British Prime Minister Gordon Brown pledged on Monday to pull 3,000 British troops out of Basra by March of 2008, leaving only 2500, with those to be withdrawn by the end of that year. Brown’s office says that the drawdown was approved by US Gen. David Petraeus. Military analysts point out that the effective force […]
University of St. Thomas Law School Protests Exclusion of Desmond Tutu
University of St. Thomas Law School faculty weighs in on the refusal of a speaking invitation to Archbishop Desmond Tutu (pacifist, anti-Apartheid activist and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize), on grounds that his criticisms of Israeli policies toward the Palestinians are hurtful to Jewish feelings and therefore anti-Semitic. (See also Colleen Rowley at Huffington). […]
Al-Maliki: Blackwater Guards Murderers Obama Slams Private Security Firms PKK Kills 13 Turkish Troops
According to the NYT, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s office on Sunday accused the Blackwater security company of deliberately murdering civilians. Spokesman Ali Dabbagh said that the private guards should be tried for the crime. Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama has taken the lead in criticizing Blackwater and other private security firms in Iraq. He points […]
Forewarned Is Forearmed: Bush On Iran
Courtesy R. J. Eidelson at YouTube.
Fadlallah: Arab States Should not Allow US to use them Against Iran
The USG Open Source Center summarizes the statements of Lebanese Shiite leader Muhammad Husayn Fadlallah concerning what he sees as an American push to set Arab countries against Iran. Round-up of Middle East Friday Sermons 5 OctMiddle East — OSC SummarySunday, October 7, 2007 . . . At 0738 GMT, the news agency carries a […]
Al-Dhari Calls for Dialogue with al-Qaeda; al-Hakim/ Sadr Pact?
In an interview on Aljazeera on Friday, Shaikh Harith al-Dhari of the Association for Muslims Scholars called on Iraqi tribal fighters to cease attacking “al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia.” He said that 90% of al-Qaeda in Iraq was Iraqi Sunnis and that ways should be found to dialogue and reason with them. He decried the willingness of […]
Iraq Sermons Call for Sunni-Shiite Unity Condemn Biden Plan
The USG Open Source Center translates passages from Friday sermons carried on Iraqi television: Round-up of Iraqi Friday Sermons 5 OctIraq — OSC SummarySaturday, October 6, 2007 . . . Within its 1800 GMT newscast, Baghdad Al-Iraqiyah Television in Arabic – government-sponsored television station, run by the Iraqi Media Network – is observed to carry […]
Sadrists Accuse Badr of Assassinations US Airstrike Kills 25
Al-Hayat reports in Arabic that tensions have heated up in the Shiite South between the Sadr Movement and the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (which maintains the Badr Corps paramilitary). The Sadr movement on Friday accused the Badr Organization of assassinating Sadr leaders. Sadrist MP Ahmad al-Masoudi accused the Badr Organization of having organized militias […]
Iraq: Shiite Bloc Distances Itself from Controversial Biden Resolution
The USG Open Source Center reports on the way that the United Iraqi Alliance, the largest Shiite bloc, led by Abdul Aziz al-Hakim of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, has attempted to distance itself from the Biden-Gelb plan for a soft partition of Iraq. (This attempt at distancing come despite the similarity of the […]
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