Iraq

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 […]

Featured

No, Obama did not found ISIL, Mr. Trump: That was the GOP

Juan Cole

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 […]

Featured

ISIL Captures Thousands trying to flee it in Iraq, Executes a Dozen

Juan Cole

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 […]

Extreme Weather

Baghdad facing Invasion of . . . Cockroaches, as Temps reach 122° b/c Climate Change

contributors

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. […]

Iraq

Will Iraq’s next Government be . . . Iran-backed Shiite Militias?

contributors

By Mustafa Habib | Baghdad | (Niqash.org) | – – The [so-called] Islamic State [IS] group has caused a realignment of Iraq’s political map. Next year’s provincial elections will signal who will rule the land after the security crisis has passed – and it may not be to everyone’s liking. In April 2017 Iraq will […]

Iraq

Defeating ISIL in Iraq will Take Sunni-Shiite Reconciliation, not Just Tanks

Neil Thompson

London (Informed Comment) – As Iraqi, Kurdish and Syrian forces squeeze its territory in the Arab world and Turkey hunts down the group’s support networks and sympathisers inside its territory, it can seem like the days of Islamic State (IS) are finally numbered after a two year reign of terror in the region. However it […]

Iraq

Iraq: As ISIL loses land, it is Terrorizing to provoke Sectarian Fighting

contributors

By Mustafa Habib | Baghdad | (Niqash.org) | – – It is slowly becoming clear that the extremist Islamic State group is returning to its roots, setting off bombs to kill innocents in crowded places, to cause chaos. Then it plans to take advantage of the unrest. The extremist group known as the Islamic State […]

Iraq War

Why you can’t explain the Iraq War without mentioning oil

contributors

By Bulent Gökay | (The Conversation) | – – Well before the US and UK led the invasion of Iraq, the two countries were under suspicion about their intentions for Iraq’s oil. When asked on February 6 2003 in a BBC Newsnight programme whether the war in Iraq was about oil, Tony Blair responded: Let […]

Bush

The other Casualty of Iraq War: The Country’s Whole Health System

contributors

Ahmed Aber | (The Conversation) | – – Thirteen years ago, American and British troops launched Operation Iraqi Freedom. The Iraqis were promised freedom from tyranny, but the subsequent destruction of the Iraqi state apparatus as well as the cycle of violence that continues to this day destroyed the health system that cared for the […]