Iraq

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Dubai’s Al-Akhbar al-An reports that further large demonstrations broke out in Iraq on Saturday, leaving 91 wounded and one dead. Friday saw some of the largest demonstrations in modern Iraqi history. Protesters are demanding an end to corruption and sectarianism and want a government that can deliver basic services. They […]

al-Qaeda

Death of al-Baghdadi: ISIS Grew Out of U.S. Invasion of Iraq: Cole @ Democracy Now!

Democracy Now!

Democracy Now! | Video Interview and Transcript | – Amy Goodman kindly had me on Democracy Now! Monday to discuss the US raid that killed ISIL leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and its broader context in Middle Eastern and US politics. Transcript below the video. Democracy Now! “Death of al-Baghdadi: ISIS Grew Out of U.S. Invasion […]

Donald Trump

No, Trump isn’t Bringing Troops home: Not those in Syria, or any of the 60,000 in the Mideast

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Although Trump keeps talking about bringing the troops home from the Middle East, that isn’t what he is doing. There are some 60,000 US troops in and around the Middle East. There is no prospect of any significant number of them “coming home” any time soon. In fact, Trump just […]

Iraq

An Arab Autumn:The Hidden Political Poison That Iraq And Lebanon Are Really Protesting About

Niqash

By Mustafa Habib | Baghdad | (Niqash.org) | – This month Iraq and Lebanon have anti-government protests in common. Partially that’s due to the ineffective and deeply corrupt quota system their governments also share. There’s no easy way out of this trap. Politics More in common than you might know. Thousands of locals in Lebanon […]

Barack Obama

No, Trump’s Withdrawal from Syria is not Like Obama Leaving Iraq

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Some observers are likening Trump’s abrupt departure from Syria and President Barack Obama’s withdrawal from Iraq in 2011. The two events show no resemblance whatsoever, and the frequently-made charge that Obama could have stayed in Iraq is incorrect. Here’s the difference. 1. Obama did not betray America’s allies in Iraq, […]

Iraq

Did Bush put Iraq on Road to Democracy? Not to Judge by the Violent Crackdown on Protesters

The Conversation

By Balsam Mustafa | – When Muhanad Habib, a 22-year-old Iraqi from the Sadr City district of Baghdad, posted on Facebook in late September, he probably didn’t imagine that his demands for a better life and basic rights would be met with bullets. It will be a huge and angry public revolution in Baghdad … […]

Iraq

On Yom Kippur, remembering the Diversity Iraq’s Mosul has Lost with Nationalism and ISIL

The Conversation

By Stephennie Mulder | – On Yom Kippur each year, as Jews around the world pray for atonement, the biblical Book of Jonah is read in its entirety. Jews recall the story of how God summons Jonah to go to the city of Nineveh to tell its inhabitants to turn from their evil deeds. At […]

Iraq

Iraq protests expose the crisis in the regime’s integrity

Middle East Monitor

By Abdulwahhab Badrakhan | – A third wave of protests in Iraq, following those in 2015 and 2018, continues to shake the three pillars of the regime — the constitution, electoral law and an independent judiciary — although protesters’ basic demands are not political. There is, nevertheless, a general conviction that they are impossible to […]

Iraq

Baghdad’s Youthquake: Iraq’s Young Protestors ‘Have Nothing Left To Lose’

Mustafa Habib

(Niqash.org ) – Anti-government protests in Baghdad were led by the younger generation, one that has grown up under military rule, lived a more liberal life online and is now questioning the very basis of local, political culture. More than a hundred deaths and over 4,000 wounded as a result of five days of anti-government […]