Iraq

by Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Shiite popular mobilization units (Iran-backed militias) have played a key role in taking of the northern city of Talafar from ISIL. The ninth armored division of the regular army and the military’s counter-terrorism brigandes have also played an important role. A government spokesman said that only […]

Books

Mosul Youth rescue Books and Music in wake of ISIL Defeat

contributors

Special Correspondent | Mosul | (Niqash.org) | – – Two projects in Mouls show a different side to the devastated northern Iraqi city, as younger people there celebrate the end of the ISIL’s reign. The fighting is all but done in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul and the damage caused by three years of […]

Evolution

Mission Accomplished: Iraq drops chapter on evolution from school textbooks

contributors

By Brian Whitaker | ( Al-Bab.com ) | – – Iraq’s education ministry has quietly dropped a chapter about evolution from its biology textbooks. The ministry has so far given no explanation but the change has brought complaints and ridicule from Iraqis on social media. Among the complainers, Dr Mohammed Fawzi, who studied genetic engineering, […]

Arab World

Is the Gulf Crisis bringing Iraq back into Arab World?

contributors

Mustafa Habib | Baghdad | ( Niqash.org ) | – – Countries like Saudi Arabia are showing new willingness to open diplomatic channels with Iraq. Motivations include a military they now respect, opportunities for reconstruction and countering Iranian influence. Iraqi diplomats have had a busy month. There have been dozens of officials from Arab countries […]

Counter-Terrorism

Can Iraq save Tal Afar from ISIL without Destroying the City?

contributors

By Mustafa Habib | (Niqash.org) | – – [N.B. The offensive against ISIL (Daesh) in Tal Afar began on Sunday. – JC] Intensive air raids, secret political talks and military forces gathering on the outskirts of the city: Everything points to the battle of Tal Afar – almost the extremists’ last stand in Iraq . […]

Iraq

Iraq after ISIL needs Security, Anti-Corruption & Jobs, not Identity Politics

contributors

By Andrea Teti, Pamela Abbott, and Munqith Dagher | ( OpenDemocracy.net ) | – – Ignoring priorities that have popular support in Iraq risks undermining post-ISIS attempts to build a stable country, with knock-on effects at a regional level. As the defeat of ISIS/Daesh looms large both in Syria and in Iraq, attention turns to […]

Democracy

Iraq’s Next Elections will be the most Important in its History

contributors

Mustafa Habib. | Baghdad | (Niqash.org) | – – In Iraq, larger political parties disagree on everything except maintaining the status quo: Parliament just passed a law that will badly affect the smaller parties competing in the next elections. It has been said before. But this time it may well be true: Iraq’s next elections […]

Iraq

Who defeated ISIL? Obama’s Quiet Strategy, not Trump’s Bluster

contributors

Bryan G. Williams | (Informed Comment) | – – Book excerpt from the just-published Counter Jihad: America’s Military Experience in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria [CLICK]: At the time of the writing of this book [in July 2016], Iraqi Army ordinance specialists are cleaning the town (Ramadi) of thousands of IEDs planted by ISIS. ISIS fighters […]

Democracy

Guess What Iraq’s Biggest Problem Really Is

contributors

By Pamela Abbott, Andrea Teti and Kevin M. DeJesus | (The Conversation) | – – With the defeat of the so-called Islamic State (IS) on the battlefield looking imminent, Iraq is confronting a monumental challenge: to repair a deeply fractured society fraught with ethno-religious, geographic and socio-economic divisions. It must end infighting within its political […]