Archives for May 2004

Martin and Malcolm, Chalabi and Muqtada An informed Iraqi Shiite writes: ” 1.Chalabi is setting himself up to be Martin Luther King to Muqtada’s Malcolm X. I predict he will head to Najaf soon to mediate. “2. You are absolutely right: Muqtada has won, and alive or dead the movement he has sponsored will keep […]

Martin and Malcolm, Chalabi and Muqtada An informed Iraqi Shiite writes: ” 1.Chalabi is setting himself up to be Martin Luther King to Muqtada’s Malcolm X. I predict he will head to Najaf soon to mediate. “2. You are absolutely right: Muqtada has won, and alive or dead the movement he has sponsored will keep […]

Chalabi’s House Raided; He is Suspended from the Interim Governing Council Ahmad Chalabi’s house was raided in Baghdad by US troops on orders of an Iraqi judge. He is said to have been suspended from the Interim Governing Council, though he maintains that Ghazi al-Yawer, the current president of the IGC, has called him to […]

Chalabi’s House Raided; He is Suspended from the Interim Governing Council Ahmad Chalabi’s house was raided in Baghdad by US troops on orders of an Iraqi judge. He is said to have been suspended from the Interim Governing Council, though he maintains that Ghazi al-Yawer, the current president of the IGC, has called him to […]

Rockets Fired at Italian Base News from Italy about Iraq via a kind reader there: Drawing on ANSA News agency (Rome): “Two rockets (NB: Italian journalists aren’t very precise with military terminology, you never know what really was fired) exploded today at dawn inside the “Tallil” base near Nassiriya, where most of the Italian contingent […]

Rockets Fired at Italian Base News from Italy about Iraq via a kind reader there: Drawing on ANSA News agency (Rome): “Two rockets (NB: Italian journalists aren’t very precise with military terminology, you never know what really was fired) exploded today at dawn inside the “Tallil” base near Nassiriya, where most of the Italian contingent […]

Wolfowitz and the Marsh Arabs Mickey Kaus responds to my explanation (below) of my view of the relative authority of Muqtada al-Sadr and Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani. He says, however, that I compared Wolfowitz to Saddam and that I was in his view too “shrill” to be “completely reliable” as a result. But this is […]

Wolfowitz and the Marsh Arabs Mickey Kaus responds to my explanation (below) of my view of the relative authority of Muqtada al-Sadr and Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani. He says, however, that I compared Wolfowitz to Saddam and that I was in his view too “shrill” to be “completely reliable” as a result. But this is […]

US War Planes Kill 40 Iraqis Near the Syrian Border The NYT report on the US helicopter gunship attack that killed 40 Iraqis, including 15 children and 10 women is typical of reporting on this incident in showing puzzlement at what actually happened. The US military claims that they were hitting arms smugglers coming across […]