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Economic Revival in Basra accompanied by Crime Wave Alisha Ryu argues in a report for the Voice of America that the southern city of Basra’s economic efflorescence, and the more laid-back style of community policing used by British troops, make it a better model for Iraq’s future than US-dominated Baghdad. She is forced to admit, […]

The Trials of Trying Saddam Veteran Middle East journalist Helena Cobban reflects on a host of issues presented by the task of trying Saddam Hussein.

Student Chants in Mosul For those interested in crowd behavior, I note from al-Hayat the chants of student protesters in Mosul below. They are really quite ugly, like something out of the Chinese cultural revolution, but what is clear is the nationalistic undertone to the protests. By now Saddam is just a symbol of defiance […]

Is the Capture of Saddam Bad News for Bush? William Pfaff argues in the International Herald Tribune that there are lots of reasons that Saddam’s capture could be bad news for Bush. It has already enraged and humiliated a lot of Sunni Arabs. It may embolden the Shiite leaders, who no longer fear that Saddam […]

On Point I was on NPR’s On Point Tuesday evening. I was surprised to find the other guests reporting an attitude in the CPA and Washington that Saddam’s capture was the beginning of the end of the low-grade insurgency. There was a sense that now Iraqis would be more willing to turn in Baathists and […]

3 US Soldiers Wounded, 1 Iraqi Policeman Killed and 1 Wounded; 7 Protesters Killed; Demonstrations and Counter-Demonstrations Throughout Iraq Guerrillas set off a roadside bomb in Tikrit, wounding three US soldiers on Tuesday. Some 250 students demonstrated in Tikrit in front of their school. Hundreds of US troops were sent into Tikrit, supported by tanks […]

College Professors in Mosul Strike The professors at Mosul University announced a general strike on Tuesday, demanding an increase in pay. They were protesting that professors in Kurdish institutions of higher learning had been awarded higher pay and more benefits than was the case in the Arabic-speaking areas of Iraq. About 1,000 Mosul students who […]

Saddam May attempt to Implicate US Mark Matthews of the Baltimore Sun points out that Saddam may attempt to implicate Western powers and US political figures during the course of his war crimes trial. (Matthews tells the story of Colin Powell apologizing to the Kurds that no one spoke out about the Baath gas attacks […]

New Political Map of the US: Implication for Elections and Iraq Robert David Sullivan, writing in The Commonwealth, has proposed a new political map of the US based on long-term county-specific voting patterns (there are about 3000 counties in the US), and divides the country into 10 regions on that basis. (Note that the map […]