Middle East

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. […]

EPIC News Release: Responsibility to Iraqi Refugees Act The Education for Peace in Iraq Center sent this news release on an important bill that is in danger of languishing in Congress: “On June 14th, when we began building support for Congressman Blumenauer’s Responsibility to Iraqi Refugees Act of 2007 (H.R. 2265), only 14 representatives had […]

8 US Troops Killed 100 Casualties in Karrada Bombing KRG MP: US oil Interests driving Iraqi Legislation It was announced Thursday that Iraqi guerrillas had killed 7 US soldiers. The Daily Times say 8 died from Tuesday to Thursday. Among other violence against Iraqis, guerrillas detonated a massive car bomb in Central Baghdad that killed […]

Bombings Kill dozens in Street Crowds Sunni Arabs threaten withdrawal from Parliament Iraqis were unified for a brief period on Wednesday as they came out in the streets from the north of the country to its south, from Irbil to Baghdad to Basra, to celebrate the country’s soccer (football) victory in the Asian Cup. People […]

US-Iran Alliance Against Sunni Guerrillas? US Security Plan Envisages Troop Presence to 2009 The headlines will probably concentrate on the shouting match between US Ambassador Ryan Crocker and Iranian diplomat Hassan Kazemi Qomi at their meeting in Baghdad. Crocker accused the Iranians of giving training and weapons to Shiite militias, some of which ended up […]

Bush Falsehoods about Al-Qaeda in Iraq Bush gave a speech on Tuesday in which he made a large number inaccurate statements. Likely the recent Pentagon and White House practice of referring to all “insurgents” in Iraq as “al-Qaeda” was intended to lead up to this speech. Bush maintained in his speech that the members of […]

Debate Scorecard on Iraq Here is the debate transcript from last night. The candidates basically split into a) those who wanted gradual withdrawal with political arrangements and perhaps some troops left in Iraq; and b) those who wanted an immediate and complete military withdrawal, followed by diplomacy. Biden, Clinton and Obama seemed to be in […]