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Election News: No Ayatollahs, no Israelis Al-Hayat: The Iraqi National Accord has lodged a formal complaint with the Iraqi electoral commission against the use by the United Iraqi Alliance of the name and images of Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani in their campaign posters. Sistani sponsored the negotiations that led to the establishment of the coalition […]

Absolutely? Sometimes you have to go to the regional newspapers for the punchy editorials. The Pentagon’s announcement that the search for Iraqi weapons of mass destruction officially ended quietly in late December provokes the Virginia Pilot to observe, “And America is left with a seemingly endless war in Iraq, but without a rationale for it.” […]

Falling like Flies 53 Iraqi Parties Withdraw from Elections Xinhuanet reports that: ‘ According to the Al Furat newspaper, 53 political parties and organizations as well as 30 individuals have asked their names to be dropped from the election lists in a bid to show their rejection of elections under US occupation. ‘ There had […]

Pressman: Implications of Abu Mazen Jeremy Pressman of the University of Connecticut Political Science Department shares his thoughts in a guest editorial on the victory of Mahmud Abbas in the Palestinian elections last Sunday Implications for the Middle East of Mahmud Abbas’s Victory Jeremy Pressman With Mahmud Abbas’s clear victory in Sunday’s Palestinian presidential elections, […]

The Third Baath Coup? If, as I have argued, the Baathists along with some Salafi (Sunni fundamentalist) allies are behind the guerrilla war, what do they want? They want to drive the Americans out of Iraq and make a third Baath coup, putting the Shiite genie back in its bottle and restoring Sunni Arab primacy. […]

Allawi: “Pockets” Will not be Able to Vote Michael Georgy of the Scotsman reports from Baghdad that interim Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi admitted on Tuesday that “pockets” of Iraq won’t be able to vote on January 30 because of poor security. I suspect the pockets amount to about 3 million persons. Georgy also says […]

US Soldier Killed in Samarra, 15 Iraqis Killed Guerrillas set off a car bomb at the police station in Tikrit Monday, killing 6 policemen and wounding between 8 and 12. Tikrit is Saddam Hussein’s home town. Near Yusufiyah, guerrillas detonated a roadside bomb as a US convoy was passing, followed by a civilian minibus. The […]

Electoral Lists A kind person in Baghdad sent me this. It is a translation of an official announcement from last month, which appeared in a Kuwaiti newspaper. It is a complete listing of the parties, coalitions and individuals that are contesting the January 30 elections. (Note that the Iraqi Islamic Party has since withdrawn). Note […]

US Rejects Sunni Demand for Withdrawal Timetable 2 US troops Killed, along with Baghdad Deputy Police Commissioner and Iraqi Police, Guards The US rejected on Monday a proposal from the Sunni Association of Muslims Scholars that the US declare a timetable for withdrawal of its troops from Iraq, in return for which the AMS would […]