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Hariri Murder Provokes Political Split The family of slain former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri refused to allow members of the government of President Lahoud to attend his massive funeral in Beirut on Wednesday. The family was flanked by Walid Jumblatt, the Druze leader, and Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir. In the meantime, angry Sunni […]

Jaafari Takes lead Reuters is reporting that Ibrahim Jaafari is emerging as the frontrunner in the negotiations for prime minister. Jaafari opposed the US military assault on Fallujah, telling UPI: ‘ I believe that it is necessary to deal politically with what is happening in Fallujah because it is the best solution to end military […]

Guerrillas Kill US Soldier The CBC reports that ” Roadside bombs killed a U.S. soldier and three Iraqi National Guard troops Monday and officials said insurgents blew up an oil pipeline near Kirkuk and killed two senior police officers in Baghdad. Political leaders, meanwhile, sized up their positions in a new government. “ [Was swamped […]

Hariri Killed in Huge Car Bombing in Beirut Echoes of the bad old days reverberated through Beirut Monday when a powerful car bomb was detonated in front of the St. Georges Hotel, killing former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq al-Hariri and several others, and wounding dozens. Surrounding buildings took significant damage. A shadowy and previously unknown […]

Shiites Take Absolute Majority in Parliament Iran Scores Victory in the Iraqi Elections Lebanese Broadcasting Co.’s satellite television news is reporting that the United Iraqi Alliance (UIA), comprising Shiite religious parties, has won an absolute majority (141 seats) after adjustments were made in accordance with electoral procedure. Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, the list leader, expressed his […]

AMS on its Role in Forcing Elections Thanks to Gilbert Ashcar for kindly sharing and permitting the reprinting of his translation of this recent article from al-Hayat, which is revealing of attitudes in the Sunni fundamentalist group, the Association of Muslim Scholars. Al-Kubaisi to “Al-Hayat”: The Resistance Forced the Americans to Form the Governing Council […]

Committee to Protect Bloggers The Committee to Protect Bloggers is proposing a special campaign for imprisoned Iranian bloggers on Tuesday, February 22. This is a great idea.

Platform of the Al-Hakims The leader of the United Iraqi Alliance, which is likely to have a majority of seats in parliament when the smoke clears, is Abdul Aziz al-Hakim. He is the successor and younger brother of Muhammad Baqir al-Hakim (assassinated August 29, 2003). This is the program announced by the latter on his […]

Distribution of Seats in Iraqi Parliament Al-Hayat [Arabic link] has printed the number of seats won by all the small parties in the Iraqi elections. The total number of seats is 275. What it shows is that the religious Shiites easily have a majority if they pull in a few small parties. I count 6 […]