Middle East

Bush Vetoes Supplemental for Iraq Rice will be Polite 11 Killed in Minibus attack Bush vetoed the supplemental appropriations bill for Iraq that Congress sent him on May 1. You know, Bush and Cheney and others got this meme going last fall that critics of the war had a responsibility to put forward their own […]

Mission Accomplished, 4 Years on: A Commentary in Links Remarks by President Bush announcing the end of major combat operations in Iraq Thursday evening [May 1, 2003] from the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln: Admiral Kelly, Captain Card, officers and sailors of the USS Abraham Lincoln, my fellow Americans: Major combat operations in Iraq […]

3,000 Sadrists Protest US Raid 32 Killed in Funeral Bombing Some 3,000 Iraqis came out Monday in Baghdad to protest US military action against the Mahdi Army at Kadhimiya, the site of revered shrine to the 7th Imam or descendant of the Prophet Muhammad. Members of the Iraq parliament as a result want to restrict […]

Touchy, Touchy Terrorists The USG Open Source Center summarizes an internet comment by a supporter of the Salafi “Islamic State of Iraq,” in which he lashes out at the criticism of the organization posted by someone he says is a Baathist. Some call The Islamic State in Iraq “al-Qaeda,” but it doesn’t have operational links […]

25 Killed in Basra Blast; Political Crisis in Basra as Governor is Unseated ; Iran will Attend Sharm El Sheikh Meet On Sunday evening, militiamen set off a bomb that killed 25 and wounded dozens in the poor Hayaniya district in the southern Shiite port city of Basra. Early reports put suspicion on the Mahdi […]

Al-Safi: Al-Maliki Must be PM for All Iraqis The USG Open Source Center summarizes broadcasts of Friday prayers sermons in Iraq last Friday. Note that a representative of Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani upbraided Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki of the Da’wa Party for his tendency to speak mainly of the welfare of the Shiites, urging himm […]

9 US Troops Killed; 60 Killed, 170 Wounded in Karbala; Over 60 Bodies Found; Sadr Admonishes Bush Iraqi guerrillas killed 9 US GIs on Friday and Saturday. Five of them died in active fighting in al-Anbar Province, which doesn’t actually seem to have been turned around yet, unlike what is alleged in some quarters. A […]

Iraq Criticizes Senate Vote; 72 Killed in Violence An Iraq government spokesman has criticized the Senate vote for a withdrawal of troops from Iraq. (I was going to complain about Iraqi interference in US domestic politics. Then I thought, well, it is only fair that they return the favor.) All 8 Democratic presidential contenders support […]

Riverbend join Ranks of Refugees from Iraq Prominent Iraqi blogger Riverbend and her family are at last leaving Iraq. The discussions she reports have happened thousands of times a month among Iraqi families: Since last summer, we had been discussing it more and more. It was only a matter of time before what began as […]