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Iran: Will it or Won’t It? AP reports that Iran will attend the meeting of Iraq’s neighbors with the US to be held later this month in Baghdad. There had earlier been some question whether Iran would attend if the US was coming. Hans Blix, the former UN weapons inspector, has spoken out against Bush […]

Helman Guest Editorial: Regional Conference with Iran Ambassador Gerald B. Helman writes: “In the weeks ahead, the Administration likely will try to play down the importance of its agreement to participate in a regional conference on Iraq. The decision was announced by Secretary Rice at the tag end of her testimony February 27 to the […]

Very Basic Suggested Reading List on Middle East* Berkey, Jonathan P. The Formation of Islam: Religion and Society in the Near East, 600-1800. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002. Cleveland, William L. A History of the Modern Middle East. 3rd edn. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 2004. Dodge, Toby. Inventing Iraq : the failure of nation-building and […]

Iraqi Vice President Accuses High Official The Shiite Vice President, Adil Abdul Mahdi of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, has accused a high ministry official of attempting to kill him in a bombing on Monday. The deputy Minister of Labor, Ghazi al-Anbari, died in the blast, along with 10 others. The Bush […]

4 US GIs killed Army of Heaven Cult Arrested A suicide bomber killed 7 in Mosul and wounded 28 at a police station. Reuters reports political violence in Iraq on Tuesday. Guerrillas killed 3 US GIs north of Baghdad, and Shiite militiamen killed a fourth down at Diwaniyah. In Baghdad there were several bombings, one […]

Suicide Bomber Kills 20 at Bagram with Cheney inside A suicide bomber killed 18-20 persons at the entrance to Bagram Base in Kabul while US Vice President Dick Cheney was on the premises. The vice president was unharmed. I guess violence in Afghanistan is in its last throes, too.

Al Gore, Global Warming, the Oscars and the Iraq War That the Al Gore film “An Inconvenient Truth” was legitimized by an Oscar Sunday night for “Best Documentary” has wider implications for the future of the United States than it might seem, though admittedly it is a small step. We know that Exxon Mobil is […]

University Bombing Casts Doubt on Security Plan Muqtada Calls on Iraqi Army to Act without US Help A suicide bomber with a bomb belt got into the lobby of the School of Administration and Economy of Mustansiriya University in Baghdad and managed to set it off despite being spotted at the last minute by university […]

American Jews, Blacks, Fiercest Opponents of Iraq War 77% of American Jews oppose the Iraq war, according to a new Gallup poll. Only Black Protestants are more opposed, at 78%. (Given that the Pope and the bishops oppose the Iraq War, you’d think Catholics would be against it in large numbers, too. But only 28% […]