Middle East

CRS Reports on Iraq Online A kind analyst wrote: “FAS uncovered a bunch of recent CRS reports on Iraq. FYI. CRS REPORTS ON IRAQ The Congressional Research Service has produced several newly updated reports on Iraq for congressional consumption. CRS does not make its publications freely available to the public, but the following reports were […]

FELLOWSHIPS FOR THREATENED SCHOLARS FROM IRAQ – CALL FOR APPLICATIONS Iraq Scholar Rescue Project The Institute of International Education’s Scholar Rescue Fund (SRF) has received special funding for the Iraq Scholar Rescue Project to provide fellowships to scholars in Iraq whose lives and work are threatened. The Fund is currently seeking applications from suitable candidates […]

Iraqi Parliament Adjourns ASEAN Calls for US Withdrawal from Iraq Iraq’s parliament went on a one-month hiatus Tuesday afternoon, having not passed any significant legislation. Bush had outlined 4 ‘benchmarks’ last January that the Iraqi government needed to meet by June. These were passage of a petroleum law, passage of a law specifying distribution of […]

A third of Iraqi Children Malnourished Baghdad Neighborhoods Emptied by Snipers Skepticism on Gates-Rice Mission The aid organization Oxfam estimates that a third of Iraqis, about 8 million persons, are in urgent need of aid, lacking potable water and in many instances even food to eat. The BBC summarizes: ‘ Nearly 30% of children are […]

Basra Governor Dismissed Fadhila Brands al-Maliki Gov. “the New Baath” Sunnis Complain about “Threats” The Sunni Arab bloc in parliament, the Iraqi Accord Front, traded insults on Saturday with the al-Maliki government. In the wake of its suspension of participation in the government on Wednesday, al-Maliki’s spokesman, Ali Dabbagh made a statement that the Sunnis […]

Mayberry Testimony on Kidnapping of Workers for US Embassy Baghdad I mentioned story the other day briefly about allegations that the Kuwaiti contracting firm building the US embassy in Baghdad has Shanghaied workers, bringing them to the Middle East under false pretences and depriving them of their passports– In essence, of kidnapping them. The video […]

Al-Maliki Tensions Said Severe with Petraeus; US Raid in Karbala Steven R. Hurst and Qassim Abdul-Zahra of the Associated Press get the scoop that relations between Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and US Gen. David Petraeus are so tense that aides to al-Maliki say he has considered asking Washington to pull the general out of Baghdad. […]