The NYT leads this morning with “Obama Claims Nomination; First Black Candidate to Lead a Major Party Ticket.” You can see from my headline that I put a different emphasis. I’m not one of those politically correct, color-blind people who finds it indelicate to mention race or ethnicity. I think those categories are largely socially […]
US-Iraq Security Talks Hit Snag; Mosul Police HQ Bombed, 55 Killed or Wounded
The US is still hopeful that it can conclude a security agreement with the government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on the framework for a US troop presence next year after the UN Security Council authorization runs out. The negotiations have produced a sharp reaction from a broad cross-section of the Iraqi public, Sunni and […]
Aljazeera: Iraqi Reactions to Security Agreement
The USG Open Source Center translates an Aljazeera segment on the proposed security agreement with the US. Via BBC Monitoring ‘June 1, 2008 Sunday AL-JAZEERA TV DEBATES IRAQI REACTIONS TO PROPOSED SECURITY DEAL WITH USA Al-Jazeera Satellite Television at 1830 gmt on 30 May carries live a new 25-minute episode of its daily “Behind the […]
Obama, the Dukakis Trap, and Meeting Sistani
Barack Obama is considering a trip to Iraq this summer. I fear he has been forced into this visit by John McCain, who keeps taunting him on his limited foreign policy experience, saying he has not been to Iraq since 2006 and so does not understand how the “surge” was “victorious.” McCain’s taunts are ridiculous. […]
Shiite Cleric, MP, from al-Maliki’s Coalition Denounces Security Accord
Robert Reid of AP reports that the Iraqi government is acknowledging differences with the US over the proposed security agreement intended to regulate the role of US troops in Iraq. The USG Open Source Center translates remarks last Friday of Jalal al-Din al-Saghir of the Buratha Mosque in north Baghdad. Saghir is a leading member […]
Cobban: Re-engage
Helena Cobban, proprietor of the JustWorldNews web site, has been covering global issues as a professional journalist for 35 years, most recently for the Christian Science Monitor. She writes: ‘Five years into the still unfolding tragedy of the US invasion and occupation of Iraq, it is clearer than ever that this intervention has inflicted significant […]
Afghanistan: Civilians Caught in the Middle of US & Taliban
Afghanistan has become the Forgotten War on the screens of corporate media. Yet the US has 33,000 troops fighting there and NATO forces amount to 60,000 there altogether. {Sorry for the wrong numbers in the first draft.) Barnett Rubin is live-blogging the renewed violence in Afghanistan from the ground in that country. Also don’t miss […]
Thousands of Sadrists Protest Security Pact With US; Sistani Aide Demands Parliament Vote
Thousands of followers of Shiite leader Sayyid Muqtada al-Sadr peacefully protested across southern Iraq on Friday, according to McClatchy. They prayed and then stood silently in solidarity against the security agreement being negotiated by PM Nuri al-Maliki with George W. Bush. Sadrists Demonstrate in Kufa. Courtesy Amara.net, a Sadrist site. (On both the Iraqi and […]
Suicide Bombers Kill 20, Wound Dozens in North; Firefight with Jihadis in Tikrit; VP Abdul Mahdi Praises IranP
At least 35 persons died in political violence in northern Iraq on Thursday. Suicide bombers killed 20 persons and wounded dozens in three attacks on police and recruits, with the largest attack at Sinjar. In Tikrit, Awakening Council tribesmen armed and paid by the US shot to death 15 jihadis in a tanker headed for […]
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