Sayyid Muqtada al-Sadr again called on PM Nuri al-Maliki to decline to sign a Status of Forces Agreement with the US Pentagon. He pledged the support of the Sadr Movement to al-Maliki if he complied with the request. Antiwar.com says,”Thursday: 2 US Soldiers, 20 Iraqis Killed; 21 Iraqis Wounded”. McClatchy rounds up political violence in […]
Pakistani Consulate bombed; NATO Commander in Afghanistan Calls for More Troops; Strikes same Notes as Obama
Bomb blast outside Pakistani consulate at Herat wounds one. Aljazeera International interviews Gen. David McKiernan, who sounds to me just like Barack Obama on Afghanistan– saying that he doesn’t have enough troops in Afghanistan, that the Taliban and al-Qaeda are resurgent, and that the big problem is Taliban sanctuaries in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas […]
Cole in Salon: Why Bush Folded on Iran
My essay why Bush sent a high-level diplomat to meet Iranian negotiators with no preconditions is out in Salon.com. Excerpt: ‘Pundits and diplomats nearly got whiplash from the double take they did when George W. Bush sent the No. 3 man in the State Department to sit at a table on July 19 across from […]
McCain and the Rage Celebrities; Does he Need to go to Rehab?
McCain had pledged to run a clean campaign, but like Mike Tyson when he’s in the mood to munch ear, the Republicans just can’t control themselves. First they tried to blame Barack Obama for the current price of energy, which is actually so high because Republicans have been in Big Oil’s back pocket and in […]
Bhasin:"Situation on the Ground" or Political Convenience? Thoughts on a US Withdrawal from Iraq
Madhavi Bhasin writes in an IC Guest Editorial: The most consistent answer to the differently phrased generic query, “When will the U.S. troops withdraw from Iraq?” is “Will be determined by the situation on the ground and U.S. military’s assessment of it.” Is it really so? Is the U.S. presence in Iraq contingent upon the […]
Diyala Campaign Begins
The al-Maliki government has just launched another of its military offensives against guerrillas, this time in Baquba, the capital of Diyala Province. I am skeptical about these campaigns. They are announced well in advance, allowing the guerrillas to go underground or relocate. Then in Mosul and now in Baquba the campaigns don’t appear to involve […]
Because You aren’t Angry Enough: Found on Reddit
Russia just defeated the US in the race for Central Asian gas. The US bet on a gas pipeline through Taliban territory in Afghanistan and Pakistan to India while trying to sideline Russia and Iran! Putin is rivalling the emir of Kuwait as a fossil fuel master of the universe. The only question is when […]
Pakistani Taliban threaten Suicide Bombings;
Mark LeVine is disturbed by the tendency of Barack Obama and other US politicians to lump the Taliban together with al-Qaeda. The latter, he says is an international terrorist organization. The Taliban in contrast is a “territorially rooted” “ethno-nationalist” movement. Aljazeera International on Mawlana Fazlullah, the number 2 man in the Tehrik-i Taliban or Pakistani […]
Women Bombers Open Gates of Hell in Iraq; 61 Dead, Hundreds Wounded; Kurdish Mobs Attack Turkmen Offices in Kirkuk
Al-Hayat reports in Arabic that four female suicide bombers killed or wounded 350 persons on Monday. Late reports give 61 as the number of those killed. Al-Hayat says the bombings reminded Iraqis of the bad old days when this level of destruction was a common, almost daily occurrence. The bombing of an enormous crowd of […]
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