Ashraf Khalil at the LAT discusses the dilemma for actors of Arab extraction in Hollywood that they have to play terrorists or they just don’t find work. Some Arab American actors only get ahead by “passing” (claiming, like the Coneheads on Saturday Night Live, to be “French.”) There is a word for what these actors […]
Iran’s Armed Forces
The USG Open Source Center translates an Iranian newspaper article on the combat capabilities of Iranian military forces. ‘Article Examines Combat Capabilities of Iranian Military ForcesArticle by Ali Ghafuri: “A Glance at the Combat Capabilities of the Iranian Army,” page 15Iran (Internet Version-WWW)Wednesday, October 3, 2007 Document Type: OSC Translated Text A Powerful Army, Messenger […]
Kahl: 30,000 – 70,000 US Troops Likely to be in Iraq for Many Years
Colin Kahl of Georgetown University writes: ‘There will be 100-130K troops in Iraq when Bush leaves. The number will depend largely on who wins the factional infighting between the White House and MNF-I (Petraeus) on the one hand, and CENTCOM, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Secretary Gates on the other hand. The former want […]
Brown: 1,000 British troops to be Withdrawn
British PM Gordon Brown, in Baghdad and Basra for consultations with PM Nuri al-Maliki, with British commanders, and with his US allies, announced that he would withdraw another 1,000 British troops from Basra by Christmas. A majority of the British public wants all the troops out now, but the US is putting enormous pressure on […]
Blackwater Accused of Cover-ups Deaths Drop in September Iraqi Parliamentarians want to Debate US Senate on Partition
Iraqi authorities are not only accusing Blackwater guards of an unprovoked shooting of 11 persons at Nisur Square on Sept. 16, but also of engaging in an hour-long firefight with Iraqi police later that day. The firm appears to have deployed attack helicopters in the firefights. The NYT reports that a new congressional report on […]
19 Killed in Mosul Wave of Violence Petraeus: Iran May be Helping
A wave of violence rolled over the northern city of Mosul (pop. 1.5 million, Iraq’s second largest) on Sunday. A member of the Ninevah Provincial Council and his three body guards were assassinated by machine gun fire; gunmen killed two policemen in the east of the city; armed men killed two people in a market; […]
The End of Bonapartism and the War on Terror
NYT columnist Tom Friedman’s column, “9/11 is over,” sounds the death knell for the Neoconservative use of 9/11 and is in particular an attack on Rudy Giuliani. Friedman’s main arguments are that the Bush administration’s approach to dealing with al-Qaeda has so damaged the US image abroad, has so inconvenienced foreign travelers and visiting business […]
Iraq Preachers Lambaste Senate
The USG Open Source Center translates or paraphrases sermons given in Iraq on Friday, both Sunni and Shiite. ‘Round-up of Iraqi Friday Sermons 28 SepIraq — OSC SummarySaturday, September 29, 2007 Major Iraqi television channels – Baghdad Al-Iraqiyah, Baghdad Baghdad Satellite Channel, Baghdad Al-Sharqiyah, Baghdad Al-Furat, Cairo Al-Baghdadiyah, and Baghdad Al-Diyar – are observed on […]
Saturday roundup
At the Global Affairs blog, Philip Cunningham, who teaches at Dosisha University in Japan considers the ways in which W.’s Iraq debacle has weakened the ability of the US to play a positive role in the Burma / Myanmar crisis. Susie Madrak links to a real soldier who upbraids the chickenhawk Rush Limbaugh for calling […]
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