Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – In a dramatic signal that the Arab Gulf nations have completely lost faith in the American security umbrella, on Wednesday […]
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Mahdi Army Stands Firm in its Basra Neighborhoods; Demonstrations in Baghdad against al-Maliki
People are asking me the significance of the fighting going on in Basra and elsewhere. My reading is that the US faced a dilemma in […]
Dozens Dead in Basra Clashes; Mahdi Army Occupies Kut
There was heavy fighting Wednesday and Thursday morning in the Jumhuriya district of the southern oil port of Basra. That is a stronghold of the […]
Cole on Lehrer News Hour
I’ll be on the Lehrer News Hour, PBS, Wednesday evening March 26.
Sadrists clash with Iraqi, US forces in Basra; Curfews in Shiite cities
The truce between the Mahdi Army and the US military has broken down, putting a question mark over the future of the ‘surge’. Al-Zaman reports […]
Frontline on the Iraq War
Don’t miss part II of Frontline’s (PBS) special on the Iraq War tonight. Part I, aired last night, is or will be available in streaming […]
Sadrists’ Civil Disobedience Campaign
On Tuesday morning, major clashes broke out between government security forces and local Basra militias (including the Mahdi Army) that sent black smoke billowing in […]
Problems in Firefox with Text Blanked Out
Some readers have complained that occasionally postings are partially obscured when viewed with the Firefox browser. I haven’t seen this effect in Firefox myself, so […]
4,000 US Troops Dead; Nearly 60 Dead in Iraq Attacks; Sadrists Threaten General Strike
All hell broke loose again in Iraq on Sunday, with political violence killing nearly 60 persons according to official statistics. A roadside bomb killed 4 […]
Unger: The Iraq War was a Conspiracy
Craig Unger’s email, part of an interchange on a private discussion group, is reprinted here with permission: [A critic, let us call him X, objected] […]
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