Clipmarks | abailart's 'iraq' clips

The Surge has Worked

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 10:37:18 GMT

clipped by: abailart

Clip Source: www.informationclearinghouse.info

It seems to be the only thing that supporters of the war have to point to, and so they point, and they point, and they point. Allow me to point out that while there has been a reduction in violence in Iraq -- now down to a level that virtually any other society in the world would find horrible and intolerable, including Iraqi society before the US invasion and occupation -- we must keep in mind that thanks to this lovely little war more than half the population of Iraq is either dead, crippled, traumatized, confined in overflowing American and Iraqi prisons, internally displaced, or in foreign exile.

The people of that unhappy land have lost everything -- their homes, their schools, their neighborhoods, their mosques, their jobs, their careers, their professionals, their health care, their legal system, their women's rights, their religious tolerance, their security, their past, their present, their future, their lives. But they do have their surge.

Tags: iraq

Turkey is Centre of the World

Sat, 02 Aug 2008 09:14:40 GMT

clipped by: abailart
clipper's remarks: Despite the fragile situation, if Turkey were to organise autonomy for Kurds in its own borders, northern Iraq, Syria and Iran it would be a heroic act of enormous historical import.

Clip Source: www.atimes.com

Turkey's political stability is no longer just a national issue of 80 million Turks. It is a vital issue today for the international community. And Turkey's role in the Israel-Syria peace talks is only the tip of the iceberg. In the highly volatile Middle East situation, Turkey also facilitated contacts between US National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley and Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki. (The two adversaries visited Ankara recently.) Furthermore, Turkey has waded into the Iraq project.

Besides, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is poised to spread to the northern shores of the Black Sea. The new cold war has arrived in Turkey.

Turkish foreign policy is cruising at an optimal level with its prestige as a regional power running high as it mediates peace in its neighborhood and commands influence. Turkey has returned to the Middle East region after an absence of almost nine decades.

Tags: turkey

Iraq Poised to Explode

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 11:27:24 GMT

clipped by: abailart
clipper's remarks: Not a stunningly original analysis but sometimes the obvious needs repeating over and over.

Clip Source: www.thenation.com

Despite the Optimism of the Neocons, which has pushed mainstream media coverage to be increasingly flowery about Iraq's political progress, in fact the country is poised to explode.

There are at least three flashpoints for an explosion, any or all of which could blow up over the next couple of months. (Way to go, Surgin' Generals!) The first is the brewing crisis over Kirkuk, where the pushy Kurds are demanding control and Iraq's Arabs are resisting.

second is in the west, and Anbar, where the US-backed Sons of Iraq sahwa ("Awakening") movement is moving to take power against the Iraqi Islamic Party, a fundamentalist Sunni bloc

third is the restive Mahdi Army of Muqtada al-Sadr, which is chafing at gains made by its Iranian-backed rival, the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI).

Tags: iraq factional internicine war, kurds, north iraq-turkey, iran shiites

Wonderful Kurt Vonnegut Interview

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 17:25:58 GMT

clipped by: papananook
clipper's remarks: Well worth the whole read...I loved Vonnegut.

Clip Source: cathy-edgett.livejournal.com

As war against Iraq looms, I asked Vonnegut, a reader and supporter of this magazine, to weigh in. Vonnegut is an American socialist in the tradition of Eugene Victor Debs, a fellow Hoosier whom he likes to quote: “As long as there is a lower class, I am in it. As long as there is a criminal element, I am of it. As long as there is a soul in prison, I am not free.”

—Joel Bleifuss

You have lived through World War II, Korea, Vietnam, the Reagan wars, Desert Storm, the Balkan wars and now this coming war in Iraq. What has changed, and what has remained the same?

even somebody as old as I am, which is 80, only just got here. There were already all these games going on when I got here. … An apt motto for any polity anywhere, to put on its state seal or currency or whatever, might be this quotation from the late baseball manager Casey Stengel, who was addressing a team of losing professional athletes: “Can’t anybody here play this game?”

Baghdad Clashes Leave 400 Dead

Thu, 01 May 2008 08:10:25 GMT

clipped by: abailart
clipper's remarks: Hardly headline news.

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

More than 400 people have been killed in fighting over the last month between Shia militias and US and Iraqi forces, hospital officials in Baghdad say.

Hospitals say they are struggling to cope with the casualties

The fighting has been concentrated in the capital's eastern district of Sadr City, a stronghold of the Mehdi Army militia of the cleric, Moqtada Sadr.

Five US soldiers have been killed in fighting in Baghdad since Tuesday.

April has been the most lethal month for US troops in Iraq, with 49 deaths, since September, when 65 soldiers died.

Staff at the hospitals are worried they are running out of clean water and do not have enough severe trauma specialists to treat all those who need help.

An Iraqi government spokesman, Tahsin al-Sheikhli, later said as many as 925 people had died in the Sadr City fighting

Tags: iraq

Iran Pulls the Strings: oil is not well for Cheney

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 08:39:15 GMT

clipped by: abailart
clipper's remarks: Useful analysis of the complex matrix behind the geopolitical war to control Iraq.

