Arab World

LA Times says that 11 members of The Salam (Peace) tribal council of Baquba, were kidnapped at gunpoint as they were driving back from the Green Zone toward Baquba, where they are based. They had been conducting talks with the office of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. Although the kidnapping occurred in a largely Shiite district […]

The USG Open Source Center summarizes and translates a recent statement of Shiite clerical leader Muqtada al-Sadr, issued two weeks ago, insisting that the suspension of military operations by his Mahdi Army is still in effect. ‘Muqtada al-Sadr Says Freeze on Al-Mahdi Army’s Military Action Still in EffectIraq — OSC SummarySunday, October 28, 2007 The […]

Tens of thousands of Americans rallied against the war in major cities on Saturday. The US military is turning over security duties in Karbala to the Iraqi security forces (dominated in that city by the Badr Corps, the paramilitary trained by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps). This turn-over has now been carried out in 8 […]

The USG Open Source Center reports on Iraqi sermons on Friday. Round-up of Iraqi Friday Sermons 26 OctIraq — OSC SummarySaturday, October 27, 2007 Al-Iraqiyah . . . “Shaykh Jalal-al-Din al-Saghir, [Shiite] imam and preacher of the Buratha Mosque, said that the recent statements by terrorist Usama Bin Ladin to the remnants of his followers […]

AP reports that Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani is concerned about a wave of assassinations and killings in the southern port city of Basra: ‘ A spokesman for Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq’s top Shiite cleric, called on the Iraqi government to stop violence he said was increasingly plaguing southern Iraq and warned the inaction could […]

The USG Open Source Center translates television news concerning the crisis between Turkey and Iraq over the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) guerrilla actions against Turks; the PKK fighters are given safe haven inside Iraq by the Kurdistan Regional Authority, led by Massoud Barzani. In a second item, OSC translates a Kurdish t.v. report on the […]

Turkish war planes and helicopter gunships attacked Kurdish guerrillas in eastern Anatolia on Wednesday, making at least one raid into Iraq according to wire services. An Iraqi delegation is going to Ankara to try to resolve the crisis, which may eventuate in a Turkish incursion into Iraqi territory. A bombing of the Shiite Diyala Bridge […]

At Salon.com, my column on the collapse of Bush’s Middle East police, with the troubles on the Turkish/Iraq border and the huge bomb that greeted Benazir Bhutto in Pakistan. Edward Luce of FT argues that Iraq has faded as a campaign issue in the 08 presidential election. He attributes this lower profile for the issue […]

The Bush administration made a diplomatic ‘full court press’ with Turkish leaders to dissuade them from attacking the Kurdish Workers Party [PKK] guerrillas hiding out in Iraq after the killing of 17 Turkish troops and the capture of 8 others by the PKK on Sunday. Turkish Prime Minister Rejeb Tayyip Erdogan is alleged to have […]