Middle East

Cole in Salon on the Surge My column at Salon.com on Senator Lugar’s revolt over the Iraq surge is now available online. Excerpt: ‘ June 28, 2007 | Earlier this week Sen. Richard Lugar, the senior Republican from Indiana, dismissed the U.S. “surge” in Iraq as unlikely to succeed. He condemned any illusions about staying […]

Sunni Minister Arrested for Alleged Hit; Khamenei Pledges Security Cooperation to Talabani Iraqi troops sought on Tuesday to arrest a serving cabinet minister in the Iraqi government on charges of having ordered a hit on a sitting parliamentarian! Culture Minister As`ad Kamal al-Hashimi was fingered by two guerrillas in US captivity as the one who […]

16 Bodies found in Baghdad Anbar Tribal Model Questioned The ‘Anbar Model’ of arming Sunni tribespeople to fight religious extremists is being queried by many experts. Sawt al-Iraq reports in Arabic that the Da`wa Party, the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, and the Kurdistan Alliance, have made a new compact, in an attempt to support Prime […]

Jihadi Groups fighting in Diyala The USG Open Source Center translates an account of Jihadi groups fighting in Buhriz, a town of Diyala province. The account demonstrates how complex the groups are, that are being lumped together by the press as “al-Qaeda.” The Islamic State of Iraq is usually described as a front for ‘al-Qaeda,’ […]

Baquba Can’t be Held by Iraq Troops: Bednarak This AP story made me angry. I admire a straight shooter, so I am glad that Brig. Gen. Mick Bednarak admitted to AP that the Iraqi Army is not up to actually holding the neighborhoods in Baquba that US troops recently cleared, in hard fighting, of Salafi […]

Pro-US Tribal Sheikhs Attacked at Mansur Hotel Beiji Police Station Blown UP The guerrillas are at it again on Monday morning. They detonated a bomb in the lobby of the al-Mansur Hotel during a meeting of tribal sheikhs, killing 12. Presumably these were leaders who had decided to fight the Salafi Jihadis or extremist Sunnis. […]

Al-Maliki Under Onslaught from Security Failures VP Abdul Mahdi threatens to Resign Parliament extends Work One Month Mahdi Army Rallies Roil Najaf Al-Hayat writing in Arabic says that PM Nuri al-Maliki has been exposed to vehement criticism from his own bloc (the Shiite United Iraqi Alliance) for his inability to provide security, and especially his […]

7 US Troops Killed on Saturday Turks March in Istanbul Against PKK Iraqi guerrillas killed 7 US troops on Saturday. Reuters reports political violence in Iraq on Saturday. Police found 11 bodies in Baghdad on Friday. Excerpts: ‘ HILLA – A car bomb killed two people and wounded 18 in the Shi’ite city of Hilla, […]

Iraqi Bill Clarification The lede below on the Kurdish Baghdad deal on distribution of petroleum receipts contains some inaccuracies, according to Ben Lando of UPI. Apparently the deal is not about the petroleum bill but about distribution of profits. Will link when I can. This is by treo on the side of a mountain in […]