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Iraq on the Edge

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

The New York Review of Books - By Joost R. Hiltermann - Oct. 29 (Opinion) - For the occasional visitor such as myself, various methods exist to measure America's standing in Iraq, Iraqi suspicions and aspirations, and progress in the transfer of power, but none prove as illuminating as the checkpoints into and throughout Baghdad's Green Zone, that diminishing symbol of the Bush administration's ambitions.

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Obama's foreign policy report card

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Salon - By Juan Cole - Oct. 27 (Opinion) - Why can't the administration of President Barack Obama get the word out about its policy successes? President Obama campaigned on an ambitious platform of withdrawing from Iraq, engaging Iran on its nuclear program and persuading the Pakistani government to take on the Taliban and al-Qaida. Despite the charge by critics from both the right and the left in the wake of his winning the Nobel Peace Prize that he has accomplished little so far, in fact he has already set in motion significant change on several of these fronts -- despite the enormous domestic tasks that have inevitably preoccupied his administration. Yet you'd never hear about these successes from the mainstream media.

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Iraqi searches for brothers in ancient cemetery

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Associated Press - By Sameer N. Yacoub , Bushra Juhi - Oct. 27 (News Report) - Nobody knows just how many Iraqis went missing during the sectarian warfare that tore the country apart. But at least 17,477 unidentified bodies have been found since May 2005, according to an Associated Press tally based on reports from morgue and police officials. That figure is only a minimum. Many Iraqis were afraid to report loved ones missing, and many more people may be buried in still-undiscovered mass grave

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Bombings rock Iraq's political landscape

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Post - By Anthony Shadid - Oct. 26 (News Report) - Twin car bombs that devastated three government buildings and killed 132 people Sunday underlined a new strategy in Iraq's contest for power ahead of January elections: spectacular blows aimed at destroying faith in Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's ability to secure the country as the United States withdraws, officials and residents said.

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Deadly Car Bombs Target Baghdad Government

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Associated Press - Oct. 25 (News Report) - Two powerful car bombs exploded in downtown Baghdad Sunday, killing at least 74 people in an apparent attempt to target the fragile city's government offices, Iraqi authorities said. While violence has dropped dramatically in the country since the height of the sectarian tensions, such bombings like Sunday's demonstrate the precarious nature of the security gains and the insurgency's abilities to still pull off devastating attacks in the heart of what is supposed to be one of Baghdad's most secure areas.

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Red Cross Warns of Complacency in Still-Bloody Iraq

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Reuters - By Mohammed Abbas - Sep. 30 (News Report) - Violence may have fallen sharply in Iraq from the worst days of sectarian killing, but an average monthly death toll of 500 people must not be considered "normal," the International Committee of the Red Cross said.

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Obama’s Dick Cheney Moment

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Post - By Benjamin Wittes - Sep. 28 (Opinion) - His decision not to consult Congress on detentions represents a virtually wholesale adoption of Bush’s failed policies.

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Iran Reveals Existence of Second Uranium Enrichment Plant

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Post - Sep. 25 (News Report) - Iran's acknowledgment of the facility's existence -- and Obama's plans to accuse Tehran of hiding it -- were first reported Friday by the New York Times.

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Why They’re Mad

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Post - By Howard Kurtz - Sep. 22 (Opinion) - Maybe journalists have been asking the wrong question. In probing why a chunk of the country seems so ticked off at Barack Obama, we've explored possible motivations ranging from racism to programmatic concern about the public option. We have examined whether Obama is trying to do too much and whether he's on TV too much. But perhaps the sense of anger and unease is more deep-rooted than that, and not limited to Glenn Beck conservatives.

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Fear was no excuse to condone torture

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Miami Herald - By Charles C. Krulak, Joseph P. Hoar - Sep. 15 (Opinion) - In the fear that followed the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Americans were told that defeating Al Qaeda would require us to ``take off the gloves.'' As a former commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps and a retired commander-in-chief of U.S. Central Command, we knew that was a recipe for disaster. But we never imagined that we would feel duty-bound to publicly denounce a vice president of the United States, a man who has served our country for many years. In light of the irresponsible statements recently made by former Vice President Dick Cheney, however, we feel we must repudiate his dangerous ideas -- and his scare tactics.

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Disappearing Iraq

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Columbia Journalism Review - By Jane Arraf - Sep. 15 (Opinion) - Ah, the happy world of Iraq, as seen through U.S. military press releases. Iraq could be exploding—in fact, parts of it still regularly are—but the press-release view would still be that of policemen graduating, officials cutting ribbons, and grateful citizens leading security forces and their U.S. advisers to weapons caches. The few press releases that do bear any relation to the reality we reporters see on the ground (“Iraqi Special Operations Forces Continue Operations Despite Budget Challenges”) are almost instantly recalled. The regular background briefings and press conferences that once helped put the ongoing violence into context are so last year. In a country with 130,000 U.S. troops fighting a war that still costs tens of billions of dollars a month, the military might as well be invisible. And for the most part, it seems to want it that way.

