Iraq

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Baghdad was a ghost town on Saturday,, as security forces fanned out, blocking key roads into the Green Zone, the area downtown, closed off by blast walls, that houses parliament and foreign embassies. On Friday, over a hundred protesters were wounded and at least 2 died […]

Iraq

Baghdad Locals Fear Shiite-On-Shiite Violence As Alliance Fractures

contributors

By Mustafa Habib | Baghdad | (Niqash.org) | – – Protests and suicide bombings have caused tension within the Shiite Muslim alliance that’s been fighting extremists. As neighbourhoods are taken over by militias, locals fear intra-sectarian fighting. Abu Fatima al-Budairi is a member of the powerful Badr Organization, one of the largest Shiite Muslim militias […]

Featured

Baghdad takes Rutba from ISIL: Jordan-Iraq Commercial Route to Reopen

Juan Cole

by Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Iraqi forces have taken Rutba in al-Anbar province, hundreds of kilometers west of the provincial capital, Ramadi, which is also now in government hands (though much of its population is displaced). Only a few dozen Daesh (ISIL, ISIS) forces were in Rutba in the end and […]

Corruption

The Danger Of Dictatorship: How To Replace Iraq’s Flawed Political System?

contributors

By Mustafa Habib | Baghdad | (Niqash.org) | – – Iraq’s Parliament has failed its people. This was the message from protestors last week. But what could possibly replace the flawed system? Each potential solution comes with its own dangers. Protestors left Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone last week, after having spent two days expressing […]

Featured

Baghdad gov’t paralysis made capital vulnerable to massive ISIL bombings

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Daesh (ISIL, ISIS) launched a series of suicide car and truck bombs in Baghdad on Wednesday, killing nearly 100 and wounding nearly 200 persons. Baghdad security had improved over the past couple of years, but the Coalition United for Reform blamed political wrangling on sectarian and […]

Iraq

Why do 93% of Iraqi Youth think the US is their Enemy?

contributors

Dena Takruri | (AJ+ Video Report) | – – “93% of Iraqis see the United States as their enemy – but after a look at recent history, can you blame ’em?” AJ+: “Why Do Young Iraqis Blame The U.S.?”

Featured

The End of American Iraq: Poor Shiites invade Parliament over corrupt Spoils System

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Baghdad is under a state of emergency on Sunday a day after members of the Sadr Trend stormed the Green Zone and invaded the parliament building, briefly imprisoning parliamentarians in the chamber (and some in a basement) before letting them go. Some apparently were beaten as […]

Internet

ISIL to Trapped people of Mosul: No TV or Internet for You!

contributors

Niqash.org | (Mosul) | – – The Islamic State has issued orders banning satellite TV because it spreads false news. They’re also demanding all Internet users’ names to find spies sending information for airstrikes. He began his conversation on Facebook in an unusually serious way. Abdul Hamid*, a man living in Mosul, the northern Iraqi […]

Iraq

Will it ever be ‘Mission Accomplished’? Why Baghdad is Still Insecure

contributors

By Mustafa Habib | (Baghdad) | (Niqash.org) | – – The outskirts of Baghdad are very dangerous these days. Islamic State fighters hide here, mounting attacks on the city. A security barrier is planned but the real issue is intractable. While Baghdad is still the venue for many suicide bombers and car bombs, it is […]