It is a perfect time for the Israeli government to commit a war crime on the miserable civilians of the Gaza Strip. The US primary season has created a news blackout on US television about foreign news (apparently the public of the world’s sole superpower is not estimated by corporate news executives to be able […]
Iraq is Still a Bad Bargain
Andrew Bacevich eviscerates the Iraq War party with this passionate and clear-sighted essay on ‘the Surge to Nowhere’ in WaPo. He points out that the real motivation behind last year’s troop escalation was to avoid popular outrage building in the US electorate to the point where the troops were pulled out. He observes that the […]
US Soldier Killed; 21 Dead in Ashura Violence; OSC: Messianic Cult Expected Appearance of Promised One
Another US soldier was killed on Saturday, bringing January’s total to 23 — already as much as in all of December. Street battles and machine gun fire rang out for a second day in Basra and Nasiriya as Iraqi security forces battled Supporters of the Promised One, a Shiite cult that is now reported to […]
Saturday Reading
As Clinton and Romney win the Nevada primaries, Justin Elliot asks at Mother Jones why the leading candidates don’t have more to say about crucial Middle East policy, including Israel-Palestine issues. The new issue of Arab Media and Society is available online. It is an exciting journal, and this crop of articles is especially germane […]
80 Dead in Clashes with Millenarian Cult; Sadrists threaten to end Freeze on JAM; Al-Hakim Criticizes al-Maliki
The instability of the Iraqi south was on display Friday, as a doomsday cult attacked police and religious mourners on the eve of Ashura’, the holiest day of the Shiite Islamic calendar. The clashes in Basra and Nasiriya left at least 80 dead and 90 wounded according to the LAT. The cities were under curfew […]
Wave of Killing of Women;
Al-Zaman reports in Arabic that women activists on Thursday organized a conference in Baghdad to protest the increasing problem of women being targeted for killing, especially by religious militias. They said that more than 100 women have been killed in Basra, 250 in Kirkuk province, and 50 in Diyala. McClatchy reports on Shiite hopes that […]
Basra Police Chief Denies Iran Mischief in Iraq
The USG Open Source Center translates an interview with the police chief of Basra, Staff Maj-Gen. Abdul Jalil Khalaf. Therein, Khalaf denies that Iran is playing a negative role and stirring turmoil in the southern port city of 1.5 million. Khalaf was appointed by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki about six months ago. He is therefore […]
3 US Troops Killed; Bomber Kills 9; US Bombing Raids Up 5 Times
In the small town of Khan Bani Saad in Diyala Province east of Baghdad, a woman suicide bomber killed 9 Shiites and wounded 15 at a market just before a major religious holiday. Meanwhile, in nearby Salahuddin Province, guerrillas deployed small arms fire to kill 3 US troops: ‘ SALAHUDDIN PROVINCE – Three U.S. soldiers […]
Lebanese Press on Bush’s Middle East Tour
See Charles Smith’s important comments on Bush’s Arab-Israeli diplomacy at our Global Affairs group blog. The USG Open Source Center translates excerpts from opinion pieces in the Lebanese press concerning Bush’s visit to the Middle East (he did not visit Beirut, where politics is so polarized that parliament has been unable to elect a new […]
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