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More on Marine Mosque Killing Iraqis continued to be furious Wednesday over the shooting by a US marine of a wounded Iraqi fighter in a mosque in Fallujah. Indeed, the Arab press in general expressed horror and outrage. Unlike US news outlets, al-Jazeera and other Arab satellite news stations actually showed the prisoner being shot, […]

Election Boycott Announced Forty-seven Iraqi political parties, including many with a religious base, have announced that they will boycott the planned January elections. They met at the Umm al-Qura mosque in Baghdad under the auspices of the Sunni Association of Muslim Scholars and its allies among Sunni fundamentalists, but they were joined by 8 Shiite […]

Iraqi Press Reaction to Fallujah Mosque Killing Al-Hayat: (trans. J. Cole): “The killing of a wounded Iraqi in a Fallujah mosque by an American Marine and the killing of the Iraqi-British hostage Margaret Hassan epitomize the battle taking place in Iraq. As the American military began its investigation of the marine’s motives, an Islamic group […]

Sistani urges Iraqis to put aside Narrow Interests Al-Hayat, Ja`far al-Ahmar: The battle of Fallujah uncovered some of the fissures, contradictions, and crticisms that had not been admitted by any local, Arab or regional party. The reaction to the American assault on Fallujah has been muted among Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani and other major Shiite […]

Powell’s Resignation Colin Powell’s resignation as secretary of state may be a more important development than meets the eye. It could be argued that he has been so marginalized and ineffective that he might as well resign, and that it makes no difference whether he is in office or not. Powell wanted to devote great […]

Sunni Arab Regions in Flames Heavy fighting continued in Fallujah on Monday, according to Reuters, as some guerrillas there demonstrated that they would fight to the death. Meanwhile, police stations were attacked in Baqubah and Buhriz in the east, and in Suwairah south of Baghdad. The fighting in Baqubah was so heavy that the US […]

Fallujah and the Aftermath In Baiji on Sunday, clashes between US troops and guerrillas left 12 Iraqis dead and 25 wounded. Most Americans do not realize that Fallujah is celebrated in Iraqi history and poetry for its defiance of the British in the Great Rebellion of 1920. The 1920 revolution against the British is key […]

Member of Parliament Assassinated Bombs go off in Baghdad AP rounds up Saturday’s events in Iraq. Explosions went off in Baghdad and at the Green Zone, apparently not far from caretaker Prime Miniter Iyad Allawi. Guerrillas at Mosul detonated a car bomb as an Iraqi national guard unit from Kirkuk went by, injuring seven of […]

Regionalist Model for Iraq Fred Kaplan at Slate discusses the proposal of former Iraqi national security adviser Muwaffaq al-Rubaie for consolidating the 18 Iraqi provinces into 5– one Kurdish, two Sunni Arab, and two Shiite. As Kaplan notes, I myself dislike this idea. It has the advantage of possibly mollifying the Kurds, who really want […]