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Pakistan’s Support for Taliban in 1990s: New Documents The National Security Archives has just published part 3 of the Taliban papers, from the US archives. Document 9 is interesting for the evidence it gives that the Pakistani government under PM Nawaz Sharif was heavily supporting the Taliban financially. It also shows that the Taliban/ al-Qaeda […]

Thousands of Shiites, Sunnis, March Against US in Baghdad Thousands of Shiites and Sunnis demonstrated in Baghdad after Friday prayers. I caught some of the demonstration on CNN, which reported 7,000 demonstrators, and some of them were carrying pictures of Muqtada al-Sadr. Interestingly, the rallies began at the shrine of Imam Musa al-Kazim in Kazimiyah, […]

Garner on Reasons for Delay in Returning Sovereignty to Iraq I can remember in April of 2003 when I complained on an email list about American plans to run Iraq for a while, when I got a protest message from a member of Jay Garner’s staff. Garner, the diplomat said, intended to turn sovereignty over […]

Can Iraq Embrace Democracy? Paul McGeough of the Australian newspaper, The Age wonders thoughtfully whether the US attempt to impose democracy on Iraq will succeed. He writes, ‘ The compound is just across the oozy waters of the Tigris River from downtown Baghdad, a commercial district that, superficially, has much of its old bustle back. […]

Most of them are People who Come from the Area and have certain Sympathies . . . Barbara Ferguson reports that ‘ Major Jewish organizations are lobbying the Senate to approve a bill that would authorize federal monitoring of government-funded Middle East studies programs throughout US universities. ‘ Ori Nir of the Forward gives a […]

Women’s classes at Shiite Mosques Shiite women in Iraq are attending lessons in mosques, according to Ashraf Khalil, writing in Women’s eNews. Khalil does not know it, but there is a long tradition of women’s literacy based on religious classes in Iraq. Elizabeth Fernea discovered literate women actually leading other women in ritual commemorations in […]

Our Oil is Sweet, but They Let the Terrorists Kill Us Newsday reports that 9 more Iraqi civilians were killed in attacks throughout Iraq on Thursday, including four dead at the hotel in Basra and a cameraman for al-Arabiyah satellite television who was killed by US troops by accident. It quotes an Iraqi, ‘ “The […]

Iraq One Year Later: Welcome to the Quagmire My essay “Welcome to the Quagmire” is at Salon.com today.

Attention: Readers of Soldiers of Fortune Magazine Walter Pincus writes for the Washington Post about a new contract being let by the US government for a private mercenary force to guard the Green Zone, the headquarters of the American administration of Iraq in Baghdad. ‘ The threats that the private security force will be asked […]