Middle East

Guerrillas detonated a massive bomb in a Shiite market in north Baghdad on Tuesday, killing 51 and injuring 75. The bomb levelled a two-story building and set ablaze 20 shops. (Courtesy Farsnews). McClatchy says that US military sources suspect a rogue Shiite group of being responsible for the bombing, speculating that the blast may have […]

Two bombings near a university in Baghdad killed 2 and wounded 23 persons on Monday. 3 GIs were announced killed on Monday in separate incidents. Some 15 Iraqis were estimated killed in political violence, with 43 wounded. The Sadr Movement says it will not oppose the planned military operation in Amara as long as the […]

Salah al-Ubaidi, a spokesman for the Sadr Movement, says that it will not boycott the fall provincial elections, exactly. The Movement will not run candidates under its own name, but will rather have some Sadrists run on other party lists, and will through support behind independents. This strategy is similar to that of the Muslim […]

A female suicide bomber injured 34 soccer fans and police in the town of Qara Tappah in Diyala Province, 75 miles northeast of Baghdad. The fans had poured into the street after watching Iraq beat China in a sports cafe. Likely this was an attack by a radical Sunni Arab cell on a largely Kurdish […]

First, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki announced that negotiations between Iraq and the Bush administration over a status of forces agreement were at an impasse. He said that the US was asking Iraq to give up too much sovereignty. Earlier this week he had met with Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, who warned him against giving […]

If you liked the Supreme Court’s reinstatement of Habeas Corpus, vote Obama. McCain did not like it and will be in a position to appoint a justice who will vote with the four dissenters. Bush dismissed the ruling as that of only 5 against 4. (Wasn’t that the margin that made him president in 2000?) […]

John McCain says that it isn’t too important when American troops leave Iraq, that the main thing is to ensure there aren’t troop deaths. He said that the US has troops in a lot of places, including South Korea. (Via via Veracifier). Contrast the Arizona senator’s glib comment with reporting about the real Iraq: ‘ […]

The narrative of the American Right about Iraq is that Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki is finally in control, that the Iraqi armed forces are performing well, and that in short things are now going swimmingly. This narrative is a variation on the “Good News” story that the Bush administration has used all along to propagandize […]

A BBC investigation concludes that as much as $24 billion has gone missing in Iraq, and much of it may have been embezzled by private companies and corporations brought there by Bush: ‘ For the first time, the extent to which some private contractors have profited from the conflict and rebuilding has been researched by […]