sunnis at Balad Two more US troops were announced killed on Saturday. Enraged by the kidnapping and killing of 17 Shiite farm workers at Dhuluiyah by Sunni Arab guerrillas, Shiite militiamen came up to nearby Balad (a Shiite city with a Sunni minority near […]