Sunni Arab guerrillas are increasingly deploying explosively formed projectiles, roadside bombs that can pierce even tank armor. My guess is that the more sophisticated EFPs supposedly coming only from Iran are also sometimes made in Iraq, and that any Iranian ones are on the black market and could be bought by anyone, including Sunni groups. […]
McCain as Nixon?
John McCain is the Republican nominee for president. He promises “victory” in Iraq while never defining the word, except that he sometimes promises a long-term enmeshing of the US in a Korea-like war and decades-long military aftermath. It is eerily familiar. The president who started the war is not running for office. His popularity is […]
Arab Intelligence Organizations Hold Secret Meeting To Confront Shiites In Iraq
The USG Open Source Center translates a report from the Iranian Fars News Agency that summarizes an article in the Iraqi newspaper al-Bayanat al-Jadidah claiming that Sunni Arab intelligence agencies recently met in Amman to discuss ways of undermining the Shiite government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and of replacing al-Qaeda commanders in Iraq […]
Gates: US Will not Pledge to Defend Iraq
Prince Andrew thinks Bush is weak in the area of British Empire history, and that the stubborn disregard of British experiences and advice is part of the reason for the debacle. The Status of Forces Agreement envisioned by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates will not contain any provision that the US will come to Iraq’s […]
A McCain/ Huckabee Ticket? Would Huckabee Sink McCain?
In his victory speech on super Tuesday, John McCain said: ‘ I want to congratulate Governor Huckabee and his supporters on their success today. Not for the first time, he has surprised the rest of us, and proved again his exceptional skills as a campaigner, and the extraordinary commitment and determination of the people who […]
Hot Pursuit into Syria, Iran, had been authorized; US Kills Innocents at Adwar Mass Grave with 50 Bodies Found at Samarra
The Bush administration authorized hot pursuit of Iraqi Baathists into Syria and Iran, according to a just-released document at wikileak. The document also reveals that as late as 2005, the US military authorities were still unaware that the “mobile weapons labs” were a Neocon scam and never existed. (Biological weapons labs require a clean room, […]
Turkey Hits 70 Sites in Iraq; US Accidentally Kills 13; Sistani Aides Kidapped in Basra
The Turkish air force bombed 70 targets inside Iraq in Kurdistan, which they allege are bases for the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) guerrilla group. The PKK has killed scores of Turks in recent months, before retreating to safe haven in Iraq. The US military on Monday mistakenly bombed a home in Iskandariya south of Baghdad, […]
Zogby: McCain Dominates; Obama Enjoys Super Sunday
Zogby is circulating the below: Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby Poll: Ahead of Super Tuesday, McCain Dominates Everywhere Except California; Obama Enjoys a Super Sunday UTICA, New York—Republican Arizona Sen. John McCain leads in three out of four key Super Tuesday states – winning more than 50% support in New York and New Jersey – while Democrat Barack Obama […]
Iraq Still Central to Campaign; The Dark Side of McCain; Turkey Kills 10 Kurdish Guerrillas
Frank Davies of the Mercury News Service challenges the conventional wisdom that Iraq has faded as a campaign issue. He writes: ‘ But as the war nears two grim milestones – five years since the invasion and nearly 4,000 Americans killed – the question of what to do in Iraq is never far below the […]