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The USG Open Source Center translates an interview with Shiite clerical leader Muqtada al-Sadr, broadcast in Arabic into Iraq by the Iranian al-Alam satellite television channel, which is widely watched by Iraqi Shiites. Coming on the eve of the election, the interview seems aimed at helping al-Sadr’s National Iraqi Alliance, which groups several Shiite religious […]

In an apparent bid to divide Shiites and Sunnis on the eve of Sunday’s parliamentary election, guerrillas on Saturday morning set off a bomb only 900 feet from the shrine of Imam Ali (which has the sort of place in the hearts of Shiite Muslims that the Basilica of St. Peter in Rome has for […]

The USG Open Source Center translates a guide to the main party coalitions in the March 7 elections in Iraq Report Lists Main Iraqi Alliances Contesting Parliamentary ElectionsUnattributed report: “List of [Iraqi] Political Alliances Before 2010 Elections”Al-Hayah OnlineFriday, March 5, 2010 Document Type: OSC Translated Text Baghdad, Al-Hayah – . . . The [Iraqi National […]

Iraq’s campaign season will come to an end Friday evening, in preparation for the voting on Sunday. But a special vote was held Thursday for certain groups, such as the military, which was marred by three bombings that left 14 persons dead. Voting begins today, Friday, among Iraqi expatriates in Jordan, Syria and 14 other […]

The invented Republican/ Foxy News talking point du jour is that the Democrats intend to ‘ram health care reform down our throats’ even though ‘the American people don’t want it.’ Bzzz. That’s just wrong! First of all, when there is a landslide triumph for a party as there was in November, 2008, for the victor […]

The revision thing: A history of the Iraq war, told entirely in lies—By Sam Smith (Harper's Magazine) Or, a preview of the Rove, Bush & Cheney memoirs. End/ (Not Continued)

Al-Sharq al-Awsat says that it has gotten hold of an American intelligence document detailing undue Iranian influence in Iraq and in the Iraqi elections. The document says that Ahmad Chalabi and Ali al-Lami, influential members of the ‘Jusice and Accountability Committee’ in charge of purging Baathists from public life, met repeatedly with Iranian officials last […]

On Wednesday morning, three suicide bombers attacked the HQ of the provincial government, a police station, and a hospital in Baquba, the capital of Diyala Province east of Baghdad, killing at least 16 persons and wounding over 40. (The report of the explosion at the government building comes via Aljazeera Arabic.) The attack was probably […]

The public affairs office of the US Embassy in London put out this Spot Report via its Media Outreach Center -London Hub March 2, 2010. The interview with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, now campaigning for his political survival, challenges the assertion of US military commander Ray Odierno that US combat troops could or would […]