Iraq

By Tareq A. Ramadan | – (Informed Comment) – The fall of Saddam Hussein’s Ba’athist dictatorship in March of 2003 was a cataclysmic political event for the Iraqi state. Sixteen years later, the fallout continues to shape and re-shape its political, religious, social, cultural, judicial, and economic life. Over the years, and as a result […]

Afghanistan

Majority of US Veterans doubt Value of Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria Wars: Pew

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – A Pew Research Center opinion poll conducted among 1,284 veterans who had served since 2001 (which also polled 1,087 American civilians as a control), found that a majority of veterans holds that the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars and the intervention against ISIl in Syria were not worth it. The results […]

Iraq

As Trump heads for Another gotten-up Mideast War, Iraqi Youth stage a 20K-Strong Peace Festival

Tomdispatch

By Laura Gottesdiener | – (Tomdispatch.com) – There’s a dark joke going around Baghdad these days. Noof Assi, a 30-year-old Iraqi peace activist and humanitarian worker, told it to me by phone. Our conversation takes place in late May just after the Trump administration has announced that it would add 1,500 additional U.S. troops to […]

Donald Trump

Mission Accomplished? Could US-Iran Conflict Tear Iraq Apart Again?

Juan Cole

The US did to Iraq in reality what Daenarys Targaryen did to King’s Landing in the fictional Game of Thrones

Iran

Trump had to Sneak into Iraq. Iran’s Rouhani was Welcomed with Open Arms

Middle East Monitor

President Rouhani’s recent visit to Baghdad demonstrates Iran’s increased regional role at the expense of the US

Featured

How Bush’s War on Iraq Produced Trumpism, Instability, Refugees and Climate Catastrophe

Juan Cole

This sort of glib rhetoric was to cost the lives of nearly 5,000 American military personnel and the lives of several hundred thousand Iraqis

Iraq

Grand Ayatollah Sistani Slaps down Trump: You may not use Iraq against its Neighbors

contributors

“Iraq wants balanced relations with neighboring countries, avoiding interfering in their internal affairs or detracting from their sovereignty.”

Donald Trump

Baghdad: Calls to Expel US Troops from Iraq after Trump said They spy on Iran

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Trump’s assertion that he intends to keep US troops in Iraq to spy on Iran has produced a firestorm of protest and controversy in Baghdad. Trump also committed the faux pas of saying the US had constructed an enormous military base in Iraq, which contradicts the Iraqi government’s line that […]

Iraq

Party of Shiite Cleric Muqtada al-Sadr tables Bill to expel US Troops from Iraq

Middle East Monitor

If passed, the bill would require all foreign military deployments — including troops and advisers — to leave the country within one year