The Committee on Academic Freedom (North America) of the Middle East Studies Association has written a letter protesting the cancellation of a talk by John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt scheduled by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. CCGA maintains that the speakers, authors of The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy, needed to be balanced […]
Josh Marshall on the Numbers Game in Iraq
From Josh Marshall’s Veracifier site, “Iraq by the Numbers”.
Sadrists Threaten Civil Disobedience Da’wa Leader Slams Bush for Base Visit
Al-Hayat reports in Arabic that the Sadr movement is complaining bitterly about the ongoing detention of its leaders. A spokesman for the Sadr office of Muqtada al-Sadr in Diwaniya threatened a campaign of civil disobedience if the arrests do not stop and if those arrested are not let go. Someone should tell Sheikh Abu Zaynab, […]
Iran, Victory Culture: Wednesday Reading
Tom Engelhardt’s essay, “The Empire of Stupidity,” discusses Iraq, Vietnam and ‘victory culture.’ Engelhardt is author of the recently reissued The End of Victory Culture“, with a new preface and conclusion. It is in some ways an answer to Frederick Jackson Turner’s conundrum– if the Frontier had been so central to American identity, what would […]
On How al-Anbar isn’t that Safe and on How its "Calm" is Artificially Produced
Bush made a surprise visit to Al-Anbar Province on Monday, as part of his propaganda drive to get Americans to think we should stay in Iraq because “progress” is being made. The debate over al-Anbar province is driven by the Bushies’ desire to find any ‘good news’ to grasp at. Indeed, from 2003 forward, their […]
Haleh is Free
As Barnett Rubin notes at the Global Affairs blog, Haleh Esfandiari has been allowed to leave Iran and has met her husband, Shaul Bakhash, in Vienna. I am so happy that my friend is free, though I regret the continued imprisonment of three other Iranian-American intellectuals (not to mention many, many prisoners of conscience.) And, […]
Maliki: Don’t Use Iraq as a Base to settle Scores US Pressures Bagdad to stop visit of Iranian President
Sawt al-Iraq reports in Arabic that Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has pledged not to allow Iraq to become a base for regional or international powers to settle scores. (This announcement seems to me to be an attempt to forewarn the Bush administration that it may not use Iraq as a base for an attack on […]
Bush and Ahmadinejad: Will they or Won’t They?
More from Barnett Rubin on signs of a potential Bush administration attack on Iran at the Global Affairs blog. He quotes Alex Debat from the Times of London: “the Pentagon has drawn up plans for massive air strikes against 1,200 targets in Iran, designed to annihilate the Iranians’ military capability in three days.”
Maliki Blames Wahhabis for Karbala Sistani Aide Assassinated
The Shiite world has been roiled for weeks by statements of Saudi, Wahhabi clergy in Mecca that Shiite shrines are works of idolatry and should be pulled down. Prime Minsiter Nuri al-Maliki used these anxieties politically to explain the violence at Karbala on Tuesday. Problem: the violence in Karbala was between two factions of Shiites […]
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