Arab World

McClatchy reports that a wave of bombings shook Iraq on Wednesday. In double bombing in the Baghdad market of Baya` left 32 dead and nearly that many wounded. From Sinjar in the north to Basra in the south, the country seemed consumed in a paroxysm of violence. Reuters reports that on Wednesday, ‘ BAGHDAD – […]

Sunni Arab guerrillas blew up an internal pipeline bringing petroleum from Baiji to the refinery at Doura in Baghdad. It is the second such act of sabotage in the past week. A frightening spread of cholera and cholera-like symptoms up and down Iraq is now being reported, with cases in Basra in the deep south […]

Iran has closed its border with Iraqi Kurdistan. This move appears to come in part in reaction to the US kidnapping of an Iranian commercial agent, on the grounds that he is a covert operative, from Sulaimaniya (a city in Iraqi Kurdistan). In addition, Kurdish guerrillas of the PEJAK organization have been taking refuge in […]

The USG Open Source Center translates or paraphrases Iraqi Friday Prayer sermons from last week. “Round-up of Iraqi Friday Sermons 21 SepIraq — OSC SummarySunday, September 23, 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 21 September to […]

The Iraqi government is backing off its demand that the Blackwater security firm be expelled from Iraq in the wake of apparently unprovoked shootings that left 11 Iraqis dead, according to the LAT. Apparently the argument has been made to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki that the 1,000 Blackwater guards who escort US embassy personnel would […]

Reprinted for Monday readers: An article on how the schedule for turning Iraqi provinces over to the Iraqi army and police for security purposes has slipped to August 2008 notes of a new Pentagon report: ‘ The Pentagon report cited a litany of problems with the police. For example, it said as few as 40 […]

Iraqi authorities said Saturday that they have a videotape of the shootings in Nisur Square last Sunday by Blackwater security guards, which shows that they fired without provocation. The company has maintained that its personnel were responding to incoming fire. There is now talk in Baghdad of trying the guards, though a decree by US […]

AP reports that two more aides to Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani were assassinated on Friday, bringing the total since late August to 5. Some worshippers who follow Sistani in Basra cancelled Friday prayers, and their mosques stayed empty, in protest. AP says that the governor of Basra, Misbah al-Wa’ili, called for better security for these […]

Al-Hayat reports in Arabic that Iraqi PM Nuri al-Maliki slammed his rival, Iyad Allawi of the National Concord Movement, for engaging in secret talks with the Izzat al-Duri branch of the Baath guerrilla movement, aimed at bringing it in to the political process. Al-Maliki said that such activities equated to terrorism. On Wednesday, two members […]