Readers who don’t read blogs on weekends should nevertheless look at my Sunday column on ‘The Real State of Iraq’. Al-Hayat reports in Arabic that the Awakening Councils are afraid they will be discarded by their American sponsors. Abi Abd, formerly a guerilla in the “Islamic Army,” formed the “Knights of Amiriya” in the Sunni […]
Archives for June 2008
The Real State of Iraq
American television loves natural disasters. The Burmese cyclones that may have carried off as many as 200,000 people offered the cameras high drama. The floods in Wisconsin, Iowa and Missouri along the Mississippi River, which have wiped out thousands of homes, have been carefully detailed hour by hour. But American television is little interested in […]
Baradei: Attack on Iran Would Create Fireball in ME;
The American interpretation of a recent Israeli air force exercise as a warning to Iran that it could be bombed caused oil futures prices to rise and the US stock market to drop. In other words, if you’re an American with a pension fund, this stuff cost you money yesterday. International Atomic Energy Agency head […]
Sadrist Condemns ‘Eternal Slavery’ to US; 1 US Troop Killed, 5 Wounded; Bombings in Mosul
An American soldier was killed and five were wounded by roadside bombs on Friday in Diyala Province northeast of Baghdad. Congress passed a $161 bn. budget for the Iraq War, with a bit for Afghanistan in it, but failed to get language about a timetable for troop withdrawal included. If Americans dislike this outcome, they […]
Ahmadinejad: ‘I was Almost Kidnapped by Bush’
The USG Open Source Center translates an article in Tabnak saying that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is alleging that the US had planned to abduct him when he visited Baghdad in March, but that the plan was foiled. Ahmadinejad is also said to have alleged that Bush sought to attack Iran twice recently, but was […]
They’re Baaack; It is Politically Inconvenient to Acknowledge . . .
The consortium of American and European oil companies that had dominated Iraqi petroleum in the twentieth century is returning to Iraq to carry out service agreements aimed at expanding production in four southern oil fields. Jonathan Steele reports, ‘ But the deals, known as service contracts, are unusual, said Greg Mutitt, co-director of Platform, an […]
Doggett Introduces Climate Bill
Climate MATTERS Cap-and-Trade Legislation Introduced Washington, DC – U.S. Representative Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas), announced today that he is introducing the Climate MATTERS Act (Climate Market Auction Trust and Trade Emissions Reduction System) to institute a strong cap-and-trade system designed to reduce greenhouse gas pollution. This is the first such bill to receive primary referral to […]
The Great Torture Scandal
McClatchy and other reporters are abruptly pulling the curtain away from the Bush team’s illegal practices in arresting people arbitrarily, declining to offer proof that they were guilty of anything, detaining them indefinitely without trial or charges, and deliberately torturing them to the extent of leaving long-term scars and disabilities. The torture practices originated not […]
Troops Move in To Amara; Awakening Mounts Party;
Iraqi government troops began fanning through Amara and other towns of Maysan Province in the Shiite South on Thursday morning. Shiite militiamen, having been given three days to put away their heavier weapons, appear to have largely melted away for the time being. There were no reported clashes, and the army did not declare a […]
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