The US has handed over security duties in al-Anbar Province to Iraqi troops and police. Maj. Gen. John Kelly warns,however,that al-Anbar needs an infusion from the central government of cash for reconstruction if the province is to avoid going into insurgency yet again. McClatchy reports on fears of American officials that Iraqi PM Nuri al-Maliki […]
Mills: The Dangerous Myth of Energy Independence
Robin M. Mills writes in an op-ed for IC A pernicious myth has recently re-emerged: that oil is ‘running out’, that global production will soon peak and enter inexorable decline. What is the proper response to ‘peak oil’ – to attempt energy self-sufficiency, or to take military control of oil producing regions before the Chinese […]
Integration of Sunni Awakening Councils a Challenge; Some Mahdi Army Fighters Reject Ceasefire; Khanaqin Crisis with Kurds Unresolved
Al-Zaman reports in Arabic that hundreds of members of the Mahdi Army of Sayyid Muqtada al-Sadr are rejecting his call for a long-term ceasefire with US troops and their transformation into a service organization. The militants say they cannot conceive of their mission in life as anything other than violently opposing the presence of US […]
Palin Laughs at Cancer-Surviving Senator being called a "Cancer"; Green: Palin ‘Not Qualified to be Governor’
She could have insisted these male shock jocks be civil or defended another woman politician, Lyda Green, from being dismissed with an expletive. GOP VP pick Sarah Palin laughs at cancer surviving senator being called a “bitch” The Republican head of the Alaskan Senate, Green reacted this way to John McCain picking Palin as his […]
OSC: Qabbanji and Saghir: Kirkuk Crisis Endangers Shiite-Kurdish Alliance
The USG Open Source Center translates Iraqi sermons from Friday Roundup of Iraqi Friday Sermons 29 AugIraq — OSC SummarySaturday, August 30, 2008 Document Type: OSC Summary … On the “crisis of Kirkuk and Khanaqin,” [Sheikh Sadr al-Din] Al-Qabbanji says: “There is a crisis in Iraq now called the Kirkuk crisis. There are Arabs, Kurds, […]
McCain, Palin and New Orleans
McCain on Katrina ‘ Forty Senators and 100 members of Congress visited New Orleans before he [McCain] did; he finally got there in March 2006. He voted against establishing a Congressional commission to examine the Federal, State, and local responses to Katrina in med-September 2005. He repeated that vote in 2006. He voted against allowing […]
Does Al-Maliki’s New Team Imperil Security Agreement? Al-Maliki asks Peshmerga to stay beyond Blue Line
The LAT reports doubts in Baghdad about whether the security agreement between the Bush administration and the Iraqi government will be achieved. Al-Maliki abruptly dismissed his negotiating team and replaced it with three officials close to himself. MP Mithal al-Alusi is convinced that the change was intended to derail the talks. Diyala Province is still […]
Sadrists Sign Oath to fight US Troops
Shiites from the Sadr Movement in Iraq have been signing oaths in blood to struggle against the foreign military occupation of their country. This ritual affirmation comes despite the command from Sayyid Muqtada al-Sadr to lay down their arms. Sadr has also spoken of creating a special forces unit to kill US and other coalition […]
OSC: Russia- Iran Alliance?
The USG Open Source Center translates an article from the Russian press proposing a strategic alliance between Russia and Iran. Pundit on Possible Russia-Iran Alliance To Counter ‘Unfriendly’ US MovesArticle by Radzhab Safarov, General Director of the Russian Center for Iranian Studies: “Iranian Trump Card. Russia Can Take Control of Persian Gulf”Vremya NovosteyFriday, August 29, […]
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