Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki of Iraq insisted again Monday that all foreign troops must be out of Iraq by 2011 and that US troops in Iraq must come under the authority of Iraqi courts. These demands appear to have emanated in the first instance from Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani of Najaf and from Sayyid Muqtada […]
International Reaction to Biden
Iraqi politicians greeted the the selection of Joe Biden as the Democratic vice presidential candidate with dismay because they oppose his soft partition plan for Iraq, an affront to Iraqi conceptions of national unity. In contrast, the Sulaymaniya newspaper Kirkuk ran an article by Zana Galali, that, according to BBC Monitoring, “Says that the US […]
54 Killed in Bombings, attacks; Water Crisis; Fixing the Intelligence Around the Policy
A suicide bomber attacked a celebration in Abu Ghraib late Sunday, killing at least 30 and wounding 42. The gathering was in honor of a former prisoner in a US prison who had just been released and was attended by police and by members of the local Awakening Council that has fought radical Muslim vigilantes […]
FBI to Open Cases via Profiling; MI5: Don’t Bother
Bush is trying to permanently widen FBI prerogatives in opening investigations of US citizens before leaving office. His new guidelines would allow an investigation to begin on the basis of data-mining and profiling, with no evidence of suspected wrong-doing. See my Salon.com article on this issue. This, at a time when the British MI-5 is […]
OSC: Collective Punishment in Baghdad
The USG Open Source Center translates an article from the Arabic online press complaining about Iraqi government collective punishment of Baghdad city quarters that witness poor security. US, Iraqi Forces Accused of Dividing Baghdad Neighborhoods on ‘Sectarian’ BasisReport by Kalshan al-Bayyati “Residents of Baghdad: ‘The Government Imposes Collective Punishment on us”Al-Arab OnlineWednesday, August 20, 2008 […]
Najaf Demonstrations against Rice: "Rogue" Operation in Baquba; Sadr in Iran for 5 Years
Secretary of State Condi Rice’s visit to Baghdad for consultations on the US-Iraqi security agreement provoked a demonstration in the Shiite holy city of Najaf, with Sadrist crowds carrying placards warning against US intentions. The Sadrists said that they rejected any security agreement that lacked a specific timetable for US troop withdrawal, and would take […]
Biden as VP Candidate
A warm congratulations to Senator Joe Biden on his VP candidate position on the Democratic ticket! Sen. Biden called me to testify before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Iraq in April 2004, when there was heavy fighting between the Mahdi Army and the US military. He did so on the basis of a journal […]
Security Agreement Undermines McCain; Dulaimi Was Planting Bombs; Awakening Councils Targeted
Muthanna Dulaimi was caught while planting a roadside bomb! The son of the leader of the Iraqi Accord Front, which has cabinet seats in the government of PM Nuri al-Maliki and from which one vice president derives, appears to be an active terrorist! Questions have swirled for some time about Adnan Dulaimi and his sons’ […]
Suicide Bomber Kills 58 outside Munitions Plant; Zardari Candidate for President
The Tehrik-i Taliban responded to Pakistani military operations against it at Bajaur by sending a suicide bomber to attack workers leaving a munitions factory. Some 57 are dead and 70 wounded. The Pakistan People’s Party, the largest party in parliament, has reportedly decided to seek to get its de facto leader, Asaf Ali Zardari, elected […]
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