Of all of Iraq's myriad impossible situations, Kirkuk has America tied into perhaps its tightest Gordian Knot. The Institute for War and Peace Reporting has a good little summary of the mutual frustration between Kurdistan and whatever passes as Iraq's central government. The Kurdish Alliance, the second-largest political bloc in the country, holds 53 of Baghdad […]
Monday greeted the reports of five US troops killed in Mosul as a result of a roadside bomb, or IED. For a comprehensive definition of what an IED is, click here for the Globalsecurity.org's explanation (click here for an Iraq specific explanation). The ‘pre-offensive’ is gearing up in Mosul, after Prime Minister Maliki announced the […]
In a small but symbolic step forward today, the Iraqi parliament approved a change to the Iraqi national flag, removing the stars the represented Saddam Hussein's Ba’ath Party. This is a temporary change and a new flag design will be brokered in a years’ time. I think at this point, the Iraq people need much, […]
Mosul, in the Kurdistan province in northern Iraq, has suffered a bomb blast that came almost immediately after police arrived to act on a tip that the building contained explosives. According to Brigadier General Abdul Karim Al-Jubouri, it occurred at 1630 local time, and witnesses said it was the loudest blast they had ever heard […]
A security wall on the border between Gaza and Egypt was destroyed today, freeing the people of the trapped and desperate Strip to…shop. Though this seems prosaic, it is vitally important to the people of Gaza, suffering under Israeli blockades (themselves a response to constant rocket attacks). The border has turned into a bizarre bazaar, […]
BBC does these pieces sometimes where they will interview and tell the story of someone who is living the headlines. In a piece dated January 19 they tell the story of Noor who is an Iraqi refugee living in Syria. It's quite searing, and gives a human perspective to the media headlines. In today's Washington […]
The clashes between the Shi’ite sect Soldiers of Heaven and the local Iraqi security forces have occurred almost exactly a year after the previous clashes that killed over 25o people in Najaf, although this time, the violence is farther south, in Nasiriyah and Basra. They are targeting Shi’ite observers of Ashura, a major Shi’ite holiday […]
A New York Times article today portrays the United Nations as being upset at Algeria for not providing enough security in the run-up to last month's bombing of the body's Algerian offices. A senior United Nations official said Wednesday that the Algerian government had ignored repeated requests to close off the streets outside the organization's […]
Woman bomber kills 11 in Iraq in Baquba, capital of the Diyala province. Incidentally, this is the province where a major operation to clean out insurgents is underway. Unfortunately, this has been the third female bomber in three months in Baquba. With the upsurge in booby-trapped houses killing coalition and local security forces, the insurgents […]
Be sure to check out this article by Claude Salhani in the Middle East Times. Relevant to Bush's Middle East trip, a large part of which was dedicated to shoring Gulf states’ support for solidarity against Iran, it is titled “What Does Iran Want?” That's a damn good question, and Salhani addresses it in his […]
In the current Yemen Times, Hassan al-Haifi has a short editorial on the need for change in the Arab World. I link to it for a couple of reasons. One, basically, is that it is always interesting to read critical articles in the mainstream Arab press. We tend to think that no one is allowed […]
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