Iraq

Effort to Amend Constitution Founders Again Al-Hayat reports in Arabic that Iraqi parliamentarians proved unable to agree on key constitutional compromises. The sticking points included the establishment of further provincial confederacies, De-Baathification, the disposition of the oil city of Kirkuk, and the distribution of national wealth [this is where that would be done, not in […]

Chart of Enemy Attacks in Iraq Here is a chart of guerrilla attacks in Iraq since 2003 through April 2007. It is from a GAO document on Iraq, “GAO-07-677 Iraq Electricity and Oil,” p. 34. The original is in .pdf format here. I think it says it all. Note that all the activity related to […]

Cole interview of Ali Allawi in Chronicle My interview with Ali Allawi, author of The Occupation of Iraq: Winning the War, Losing the Peace is temporarily available at the Chronicle of Higher Education at this special site for non-subscribers. Excerpt: ‘ Cole: Is the Iraqi government as it is now constituted really viable? Can it […]

Parliament Building Shelled Iraqi Military Makes Plans for If the US Suddenly Decamps Gulf States Fear Iraqi Violence Guerrilla mortar shells hit the Iraqi parliament building on Monday. The air in the chamber filled with dust, but there were no casualties. Reuters reports large numbers of bombings and attacks around the country, which on Monday […]

The Incredible Vanishing Iraqi Political Leadership: Al-Hakim to Iran, Talabani to US Abdul Aziz al-Hakim has chosen to seek chemotherapy for his lung cancer in Iran rather than in the US. His condition was confirmed during a visit to a hospital in Houston this weekend. He is likely to be absent from Iraq in Iran […]

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 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, […]

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 […]

200 Guerrillas Attack Mosul Police Truck Bombing Kills 45 (Chlorine?} Zebari rejects Pakistani Troops I don’t know if it was all hell, but a good deal of hell, a generous dollop of hell, broke loose in Iraq on Wednesday. Police found thirty bodies in the streets of Baghdad yesterday. I think we would all be […]