By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – A Boston U. political scientist estimates that as of 2016, The Iraq and Afghanistan Wars have cost the American taxpayers $5 trillion. That number isn’t important when we consider the human cost– Some 7,000 US troops dead, 52,000 wounded in action; hundreds of thousands of Iraqis […]
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Iraq
Can ISIL survive scenes of Sunni Muslims celebrating their Liberation from it?
By James Miller | ( RFE/RL) What a difference a month makes. At the start of August, the extremist group that calls itself Islamic State (IS) [group]controlled a large part of the border between Syria and Turkey, while the U.S.-backed Syrian Defense Forces (SDF), a multiethnic group made up primarily of Kurdish YPG fighters, raced […]
Clinton: No US ground troops in Iraq, Syria; Trump: Steal Iraqi Oil
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The NBC Candidates Forum continued the shameful corporate coverage of the Great American Meltdown that is our election season. That season has given us a Faux Cable News that runs clips of only one side and pays out hush money to cover up how its blonde […]
‘Unacceptable’ UN says US-Backed Iraqi Militias Recruiting Children
TeleSur | – – The United Nations said it was “deeply concerned” about reports the groups are using children on the frontlines of the fight against the Islamic State group. Amid reports that U.S.-backed Iraqi militias are recruiting children to fight the Islamic State group, the United Nations said Wednesday it is “deeply concerned” and […]
ISIL sends families out of Mosul as Kurdish, Iraqi Army Forces advance
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Iraqi military forces have taken the strategic town of al-Qayarah near the major city of Mosul from Daesh (ISIS, ISIL). Mosul is the last major city in the hands of the apocalyptic, brutal cult as it has lost almost all the territory it took in 2014. […]
People in Syria’s Manbij Rejoice by Shaving, throwing off Veil as ISIL fighters Flee
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – People in Syria’s norther town of Manbij, now entirely liberated from the rule of Daesh (ISIS, ISIL), rejoiced on Saturday. Men shaved their beards (which had been imposed on them by the fundamentalists) and women threw off their burqas (full-face veils) and burned them. The burqa […]
No, Obama did not found ISIL, Mr. Trump: That was the GOP
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Trump in his daily free association exercise accused President Obama of creating Daesh (ISIL, ISIS) in Iraq by withdrawing troops from that country in 2011. It is an accusation he has in past made against Sec. Clinton, but now he is shifting blame to Obama. Obama […]
ISIL Captures Thousands trying to flee it in Iraq, Executes a Dozen
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The Oman Daily’s Jabbar al-Rubaie reports that Iraqi security sources announced yesterday that Daesh (ISIL, ISIS) had executed a number of the residents of the city of Hawija near Kirkuk in northern Iraq because they attempted to escape the city, over which Daesh holds sway. Hawija […]
Baghdad facing Invasion of . . . Cockroaches, as Temps reach 122° b/c Climate Change
Niqash.org | – – Last week Baghdad faced a new threat: A plague of cockroaches, brought out by higher summer temperatures. All sorts of strange stories about the insect invaders emerged. Over the past week in Baghdad residents in the city have started to worry about an invader other than the extremist Islamic State group. […]
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