Iraq

By Shalaw Mohammed | Kirkuk | (Niqash.org) — NIQASH visits the northern Iraqi town of Kharabaroot, near Kirkuk, which has become the frontline for fighting between Iraqi Kurdish military and extremists from the Islamic State group. The Kurdish forces there come from Iran, Syria and Iraq and because of this, and because of the length […]

Barack Obama

Obama to GOP: More Iran sanctions lead to War (& 7 other Foreign Policy points in SOTU)

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) — President Barack Obama’s State of the Union Address slighted foreign policy in favor of touting domestic progress and proposing new domestic initiatives. But there were some foreign policy highlights worth underlining. 1. Obama pushed back hard against hawks like Senator John McCain, who want to ramp up a […]

Iraq

Iraqi Shiites, Fuming over Slow US Fight against ISIL, threaten to Revoke Agreement

contributors

By Mustafa Habib | Baghdad | (Niqash.org) – Four months have passed since the US began to work with an international alliance to confront the threat of the extremist group, the Islamic State, in Iraq. Yet for many locals, there don’t seem to be any obvious results. The Islamic State, or IS, group still has […]

Iraq

US Mission Creep in Iraq, Part Deux

contributors

By Peter Van Buren | (Tomdispatch.com) — The current American war in Iraq is a struggle in search of a goal. It began in August as a humanitarian intervention, morphed into a campaign to protect Americans in-country, became a plan to defend the Kurds, followed by a full-on crusade to defeat the new Islamic State […]

al-Qaeda

Yes, they’re Condemning the Paris Attacks: The Muslims’ War on Terror

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) — When American commentators like Carl Bernstein complain that Muslim authorities have not sufficiently denounced the terrorist attack on the Charlie Hebdo staff in Paris, they show a profound ignorance of the current situation in the Middle East. The fact is that both governments of Muslim-majority countries and the […]

Iraq

Saudi General, Border Guards Killed by Daesh/ISIL for not being Fanatical Enough

contributors

France24 | — “At 4,30 am 4 men coming from Iraqi territory attacked a border post on the northern frontier of Saudi Arabia. Two of the attackers were killed during the attack, one by gun shot and the second activated his explosive belt killing general Awda al-Balwi, commander of the northern frontier zone, with one […]

Iraq

Iraq has Worst Year since Bush Invaded, is a Ghost of Former Self

contributors

By Mustafa Habib | Baghdad | (Niqash.org) — The past year in Iraq is not easy to review. The assorted crises, both in security and politics, are well known around the world and for many Iraqis it’s been one long nightmare. NIQASH went to gather ordinary Iraqis’ opinions on the year gone by and ended […]

Iraq

Iraq Faces Women’s Crisis: 1 Mn. Widows, Extremist Captives, Child Brides

contributors

By Alaa Latif | Sulaymaniyah | (Niqash.org) Bayan Nouri has a tough job over the next four years – the new Minister for Women’s Affairs in Iraq must try to improve the economic lot of Iraq’s women, prevent systemic domestic violence against females and work on problems like female genital mutilation and underage marriage as […]

Iraq

Iraq: Yezidis return home to find Mass Graves, Daesh/ISIL Massacres

contributors

Euronews | — “Yazidi refugees from the Iraqi village of Hardan returned to their homes for the first time on Tuesday after being driven out by Islamic militants in August. They were hoping to find out what happened to their friends and family who were captured by ISIL. What they discovered confirmed their worst fears: […]