This is the second in a series of letters written this week from Iran by University of Minnesota Professor William Beeman. Since Americans hear so little directly from that country in their media, I thought it was worth sharing, and Bill kindly agreed to let me do so.. — Juan . Dear Friends… Two other […]
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Iraq
McCain Plays Politics with Obama’s Iraq Withdrawal
Senator John McCain (R-AZ) played shameless politics during a hearing on Tuesday on the US withdrawal from Iraq. McCain more or less called Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta a liar to his face when Panetta explained that negotiations with the Iraqi government to keep some US troops in that country faltered on the issue of […]
Newt’s new Crusade against the Arab Spring
Newt Gingrich’s poll numbers and fund-raising have improved recently, as the GOP faithful continue their quest for an ABM (not anti-ballistic missile but “Anyone but Mitt”). Gingrich in turn has begun trying out talking points again, which is good for pundits and stand-up comedians, but bad for everyone else. In his most recent foray on […]
Would Obama Greenlight an Israeli Attack on Iran?
The Israeli press notes that Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and maverick Defense Minister Ehud Barak have been talking up a possible Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear enrichment facilities. No one knows if the two are just trying to create a threatening environment for Iran, in hopes of intimidating Tehran on a range of issues, […]
Islamic Law not a problem in Bush’s Afghanistan & Iraq, but a Problem in Libya?
George W. Bush said of Iraq and Afghanistan,, “I’d like to be a president [known] as somebody who liberated 50 million people…” The 2004 Constitution of Afghanistan [pdf], drafted and passed under the rule of George W. Bush in that country, makes Islam the religion of state and forbids any law that contravenes the sharia […]
US out of Iraq, but Peace remains Elusive
The Iraq War is over except for the packing, President Obama announced on Friday. He held out hope that the US would be at peace for the first time since 2001 in the coming years. The Libya war is ending, and US troops will steadily come out of Afghanistan through 2014. Alas, the peace will […]
Turkey Goes into Iraq after Kurdish Attack
Many catastrophes ensued from George W. Bush’s 2003 invasion of Iraq (launched in order to, he told an astonished and puzzled Jacques Chirac, then French president, thwart the biblical monsters Gog and Magog in the Middle East ahead of the Judgment Day.) Among them was a revival of the Kurdistan Workers Party guerrilla group (Turkish […]
This is the Way the Iraq War Ends, with Bangs and Whimpers
The Associated Press is reporting that its sources in the Obama administration are admitting that all US troops will have to leave Iraq by 31 December, in accordance with the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) negotiated between George W. Bush and the Iraqi parliament. The US embassy in Baghdad announced the US Air Force has […]
Iraq Denies calling for Syrian President’s Resignation
According to Agence France Presse’s Arabic service, Ali Moussawi, the spokesman for the office of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, is now denying that he told the New York Times that the Iraqi government had repeatedly suggested to Syrian President Bashar al-Asad that he resign. He gave a similar interview denying the remarks to a Kurdish […]
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