Al-Hayat reports in Arabic that a delegation from the (Shiite) United Iraqi Alliance [UIA] met for three hours on Sunday with Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, seeking his advice on how to rebuild the coalition ahead of January’s parliamentary elections. A leading member of the political delegation was the former BFF of the Neoconservatives, Ahmad Chalabi. […]
Is Sarah Palin America’s Ahmadinejad?
See my regular column in Salon.com, “Sarah Palin, meet Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: You two right-wing populists have a surprising amount in common.” Excerpt: “Palin portrays herself as the small-town outsider. “I’m not a member of the permanent political establishment,” she proclaimed last fall. She blamed her bad press on not being in the “Washington elite,” when, […]
Missing Pilot found in Iraq; In the End, will there be anything Left of Bush’s UN Speech that is not a sheer Falsehood?
“Speech by George W. Bush, President of the United States at the United Nations General Assembly, 12 September 2002″, making the case for going to war with Iraq: … In 1991, the Iraqi regime agreed to destroy and stop developing all weapons of mass destruction and long-range missiles, and to prove to the world it […]
Show Trial of Reformists in Iran
My interview at Rooz Online on Iran is now up. The trial of 100 leading protesters against the announced outcome of the June 12 presidential elections commenced on Saturday, complete with pitiful coerced recantations. Amazingly, former president Mohammad Khatami’s web site openly denounced the trial as just that, a show trial. Khatami’s problem was always […]
Col. Reese on a Quick Withdrawal
The NYT on Friday published a memo from Col. Timothy R. Reese, Chief, Baghdad Operations Command Advisory Team, MND-B, Baghdad, Iraq, in which he argued for a more or less immediate departure of US troops from Iraq. AP notes that most US officers in Iraq do not agree with Reese. Some believe he is being […]
Young Iranian Woman – Email From Tehran
Posted to an email list. I made some minor spelling corrections. This is going to be a slightly disjointed email, I’m sorry in advanced. It’s already well passed midnight here and we just finished returning from the streets protesting. But I wanted to make sure to get this out tonight. Today marked the 40th day […]
Regime Cracks down Again in Tehran; But Hard Liners Question Brutal Tactics
The political opposition in Iran held commemorations in Tehran, Isfahan, Shiraz, Ahvaz and Rasht for the deaths of protesters at the hands of security forces on June 20, especially for Neda Agha-Soltan, a young woman whose last moments on videotape became a heartbreaking sensation throughout the world. In Shiite Islam, mourning sessions are conducted for […]
Iraqi Government takes Control of Camp Ashraf in 2nd Day of Fighting
AFP says that fighting went on for a second day on Wednesday inside the Camp Ashraf compound of the Mojahedin-e Khalq (People’s Holy Warriors or MEK) between Iraqi security forces and camp residents. The Iraqi government is reportedly saying that the camp had been secured by late Wednesday. The some 3000 Iranians in the camp […]
Iraq Assault on Iranian Dissident Camp shows Growing Power of Shiite Hard Liners; Bank Heist May Signal Bankruptcy of Sunni Guerrillas
Iraqi security forces from the Ministry of the Interior raided Camp Ashraf, the stronghold of the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK) terrorist cult in eastern Iraq, on Tuesday, killing at least four MEK members, wounding 21, and arresting 28. The terrorist group has been attempting to destabilize Iran through bombings and assassinations for decades and was given […]