Middle East

Buyukanit Implies US Soft on Terrorism Major engagement near Baquba kills Dozens Iraqi Parliament fails to Reach Quorum Al-Hayat reports in Arabic that the Iraqi parliament was unable to reach a quorum on Wednesday. As a result, it postponed discussion of pending legislation, including bills on petroleum, on the distribution of petroleum receipts, and on […]

Al-Maliki plans Overhaul of his Government 18 Dead in Bombing of Shiite Market Aljazeera Arabic is showing clips of a speech by PM Nuri al-Maliki of Iraq in which he is promising a radical set of changes in his government, so as to make it less ‘sectarian.’ Al-Sharq al-Awsat writing in Arabic says that the […]

US Air Raid on Diwaniya Allegedly Kills 10 Civilians 6 US Troops Killed Iran Denies US Charges of Covert Ops in Iraq 6 US soldiers were announced killed on Monday in Iraq. They were all killed in Sunni Arab areas. Militiamen in the southern Shiite city of Diwaniya, probably tied to the Mahdi Army, launched […]

Al-Maliki Calls for Provincial Elections MP Janabi defects to Guerrillas Sadrists Reject new Parliamentary bloc Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki is calling for provincial elections to be held in Iraq by the fall of 2007. This step would be significant because Sunni Arabs boycotted the last round of provincial elections, in late January, 2005. As a […]

Maliki Condemns US Raid on Sadr City 77% of Americans Say Iraq War going Badly 77% of Americans say that the Iraq War is going badly, and 66% say we should get the troops out, in a recent CBS news poll. It shows a dramatic 7% rise since last April in the proportion who want […]

Talabani and Ahmadinejad Buddy Around This video of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani visiting Tehran last week and hanging around gleefully with Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad raises many questions: Didn’t Bush say to Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, “We’re proud to call you, friend, Mr. President, and proud to have you as an ally in the war […]

Mika: Iraq is More Important Bravo Mika Brzezinski, the anchor who refused to read a story about the release from jail of socialite Paris Hilton as the lede on her MSNBC news program. Click in the middle of the video to play.

Sunni Bloc Pulls out of Government US Raids Sadr City, Kills 26 Talabani Slams Arab Neighbors Early Saturday morning, US forces raided into Shiite Sadr City, presumably challenging Mahdi Army commanders. They killed 26 in the course of the action. The Mahdi Army is loyal to Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who calls for a quick […]

Hacking Muqtada The USG Open Source Center reports on the hacking of the Sadr Movement’s website and its hijacking for anti-Shiite polemics. Cyberwar as part of the Iraq War is nothing new, as I noted in this column last February. The sectarian civil war in Iraq is being fought at every level, from poisoned watermelons […]