The Pakistani Army, in fierce fighting with tribal forces organized by the Tehrik-i Taliban, claims to have killed some 90 of the enemy in the past week, as the Swat Valley was engulfed in something close to a civil war. Meanwhile, the Tehrik-i Taliban seems to be behind the burning of girls’ schools in Swat. […]
Archives for August 2008
Bush Pressured FBI to Blame al-Qaeda for Anthrax; McCain fingered Iraq on Letterman; Can’t we Change the Name of Washington National Airport?
One thing I haven’t seen mentioned with regard to the attempt to implicate Iraq in the anthrax scare in fall of 2001 is the reason Iraq was hard to rule out as a source. It was that it clearly originated in labs in Ames, Iowa. The Reagan administration had permitted the provision to Iraq of […]
2 US Soldiers Killed; Parliament Tries Again
The Iraqi parliament will make another attempt on Tuesday to pass a provincial elections law that resolves controversies over how to treat troubled Kirkuk Province. AFP summarizes political violence in Iraq on Monday, which included the killing of 2 US GIs, strikes at Iraqi security forces on Palestine Street in Baghdad and an attempt on […]
Breakthrough on Solar Energy Storage
MIT has made a breakthrough in energy storage, one of the main obstacles to effective use of solar energy: “Inspired by the photosynthesis performed by plants, Nocera and Matthew Kanan, a postdoctoral fellow in Nocera’s lab, have developed an unprecedented process that will allow the sun’s energy to be used to split water into hydrogen […]
Hersh: Cheney Office Considered Manufacturing Provocation to Start War with Iran
Think Progress has an exclusive report on New Yorker journalist Seymour Hersh’s discovery that Cheney’s office considered, then rejected, getting up a provocation against Iran as a pretext for going to war. The discussion in Cheney’s office was provoked by the Iranian speedboat incident in January, 2008, in which the Bush administration alleged that five […]
Provincial Elections Law Postponed; Parliamentary Recess and Gridlock; Preachers Urge Voter Registration
An extraordinary Iraqi parliamentary session planned for Sunday to settle the provincial election law was cancelled at the last minute. Parliament is on recess in August. So to recap: No provincial election law means, probably, no provincial elections this year. No oil law. No significant Shiite-Sunni reconciliation. Politics gridlocked in Iraq. Westerners look for public […]
Pakistan to Send Special Ops into Tribal Areas
Pakistan appears to be acquiescing in Bush administration demands that it send special ops forces in to fight the dissident tribal forces and the Tehrik-i Taliban, according to LAT. Aljazeera International reports on the impact on civilians of this sort of fighting:
Bombing in Baghdad; Doubts Cast on Diyala Operation
Guerrillas used a car bomb to kill 8 persons in Baghdad and wound 14 The Iraqi government will order $9 billion in weapons from US firms. This sort of thing, if it continues, would make the Iraq War worthwhile to the Military-Industrial Complex. If you want to turn an enemy into a customer, nothing does […]
Iraqi Kurdish paper interviews Turkoman Front official Chawder
The USG Open Source Center translates a newspaper interview with an official of the Turkmen Front. Turkmen speak a language similar to that used in Turkey, and so are the objects of concern of Turkey concerning their treatment in Iraq. Kurds implicated Turkmen in the horrific bombing at Kirkuk last week, though this allegation strikes […]
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