Iraq

Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – In his less than three months in office, Donald Trump has escalated four wars, and all of his escalations have been failures. To be fair, Trump inherited all 4 wars from Barack Obama– Afghanistan, Iraq v. ISIL, Leftist Kurds v ISIL in Syria, and targeting support and […]

Iraq

‘Suicide belts Everywhere’: As Iraqi Forces Close in, ISIL prepares to Drink the Coolaid

contributors

Special Correspondent | (Baghdad) | (Niqash.org) | – – As pro-Iraq forces close in on the Islamic State fighters in Mosul, civilians trapped in the city with them, say the extremists roam around wearing suicide belts and appear to be ready to fight to the death. Word from inside Mosul makes it clear that the […]

Donald Trump

ISIL Now Controls only 7% of Iraq: What will its Defeat Mean for the Country?

contributors

Peter Bartu | (OpenDemocracy.net) | – – The west has treated ISIL as enemy number one while local actors see it as a sideshow in a political arena stretching from the Mediterranean to Iran. What does the defeat of ISIL in Mosul mean for Iraq? NurPhoto/SIPA USA/PA Images. All rights reserved. A general view shows […]

Bashar al-Assad

Al-Sadr: Russia, America and al-Assad should all get out of Syria!

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr on Saturday issued a broadside demanding that Russia and the United States withdraw from Syria and that strongman Bashar al-Assad resign as president. Al-Sadr’s stand against al-Assad is unusual among Shiite movements. The Lebanese Shiite militia, Hizbullah, has entered Syria to […]

Iraq

Even once ISIL is defeated, the problem of Manhunts and Reprisals

contributors

Mustafa Habib | (Baghdad) | Niqash.org | – – While Iraqi forces battle the Islamic State in west Mosul, intelligence services work in the east, to hunt down former members of the group. But those detained say the arrests are random and unjust. A few hours after the Iraqi army announced that the eastern side […]

Donald Trump

Kushner of Arabia: Can Trump’s Son-in-Law Figure out Iraq?

contributors

By Shahram Akbarzadeh | (Informed Comment) | – – Days before President Donald J. Trump ordered cruise missile strikes on Syria, his son-in-law Jared Kushner visited Iraq to learn first-hand how the Iraqi government assesses the security situation, more than a decade after the United States delivered regime change to that country. The issues facing […]

Iraq

Mosul: ISIL Deploys Ideological Booby Trap As It Retreats

contributors

David Patrikarakos | ( RFE/RL ) | – – The coalition battling to take the Iraqi city of Mosul from the extremist [so-called] “Islamic State” group (IS) is closing in. Earlier this year, coalition forces captured eastern Mosul (the city is bisected by the Euphrates River) and are now squeezing the city’s western half. According […]

Iraq

Iraqis Weigh in on Airstrike That Killed Hundreds In Mosul

contributors

Mustafa Habib | Baghdad | (Niqash.org) | – – There is plenty of speculation about how hundreds of non-combatants were killed in Mosul, all apparently by accident. US and Iraqi forces have admitted partial culpability. But there are other causative factors at work. The dramatic and tragic events in Mosul on March 22, that saw […]

Featured

Mosul: “Some” US Responsibility for Civilian deaths; but Iraqi PM lashes out at Critics

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – As US commanders begin confessing that it is likely that the US military bears responsibility for last Thursday’s errant airstrike that killed as many as 200-300 innocent civilians, America’s Iraqi partner Prime Minister Haydar al-Abadi disagreed, lashing out at critics. Al-Abadi, from the fundamentalist Shiite Da’wa […]