Middle East

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 […]

Republican Candidates for Staying the Course; Tal Afar Bombing Kills 25; 60 Bodies found Near Baquba; 190,000 Guns Unaccounted for by Pentagon Republican candidates on Iraq Sunday: “They are making progress, and we are winning on the ground,” said Senator John McCain of Arizona. “We must win. And we will not set a date for […]

Hard of Hearing when it Comes to the Saudis Iraqslogger discovers that the State Department suddenly can’t hear very well when the Saudi foreign minister starts fulminating against ‘foreign interference’ and ‘Occupation’ in Iraq. Plus: Jonathan Steele thinks it is good news that the petroleum bill has stalled out in the Iraqi parliament. And, Cindy […]

Al-Anbar Residents approve of Sunni withdrawal Remember all that reporting about “progress” against “al-Qaeda” in al-Anbar Province? But for Sunni Arab Iraqis to hate the foreign Salafi fighters is not strange, and it says nothing about al-Anbar’s relationship to the Shiite government in Baghdad. al-Hayat writing in Arabic reports that its interviewees in al-Anbar wholeheartedly […]