Clip Source: www.atimes.com

The turf war in the Iraqi Shi'ite regions has several templates. Iraq's future as a unitary state; the parameters of acceptable federalism, if any; attitude towards the US; control of oil wealth; overvaulting political ambitions - all these are intertwined features of a complex matrix.

Tehran would be gratified that in any case it has made the point that it possesses awesome influence within Iraq. Anyone who knows today's anarchic Iraq would realize that triggering a new spiral of violence in that country may not require much ingenuity, muscle power or political clout.

to be able to summarily cry halt to cascading violence, and to achieve that precisely in about 48 hours, well, that's an altogether impressive capability in political terms. In this case, the Iranians have managed it with felicitous ease, as if they were just turning off a well-lubricated tap.

Cheney must be furious that Tehran torpedoed the entire US strategy for Big Oil.

Tags: iraq, iran

A Mundane Clip about Iraq

Sun, 30 Mar 2008 10:02:15 GMT

clipped by: abailart
clipper's remarks: <<<Mr Maliki's confident prediction that he would crush the Mehdi Army is turning out to be a dangerous gamble that is fast eroding his authority. It is damaging to President Bush, who had claimed the US "surge" had brought about a turning point in America's five-year-old war to pacify Iraq. Mr Bush had praised the offensive as showing that the Iraqi security forces, trained and supported by the US, could at last stand and fight on their own. So far, the gun battles in Baghdad and the Shia south of Iraq are providing evidence that exactly the opposite is true.>>>

Clip Source: www.independent.co.uk

The US is facing a new crisis in Iraq that may determine the outcome of the presidential election, as American military forces are drawn into supporting the Iraqi government's faltering attempt to crush the main Shia militia.

A US warplane strafed a house in Basra killing eight civilians, including two women and a child, Iraqi police said yesterday. The house was in the city's Hananiyah district, which is a stronghold of the Mehdi Army militia of the Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

Five days after the start of the offensive ordered by the Iraqi prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, US military intelligence says that the Iraqi army holds less than a quarter of Basra, which has a population of two million. In east Baghdad, meanwhile, five hospitals have received 133 bodies and 647 wounded since the start of the fighting.

Tags: iraq

Baghdad under Curfew as Violence Spreads

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 01:43:30 GMT

clipped by: abailart

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

A curfew has been imposed on Baghdad amid continuing clashes between Shia militias and Iraqi security forces.

More than 130 people have died since a clampdown on Shia militias in the southern city of Basra started on Tuesday. Unrest has spread to Baghdad.

Heavy fighting between the Shia Mehdi Army, led by radical Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr, has continued in Basra for a third day, with violence in other parts of southern Iraq.

Mehdi Army fighters remain in control of some densely-populated areas.

Speaking at a US Air Force museum in Dayton, Ohio, Mr Bush said "normalcy" was returning to Iraq.

Tags: iraq

Iraq Implodes as Shia fights Shia

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 10:49:52 GMT

clipped by: abailart

Clip Source: www.independent.co.uk

A new civil war is threatening to explode in Iraq as American-backed Iraqi government forces fight Shia militiamen for control of Basra and parts of Baghdad.

Heavy fighting engulfed Iraq's two largest cities and spread to other towns yesterday as the Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, gave fighters of the Mehdi Army, led by the radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, 72 hours to surrender their weapons.

The gun battles between soldiers and militiamen, who are all Shia Muslims, show that Iraq's majority Shia community – which replaced Saddam Hussein's Sunni regime – is splitting apart for the first time.

Tags: iraq

70,000 US Deaths in Iraq

Wed, 26 Mar 2008 10:27:11 GMT

clipped by: abailart

Clip Source: www.wakeupfromyourslumber.com

Over 70,000 deaths, and over 1 million disabilities among American soldiers attributed to Iraq Wars says U.S. government data by Peter Tremblay and Libertyforlife.com researchers http://www.agoracosmopolitan.com/home/Frontpage/2008/03/21/02286.html According to U.S. media reports, there are well below 5,000 U.S. soldiers who have been killed in Iraq. However, this data appears to be very misleading. Why? Because many tens of thousands of American soldiers have apparently been killed to-date, as a result of being exposed to radiation poisoning from the indiscriminate killing machines of U.S. military weaponry. Ironically, the only Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) that Americans soldiers have found in Iraq are "Made in America".

Tags: iraq

Fierce Fighting in Basra

Tue, 25 Mar 2008 09:31:19 GMT

clipped by: abailart

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Heavy fighting has erupted in Iraq's southern city of Basra amid a pre-dawn offensive by Iraqi security forces against the Mehdi Army, a Shia militia.

Iraqi PM Nouri Maliki is in Basra overseeing the operation, a day after he vowed to "re-impose law" in the oil-rich city, the UK military said.

Authorities in Basra have already imposed an indefinite night-time curfew because of the security situation.

The Iraqi army conducted raids across Basra on Tuesday, while routes into the city have been sealed off, according to reports.

After Monday's curfew was imposed, the powerful Mehdi Army warned it would retaliate if its members were targeted in any security clampdown.