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Jamal Dajani: 9/11: Good War, Bad War, No War

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Jamal Dajani - Sep. 11 (Opinion) - Eight years have passed since the horrific events of September 11, 2001, and the U.S. government is still waiting to pay the $25 million reward it has offered to anyone who provides information leading to bin Laden's capture. Meanwhile, almost eight

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Another Mysterious Electrocution Death in Iraq

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

The Nation - By Jeremy Scahill - Sep. 09 (News) - Hermanson was not killed by enemy fire or an improvised explosive device or even by "friendly fire." In fact, he died in what is considered to be the safest place in Iraq for Americans--the heavily fortified Green Zone. His body, according to his family, was discovered on the floor of a shower near his quarters at Camp Olympia. It appears that Hermanson was electrocuted.

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US Increasing Personnel in Iraq

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

TruthOut - By Walter Pincus - Sep. 08 (News) - As the United States withdraws its combat forces from Iraq, the government is hiring more private guards to protect U.S. installations at a cost that could near $1 billion, according to the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction.

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Iraqi shoe thrower to be released early

Sat, 29 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Associated Press - By Sinan Salaheddin - Aug. 29 (News Report) - Thousands demonstrated for al-Zeidi's release and hailed his gesture, which came in the waning days of the Bush administration. The incident also embarrassed al-Maliki, who was standing next to Bush at the time

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Why We Believe Lies, Even When We Learn the Truth

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Newsweek - By Sharon Begley - Aug. 26 (Opinion) - The same skewed thinking that supports a Saddam-9/11 link explains the power of health-care myths.

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Iraqi Refugees Find US Life Not What They Expected

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

TruthOut - By Alexandra Zavis - Aug. 24 (News) - Her husband had disappeared in the war. Her request to settle in Jordan had been denied. Now an advisor from the International Organization for Migration was telling her no U.S. firm would recognize her law degree or her nearly two decades of experience.

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The Sheikh Down

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Mother Jones - By Shane Bauer - Aug. 24 (Special Report) - The US military has never admitted to arming militias in Iraq—or giving anything more than $350 a month to Anbari tribesmen to fight alongside Americans against Sunni resistance groups and Al Qaeda. But reconstruction payments, sometimes handed out in shrink-wrapped bundles of $100 bills, have left plenty of extra for the sheikhs to "help themselves as far as security goes," as one Marine officer describes it, or "buy guns," as Eifan's uncle, Sheikh Talib Hasnawi, puts it.

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Behind the Carnage in Baghdad

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Post - By David Ignatius - Aug. 24 (News Analysis) - Without the U.S. as a backstop, the country is vulnerable to pressure from Iran.

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Foreign Minister Says Security Forces May Have Been Involved in Bombing

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Post - By Zaid Sabah - Aug. 23 (News Report) - BAGHDAD, Aug. 22 -- Iraq's foreign minister, Hoshyar Zebari, said Saturday that the coordinated attack that killed more than 100 people, including dozens of his employees, in Baghdad on Wednesday may have been carried out with the complicity of Iraqi security forces.

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Objectives and weaknesses differ in Afghanistan and Iraq

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Worldfocus - By Martin Savidge, Nora Bensahel - Aug. 19 (Interview) - The United States is stepping up efforts to improve security in Afghanistan, with 62,000 American troops stationed there. More than 160 Americans have died there so far this year -- three more were killed on Wednesday. Which has many people wondering: What will be the measure of their success? As Nick Spicer of Worldfocus partner Al Jazeera [...]

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U.S. Will Release More Members of an Iraqi Militia - NYTimes.com

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - By Rod Nordland, Sam Dagher - Aug. 18 (News Report) - BAGHDAD — The American military commander in Iraq, Gen. Ray Odierno, said Monday that more members of a radical Shiite militia would be released from United States custody, even though the military still believed that they were responsible for attacks that killed Americans.

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Iraq: Talk is Cheap, Blood is Cheaper

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Link TV - By Jamal Dajani - Aug. 18 (News Analysis) - It is now apparent that the Iraqi insurgency has adapted to what the U.S. and Iraqi forces have been throwing at it. When the surge was in full swing in and around Baghdad, the Iraqi insurgency retreated, but since June 30, when U.S. troops in Iraq withdrew from urban centers, some insurgents moved right back in, while others shifted their attention to the Iraqi north. A cat and mouse game.

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Sometimes It’s Not Your War, But You Sacrifice Anyway

Mon, 17 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

ProPublica - By T. Christian Miller - Aug. 17 (News Report) - These low-paid foreign workers face many of the same risks soldiers do. Mortars have killed Filipinos who served meals in mess halls. Assassins have targeted Iraqis translating for soldiers. Roadside bombs have ripped into trucks driven by Turkish

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Iraqi Voters to Decide Whether to Speed U.S. Withdrawal - washingtonpost.com

Mon, 17 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Post - By Ernesto Londoño - Aug. 17 (News Report) - BAGHDAD, Aug. 17 -- The Iraqi government announced Monday that it intends to let voters decide in January whether the departure of U.S. troops should be accelerated.

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