Arab World

Thousands of Sadrists demonstrated in downtown Baghdad for a second day on Tuesday, complaining about their marginalization and the high-handed policies of PM Nuri al-Maliki. Al-Hayat reports in Arabic that the Sadr Movement and the Sunni Iraqi Accord Front both rejected the ‘memorandum of understanding’ between the US and Iraq signed by PM Nuri al-Maliki […]

The government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki is negotiating a formal bilateral treaty with the United States. The question is whether the agreement will be submitted to parliament for ratification, and whether al-Maliki will be able to get a majority of parliamentarians to vote for it if so. Much of the work of the […]

The USG Open Source Center translates an interview in the Iraqi newspaper Ilaf with Adnan Dulaimi, a leader of the Iraqi Accord Front (Sunni fundamentalist, called in Arabic Tawafuq), the major Sunni Arab party in Parliament, with 44 seats out of 275. The IAF has withdrawn from the al-Maliki ‘national unity’ government. Excerpt: ‘Dr Adnan […]

On Sunday, the government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki presented to parliament its bill revising the expulsion of ex-Baathists from government jobs and public life. The Shiite deputies in parliament essentially booed it, with the thirty Sadrist deputies pounding the table and making it impossible for parliament to conduct business. Parliament adjourned among shouting and […]

Another one bites the dust. World politics is littered with the political corpses of rightwing leaders who bucked their own public to join in George W. Bush’s wars and misadventures. Spain, Italy, Poland, and in a way the UK are all object lessons in this regard. Now John Howard of Australia has joined their number […]

The USG Open Source Center rounds up Friday prayers sermons shown on Iraqi television this week: ‘Round-up of Iraqi Friday Sermons 23 NovIraq — OSC SummarySaturday, November 24, 2007 Major Iraqi television channels – Baghdad Al-Iraqiyah, Baghdad Baghdad Satellite Channel, Baghdad Al-Sharqiyah, Baghdad Al-Furat, Cairo Al-Baghdadiyah, and Baghdad Al-Diyar – are observed on 23 November […]

Whoever is responsible for this disgusting travesty is an automatic candidate for Keith Olbermann’s “Worst Person in the World.” My guess is that the trail will lead back to Donald “its not a guerrilla war” Rumsfeld and Richard Bruce “most prominent traitor in American history” Cheney. Gregg Zoroya of USA Today reports that 20,000 US […]

The USG Open Source Center translates an article from the Iraqi newspaper “Ilaf,” on planned housekeeping inside the Sadr Movement, in which leaders plan to purge hundreds of alleged rogue elements from the paramilitary Mahdi Army. Sadrist leader Baha’ al-A’raji also called for electoral reform and rejected an Iranian plan to have Iranian troops replace […]

Guerrillas detonated a bomb in a Baghdad pet market on Friday morning at 9 am, killing at least 13 persons and wounding others. Two important gunbattles were fought in Iraq on Thursday, one southwest of Baghdad and one in the volatile Diyala Province east of Baghdad. CNN alleges that Salafi Jihadis of the “Islamic State […]