Shiites

By Juan Cole A series of bombings and shootings left some 35 dead in Iraq on Saturday, following on a massacre of 68 worshipers Friday at a Sunni Mosque in mixed Diyala Province. This violence was strategic, not random. One side effect was a severe setback in the attempt of Haydar al-Abadi, the prime minister […]

Islam

Failed US War on Terror resulted from bizarre search for Moderate Jihadis

contributors

By Patrick Cockburn via Tomdispatch.com [This essay is excerpted from the first chapter of Patrick Cockburn’s new book, The Jihadis Return: ISIS and the New Sunni Uprising, with special thanks to his publisher, OR Books. The first section is a new introduction written for TomDispatch.] There are extraordinary elements in the present U.S. policy in Iraq and Syria that […]

Iraq

In Iraq, it isn’t just about minorities: The “Infidels” attacked by the so-called “Islamic State” include the Sunnis, Too

contributors

By Ali A. Olomi The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has declared war on “kafirs.” According to most observers, this term as ISIS uses it refers to Christians, Yazidi, and Shia Muslims. But this is far more than a conflict that pits Muslim versus Yazidi or Christian, or even Sunni vs Shia. To […]

Featured

Can al-Abadi win over Iraq’s Moderate Sunnis?

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole Arguably, the so-called Islamic State (actually a vicious gang of serial killers) could never have taken over northern and Western Iraq if the largely Sunni Arab populations there had not been deeply alienated from the government in Baghdad by the openly sectarian politics of former Shiite prime minister Nouri al-Maliki. Al-Maliki systematically […]

Featured

The Long Knives Come out in Baghdad

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole The coup-like atmosphere created by Nouri al-Maliki’s stationing of his troops at the Green Zone, checkpoints and bridges in Baghdad on late Sunday backfired on him with Iraq’s parliamentarians. Nearly half of the members of his Islamic Da`wa Party (Islamic Call or Mission Party) in parliament defected from him. Most of the […]

Iraq

Iraq: Tribes and other Sunnis begin Splitting from so-Called “Islamic State”

contributors

By Shalaw Mohammed | Kirkuk | via Niqash.org The Sunni Muslim extremist group that has taken over parts of Iraq recently is dependent on support from locals in the areas it wants to control. Recently one group of locals tried to leave – they wanted open roads, prisoner releases and a truce with their neighbours. […]

Iraq

The Capital of the Caliphate: VICE on the so-called “Islamic State” in Syria & Iraq

contributors

By VICE: “The Islamic State, a hardline Sunni jihadist group that formerly had ties to al Qaeda, has conquered large swathes of Iraq and Syria. Previously known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the group has announced their intention to reestablish the caliphate and declared their leader, the shadowy Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, […]

Christianity

In Orgy of Destruction, IS Radicals reduce Ancient Iraqi Holy Sites To Rubble

contributors

By RFE/RL The Islamic State initially exhibited some restraint after entering northwestern Iraq in June, focusing on establishing control of the territories it held and gaining the trust of local Sunni communities. But as the self-declared caliphate has grown more comfortable in its surroundings, it has revealed its radical aims by destroying anything that conflicts […]

Iraq

Could States Rights & Decentralization Save Iraq?

contributors

niqash | Mustafa Habib | Baghdad | How can a country like Iraq – with its different sects, religions and ethnicities – be governed appropriately? Some are now suggesting that giving all of Iraq’s provinces the powers they were granted by a law amended mid-2013 could be a way out of the current crisis. Local […]