Iraq

Secretary of State Condi Rice’s visit to Baghdad for consultations on the US-Iraqi security agreement provoked a demonstration in the Shiite holy city of Najaf, with Sadrist crowds carrying placards warning against US intentions. The Sadrists said that they rejected any security agreement that lacked a specific timetable for US troop withdrawal, and would take […]

Strange things happen in Iraq. On Tuesday, an unidentified Iraqi government security force, or at least people wearing such uniforms, attacked the Diyala provincial governor’s headquarters, killed his secretary, and arrested a member of the Diyala Provincial Assembly. The local police fought back, and four were wounded. The attacking unit is said to be a […]

Kurdish control of Kirkuk creates a powder keg in Iraq, the NYT explains this morning: ‘ it demonstrates that despite a recent decline in violence, Iraq’s unsettled ethnic and regional discord could still upend directives emanating from Baghdad and destabilize large swaths of the country — or even set off a civil war. . . […]

A suicide bomber in Baghdad killed 15 and wounded 29 in al-Adhamiya on Sunday. This neighborhood is what’s left of the Sunni enclave on the eastern side of the Tigris, and the bombing appears to have targeted a local Awakening Council leader, Faruq al-Ubaidi, who was killed. The US-financed Awakening Councils and the Qutbist vigilantes […]

Bombers struck at Shiite pilgrims for the third straight day on Sunday, killing as many as six new victims. This despite extensive security measures in the holy city of Karbala. The city was divided into eight districts, with checkpoints and body searches. Teams of female inspectors checked women for bombs. US and Iraqi aircraft did […]

Colin Kahl, just back from Iraq, gave a briefing that Gareth Porter attended. He reports that: 1. US officials in Baghdad are genuinely worried that Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has become “over-confident” about his military capabilities and has therefore become unreasonably difficult to deal with over the proposed status of forces agreement on the rules […]

A female suicide bomber targeted Shiite pilgrims south of Baghdad on Thursday, killing at least 26 and wounding 75. Pilgrims are streaming to the holy city of Najaf in honor of the anniversary of the birth of the hidden 12th Imam, Muhammad al-Mahdi, the Shiite messiah who many Iraqi Shiites believe will soon come to […]

There are approximately 2 million Iraqi refugees in the Middle East, mainly in Syria but with another big population in Amman. Their money is running out. NGOs have fewer resources for them over time, and visa restrictions are increasing in severity. Many are traumatized and were personally threatened by the militias that took over (and […]

McClatchy reports on the visit to Iraq of King Abdullah II of Jordan, . The king is the first Arab ruler to come on a state visit. The Jordanian press underlined that the visit was made possible in some ways by PM Nuri al-Maliki’s demand that the US set a timeline for the withdrawal of […]