Turkey bombed northern Iraq again on Sunday, in an apparent attack on suspected bases of the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) guerrilla group. Early reports were that no one was killed. US officials in Baghdad are convinced that some of the reduction in the number of attacks on US troops is owing to conscious Iranian decisions […]
Zogby: Huckabee, Obama Surge
Zogby has just released a national new poll that shows that the proportion of voters who are undecided on both sides of the aisle has fallen dramatically. The chief beneficiaries of the voters making up their minds have been Barack Obama and Mike Huckabee. From there, the story differs dramatically in the two parties, however. […]
Turkey Bombs Iraq Again; Massive Bombing in Pakistan
Turkey bombed the Amadiya area of northern Iraq on Saturday. Ankara said that it was targeting bases of the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) guerrilla organization. The PKK stands accused of killing over two dozen Turkish troops in recent months. Turkey says that the culprits then cross into Iraq, where they are given safe haven by […]
Al-Hakim Seeks Constraints on Awakening Councils
The USG Open Cource Center translates portions of the Friday Prayer sermon of Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, the leader of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI). Al-Hakim said he wanted to limit the Sunni Arab ‘Awakening Councils’ so that they did not become an independent force in their own right. He wants to see such […]
Clinton: Troops Perhaps out in a Year; Al-Hakim Slams Awakening Councils; Rice Bunkers Down
Reuters says that Iraq made a comeback as a campaign issue on Wednesday through Friday of this week. On Wednesday, Senator Hillary Clinton told a voter that she could get all US troops out of Iraq by early 2009. New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, who has called for an immediate and complete withdrawal of troops […]
Defending Miss Teen USA South Carolina
Now that all those ‘famous quotes of 2007’ are coming out, people are replaying the answer of Caitlin Upton, a contestant for Miss Teen USA from South Carolina to a question during her pageant. The exchange went like this: Question: Recent polls have shown a fifth of Americans can’t locate the United States on a […]
Suicide Bombings in Diyala, Baghdad;
A suicide bomber killed 13 in Kanaan, village near the provincial capital Baquba in Diyala Province. The bomber was targeting a patrol of the local Awakening Council (pro-US Sunni tribal levies). Reuters adds: “In another attack, a car bomb parked outside a liquor store in central Baghdad killed three people and wounded 20.” Leila Fadel […]
Babil Police Force Faces Uncertain Future After Chief’s Murder
The USG Open Source center does a report on the security situation in Babil Province, just south of Baghdad. ‘OSC Report: Iraq — Babil Police Force Faces Uncertain Future After Chief’s Murder . . .Iraq — OSC ReportFriday, December 21, 2007 Iraq –Government Handling of Security in Babil Raises Questions About Independence of Police, Parties’ […]
Turkish Ambassador: US was Helpful; 600 attacks a week in Iraq; Surge Exiled One Million Iraqis to Syria where they Face Starvation
The Turkish ambassador to the United States, Nabi Sensoy, said Wednesday that the US military provided real time intelligence to Turkey and was ‘very helpful’ in allowing Turkey to launch attacks on alleged Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) sites inside Iraq. He denied that the Turks had given the US military too little notice of its […]