Arab World

This Easter is an especially sad one for Iraq’s Chaldean Christians. Their archbishop was kidnapped and held for ransom, then killed by guerrillas. His captors had demanded that the Christians support demands that the US withdraw from Iraq and pay $3 mn. [Since Chaldeans are patriotic Iraqis, there was no reason to think they did […]

The USG Open Source Center translates an Arab nationalist call to the southern Shiite province of Maysan, which is ruled by the Sadr Movement of Muqtada al-Sadr, to block Iranian influence. In fact, Maysan, which borders Iran, is negotiating with Iran to receive electricity and other aid. Movement Calls For Efforts To Prevent Iran From […]

A US soldier was killed and four wounded by rocket fire south of Baghdad. Courtesy ABC News The Guardian video does a report, streamed below, on the prospect that some of the 80,000 members of the Awakening Councils or Concerned Local Citizens in Diyala Province and elsewhere are going to go on strike. Many of […]

courtesy al-Sharq al-Awsat The misery of the some 2 million widows in Iraq has security implications. Ma’d Fayyad reports in Arabic that fundamentalist Sunni guerrillas in Iraq are increasingly deploying widows as suicide bombers. Two major bombings this week, at Baladruz and Karbala, appear to have been undertaken by women. Fayyad says that one change […]

The USG Open Source Center translates Iraqi television reactions to the fifth anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq Iraqi TV Channels Carry Reactions to Fifth War AnniversaryIraq — OSC SummaryThursday, March 20, 2008 . . . Al-Rafidayn [Sunni fundamentalist, affiliated with the Association of Muslim Scholars] Harith al-Dari Within its 0700 GMT newscast, the […]

The below is part of an anti-war “opera” sung by the most famous of the Arab videoclip stars (Nancy Ajram and Cheb Khalid are featured here). The whole is very long. The Zoom videoclip satellite channel is playing it repeatedly this week, apparently to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the Iraq War. It begins with […]

My fortnightly column for Salon.com is now up, commemorating the 5th anniversary of Bush’s invasion of Iraq: “Five years of Iraq lies:” How President Bush and his advisors have spent each year of the war peddling mendacious tales about a mission accomplished. I posit that each year of the war has been characterized by a […]

A massive bomb in the Shiite holy city of Karbala killed 52 persons and wounded 75 on Monday according to AFP. Shiites’ feelings are raw over the attack, threatening further civil war violence. (Courtesy Jafariyanews.com). Sawt al-Iraq/ AFP report in Arabic that the explosion occurred only 100 meters from the shrine of Imam Husayn, among […]

See my discussion at bloggingheads.tv of contemporary Middle East issues with Steve Clemons of the Washington Note blog.