Iraq

Militiant Sufism in Iraq The USG Open Source Center translates an interview with a spokesman for a militant offshoot of the Naqshabandi order in Iraq that fights the US military presence. Naqshbandis are known as a Sunni Sufi order and have been more “orthodox” and tied to legalism than most other mystic brotherhoods. Many Kurds […]

Ban Ki-moon: Surge Failing Diyala Bridge Blown Up Mashhadani not going Quietly UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said in his quarterly report on Iraq that the “surge” in Iraq is failing. The file of the original document can be found via this page. Ban writes, ‘ 3. Despite the initial success of stepped-up security measures […]

Iranian Media on Iraq & the US The USG Open Source Center translates or paraphrases reports in the Iranian press last week regarding Iran-Iraq relations and the US presence in Iraq. Iran: Highlights: Iranian Media on Iraqi Developments – – 1- 7 June 2007 Iran — OSC Summary Friday, June 8, 2007 The following are […]

Bush uses Sudan, Iran Assets in Iraq US GIs Killed, Trapped in Bridge Rubble; Al-Mashhadani Dismissed as Speaker; Clashes, Demonstrations in Sadr City Remember all that Bush administration bluster against Sudan? Turns out that the CIA is using Sudanese spies against the Iraqi guerrillas. Bush sees no enemies among the oil states, only opportunities to […]

Nearly 50 Dead Saturday US Fires on Baquba Mosque Muqtada: Postpone Kirkuk Referendum Police found 24 bodies in Baghdad on Saturday, according to Reuters. 3 soldiers were found shot dead in Kirkuk. A dead policeman was found in the southern Shiite city of Diwaniya. A suicide truck bomber attacked an Iraqi miltiary checkpoint near Iskandariya […]

Guest Essay: Polk on Iraq William R. Polk Fact Sheet on Iraq What is Iraq: Iraq was created by Great Britain at the end of the First World War from three provinces of the defeated Ottoman Empire. While it is common to think of it as still those three parts – the Kurdish Muslims in […]

More than 80 Killed Pace not Reappointed Secretary of Defense Robert Gates will not seek the reappointment of Gen. Peter Pace as chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. Gates appears to have feared that Pace’s long involvement in the Iraq War and his relatively subservient attitude to former SecDef Donald Rumsfeld would turn his […]

The Eighth Front According to Turkish sources, hundreds of Turkish troops crossed into Iraqi Kurdistan on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning in hot pursuit of Kurdish terrorists. There was some skepticism about whether this incident actually occurred, and it was both affirmed and denied by various Turkish sources in the course of the day. MSNBC showed footage […]

Bombs Rip Kadhimiya; 4 US GIs Killed; Sunni Guerrillas Announce Truce with Each Other Two coordinated car bombs hit the Shiite Kadhimiya district of north Baghdad on Wednesday. A third bomb was found and disarmed before it could go off. The explosions killed 7 and wounded 27. They took place uncomfortably close to the shrine […]