The militia is loyal to radical Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr, who last month renewed a ceasefire the group had been observing since last August.

The oil fields in the Basra area are the source of most of Iraq's revenues.

Tags: iraq

Dozens Die in Day of Violence

Mon, 24 Mar 2008 00:46:49 GMT

clipped by: abailart

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

A string of suicide attacks, shootings and rocket strikes have claimed dozens of lives on a day of violence in Iraq.

In the bloodiest single incident, 13 Iraqi soldiers died when a suicide attacker drove a fuel tanker into an army base in Mosul in northern Iraq.

The US military said it killed 12 militants preparing suicide attacks in a house east of Baquba.

At least 15 people died in rocket and mortar fire apparently aimed at Baghdad's Green Zone.

Sunday's violence underlines the fragile, reversible nature of the apparent improvements in security, say correspondents.

at least five people were killed when a suicide bomber struck a queue outside a petrol station in the Shula district of Baghdad,

a roadside bomb killed five Iraqi soldiers close to the city of Kirkuk

at least three people were killed when a suicide car bomb was driven into the house of a tribal leader near Samara

Tags: iraq

Sunni Militia go Cold on US

Sat, 22 Mar 2008 10:30:35 GMT

clipped by: abailart
clipper's remarks: Guardian video at source

Clip Source: www.edstrong.blog-city.com

The success of the US "surge"
strategy in Iraq is under threat as leading
members of the 80,000-strong Sunni Sahwa militia
or awakening councils, employed by the US
to fight al-Qaida, are warning of a national strike
because they are not being paid regularly

A telephone survey by GuardianFilms for Channel 4 News reveals that out of 49 Sahwa councils four with more than 1,400 men have already quit, 38 are threatening to go on strike and two already have.

"The Americans got what they wanted. We purged al-Qaida for them and now people are saying why should we have any more deaths for the Americans. They have given us nothing."

"We need to get all the Sahwas in the country together and organise a national strike," said Ahah al-Zubadi, leader of 35 Sahwa councils, the largest group in Iraq. "When the areas started to cool down and the situation began to get better the Americans really cooled to us."

Tags: iraq, concerned ciitizens, tribal history of iraq

The Forgotten war

Thu, 20 Mar 2008 10:52:46 GMT

clipped by: abailart

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

we're being subjected to a renewed barrage of spin about the success of the US surge in turning the country round, quelling the violence and opening the way to a sunlit future. In an echo of his notorious "mission accomplished" speech of May 2003, George Bush yesterday proclaimed the Iraq war a "major strategic victory" in the "war on terror".

The problem in Iraq, we're now told, was a lack of preparation, or the wrong kind of planning, or mistakes in implementation. If only, say the neocons, we had put our man Ahmad Chalabi in charge from the start, the Iraqis wouldn't have felt so humiliated. If only we hadn't dissolved the army, the pragmatists insist, the insurgency would never have taken off.

All this is self-delusion on a heroic scale. The unprovoked aggression launched by the US and Britain against Iraq five years ago today has already gone down across the world as, to borrow the words of President Roosevelt, "a day which will live in infamy".

Tags: iraq

Poll Shows Most Iraqis 'otpimistic'

Mon, 17 Mar 2008 11:18:11 GMT

clipped by: abailart

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

More than 50% of Iraqis think their lives are good, more than at any time in the last three years, a survey says.

While 55% of all Iraqis believe that their lives are good, only 33% of Sunnis are happy with their lives, compared with 62% of Shias and 73% of Kurds.

88%, 81% and 61% respectively - say that the availability of water, fuel and electricity is "very bad" or "quite bad".

poll suggests that Iraqis are sceptical about political progress.

21% believe that the increase in US forces has made conditions for political dialogue in Iraq better, while 43% think the surge has made conditions worse.

BBC World Affairs editor John Simpson says the continuing divisions make it "pretty meaningless to talk about 'Iraqi' opinion."

"In spite of all the improvements, the Sunni population of Iraq clearly remains deeply alienated, and deeply hostile

Tags: iraq

Clipmarks | abailart's 'iraq' clips

The Surge has Worked

Turkey is Centre of the World

Iraq Poised to Explode

Wonderful Kurt Vonnegut Interview

Baghdad Clashes Leave 400 Dead

Iran Pulls the Strings: oil is not well for Cheney

A Mundane Clip about Iraq

Baghdad under Curfew as Violence Spreads

Iraq Implodes as Shia fights Shia

70,000 US Deaths in Iraq

Fierce Fighting in Basra

Dozens Die in Day of Violence

Sunni Militia go Cold on US

The success of the US "surge" strategy in Iraq is under threat as leading members of the 80,000-strong Sunni Sahwa militia or awakening councils, employed by the US to fight al-Qaida, are warning of a national strike because they are not being paid regularly

The Forgotten war

Poll Shows Most Iraqis 'otpimistic'

The success of the US "surge"
strategy in Iraq is under threat as leading
members of the 80,000-strong Sunni Sahwa militia
or awakening councils, employed by the US
to fight al-Qaida, are warning of a national strike
because they are not being paid regularly