Middle East

Sunni Arab guerrillas deployed an explosively formed projectile (a kind of roadside bomb) against 4 soldiers who had come in a humvee to investigate the sniping death of a fifth soldier. All four were killed. Unfortunately the LA Times calls the guerrillas “al-Qaeda-allied.” This terminology is from the Bush administration lexicon. I very much doubt […]

Militiamen deployed a powerful roadside bomb to kill the governor and police chief of Qadisiya Province, the capital of which is Diwaniya. Gov. Khalil Jalil Hamza, of the Badr Organization and police chief Maj-Gen Khaled Hassan were returning to Diwaniyah from a funeral. This kind of incident is one reason for which I am very […]

The United Nations Security Council voted to get more involve in Iraq on Friday. The increase of staffers involved, however, is minuscule, and the vote is more important for its symbolism than for its likely effective impact. The staffers will have a special charge to help in promoting national reconciliation among Sunnis and Shiites. Some […]

The USG Open Source Center translates two communiques from the Iraqi Baath Party. As long-time readers know, I believe the Baath Party cells are a significant component of what the US calls the ‘insurgency,’ but that they allow Salafi Jihadis to take the ‘credit’ for some of their terror operations. The first memo calls on […]

Cheney Urges Strike on Iran: McClatchy Bush threatens al-Maliki then Backs Off Bombing in Taji Kills 7 Warren P. Strobel, John Walcott and Nancy A. Youssef of McClatchy report that VP Dick Cheney has been urging a military strike on Iran, but that Bush has decided for the moment to hit Shiite allies of Iran […]

Al-Maliki Declines Turkish Treaty on Terrorism Kurdistan Passes Oil Law Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki appears to have been ambushed by Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan on his visit to Ankara, when Erdogan suddenly presented him with a thoroughgoing counter-terrorism treaty to sign, pledging the Iraqi government to go after the PKK (Kurdish Workers Party), which […]

A Surge of Phony Spin on Iraq: Cole in Salon My column is out in Salon.com Tuesday: A surge of phony spin on Iraq Bush’s backers are peddling a sunny view of the president’s strategy — despite Iraq’s political chaos and soaring death counts. excerpts: ‘ The troop escalation was intended to calm down Baghdad […]

122 Dead in Civil War Violence; The Collapse of the al-Maliki Cabinet The cabinet ministers in the al-Maliki government belonging to the National Iraqi List led by Iyad Allawi suspended their participation on Monday. They did not withdraw altogether from the government, just declined to come to meetings. But now some 17 cabinet ministers have […]