Middle East

Prince Andrew thinks Bush is weak in the area of British Empire history, and that the stubborn disregard of British experiences and advice is part of the reason for the debacle. The Status of Forces Agreement envisioned by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates will not contain any provision that the US will come to Iraq’s […]

The Bush administration authorized hot pursuit of Iraqi Baathists into Syria and Iran, according to a just-released document at wikileak. The document also reveals that as late as 2005, the US military authorities were still unaware that the “mobile weapons labs” were a Neocon scam and never existed. (Biological weapons labs require a clean room, […]

The Turkish air force bombed 70 targets inside Iraq in Kurdistan, which they allege are bases for the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) guerrilla group. The PKK has killed scores of Turks in recent months, before retreating to safe haven in Iraq. The US military on Monday mistakenly bombed a home in Iskandariya south of Baghdad, […]

Frank Davies of the Mercury News Service challenges the conventional wisdom that Iraq has faded as a campaign issue. He writes: ‘ But as the war nears two grim milestones – five years since the invasion and nearly 4,000 Americans killed – the question of what to do in Iraq is never far below the […]

Tom Ricks of WaPo says that the US military sees itself as fighting 3 wars: 1. The war against Arab volunteers (“al-Qaeda”) 2. The war against Sunni Arab Iraqi dissidents 3. The war against Shiite militias. The officers he talks to feel good about the second war, which they feel has petered out as Sunni […]

Two women set off separate suicide bombs in two markets in Baghdad on Friday, killing at least 91 persons and wounding a similar number. Contrary to what this AP squib implies, the bombings suggest neither that “al-Qaeda” is running out of men nor that it is desperate. Women were used because they would be less […]

People keep asking in puzzlement what Bush expected to get out of his Iraq misadventure. It is the oil, habibi, the oil. Akhbar al-Khalij newspaper is charging that US oil interests offered each Iraqi parliamentarian $5 million to pass the oil and gas law (hat tip to Digby. Steven R. Hurst of AP writes that […]

Ambassador Marc Ginsburg is astonished that John McCain could win in Florida on a platform of a Hundred Years War in Iraq and phony slogans about “victory” that McCain is careful never to define. In my view, McCain’s mantra about “victory” in Iraq is the 2008 equivalent of Nixon having a “secret plan” to end […]

AP reports that: ‘ A bomb exploded at a checkpoint Tuesday in Baghdad, wounding five American soldiers and three civilians, the U.S. military said. Iraqi officials claimed it was a suicide bombing and said two people were killed. The attack occurred just after noon as women were being searched before being allowed to enter a […]