Middle East

The number of attacks in Iraq has increased in recent days, frustrating US military commanders who were hoping a corner had been turned and that violence would steadily be reduced. See below for Wednesday’s violence. Internally displaced Iraqis are finding it increasingly difficult to settle in another province, since provincial authorities do not want the […]

The USG Open Source Center translates Iraqi television reaction to the US Senate vote in favor of a soft partition of Iraq. ‘Roundup of Iraqi TV Channels Coverage of US Senate Resolution on IraqIraq — OSC SummaryWednesday, October 10, 2007 Biladi Television [Shiite Da’wa Party (Islamic Call)] . . . In its 1700 GMT newscast […]

Guerrilla violence left at least 57 dead in Iraq on Tuesday, with 22 killed in two truck bombings in the northern refinery city of Baiji. The violence left nearly 120 wounded. (The attacks in Baiji appear to have targeted a tribal sheikh allied with the US.) Guerrillas set off three major bombs in Baghdad. A […]

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown pledged on Monday to pull 3,000 British troops out of Basra by March of 2008, leaving only 2500, with those to be withdrawn by the end of that year. Brown’s office says that the drawdown was approved by US Gen. David Petraeus. Military analysts point out that the effective force […]

According to the NYT, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s office on Sunday accused the Blackwater security company of deliberately murdering civilians. Spokesman Ali Dabbagh said that the private guards should be tried for the crime. Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama has taken the lead in criticizing Blackwater and other private security firms in Iraq. He points […]

In an interview on Aljazeera on Friday, Shaikh Harith al-Dhari of the Association for Muslims Scholars called on Iraqi tribal fighters to cease attacking “al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia.” He said that 90% of al-Qaeda in Iraq was Iraqi Sunnis and that ways should be found to dialogue and reason with them. He decried the willingness of […]

The USG Open Source Center translates passages from Friday sermons carried on Iraqi television: Round-up of Iraqi Friday Sermons 5 OctIraq — OSC SummarySaturday, October 6, 2007 . . . Within its 1800 GMT newscast, Baghdad Al-Iraqiyah Television in Arabic – government-sponsored television station, run by the Iraqi Media Network – is observed to carry […]

Al-Hayat reports in Arabic that tensions have heated up in the Shiite South between the Sadr Movement and the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (which maintains the Badr Corps paramilitary). The Sadr movement on Friday accused the Badr Organization of assassinating Sadr leaders. Sadrist MP Ahmad al-Masoudi accused the Badr Organization of having organized militias […]