The Beginning of the End of Anglo-American Iraq Incoming British Prime Minister Gordon Brown will remove all British troops from Iraq within two years (before the next election) as a way of gaining back the trust of Labour voters, according to The Scotsman. Since petroleum supply trucks come up from Kuwait and Basra to Baghdad […]
8 Us Gis Killed 16 Shiite Kurds
8 US GIs Killed 16 Shiite Kurds Massacred Suhail: Iraq has 3 million widows *8 US troops were announced killed in Iraq on Saturday. British forces on Saturday arrested Sheikh Aws al-Khafaji as he was trying to leave Iraq via Basra airport. He had been for some months the Sadrist Friday prayer leader in Basra, […]
Wright Boycott Threat Puts Pressure On
Wright: Boycott Threat Puts Pressure on Iran Robin Wright at the Washington Post has a piece online today on the growing pressure among US academics to boycott conferences and intellectual contact with Iran as long as Dr. Haleh Esfandiari is detained by Tehran. Wright quotes a statement from Noam Chomsky on Haleh’s imprisonment: ‘ “Now […]
Al Hakim In Us For Cancer Treatment
Al-Hakim in US for Cancer Treatment Sistani Aide: US not Serious on Terror Militia Rule in Basra Robin Wright reports that Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, the leader of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (SIIC), is in the US for treatment for lung cancer. Apparently arranging for al-Hakim to see US military physicians was part of what […]
Haleh In Prison I Copied Here Last
Haleh in Prison I copied here last Saturday our MESA letter of protest about the Iranian government’s imprisonment of Iranian-American scholar Haleh Esfandiari [also spelled Esfandiary]. Everyone should be outraged about this story. Her arrest should be an issue for everyone who believes in human rights, in academic freedom, and in women’s rights. I know […]
Annual Blogads Survey Many Thanks To
Annual Blogads Survey Many thanks to readers willing to take the blogads survey. I’m told it isn’t time-consuming. Although I would be blogging anyway, I think there is a lot of important web content that is supported this way. Henry Copeland has been a pioneer in setting up his software so that bloggers get a […]
Oil Sabotage Is As Bad As Ever
Oil Sabotage is “As Bad as Ever”: Shahristani 60 Dead in violence In an interview with Patrick Cockburn of the Independent, Iraq’s Oil Minister, Hussein Shahristani said that the sabotage of petroleum pipelines has interfered with the Iraqi economy and is “as bad as it has ever been.” He also revealed that Iraq exports only […]
Chatham House Study On Iraq
Chatham House Study on Iraq Fragmentation Gareth Stansfield of Exeter University has written a position paper for Chatham House in the UK, spelling out how dire the situation is in Iraq and making some suggestions. He slams Frederick Kagan’s sunny optimism about the effect of the “surge.” This is the press release. The piece is […]
World Bank Reaction To Wolfowitz
Ding, Dong, the Witz has Fled The reaction among World Bank employees at the news that Paul Wolfowitz, their president, will resign on June 30: ‘ “Everyone ran into the hallways and were clapping and hugging each other,” one employee, who declined to be named, said. ‘ Bush earlier today complained about journalists dancing on […]