Month: September 2007

BAGHDAD – Clashes between rival Shia militias in Karbala have spread across southern Iraq and Baghdad, adding a new dimension to sectarian violence. Clashes between the Mehdi Army militia of Shia anti-occupation cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and the Badr Organization militia of the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council (SIIC) erupted over recent days in the holy city … Continue reading “Fighting Among Shi’ites Adds to Violence”

Amid all the back-and-forth between the administration and its critics about how to measure “progress” in Iraq, what gets lost is the question asked by Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) at the Petraeus-Crocker hearings the other day: “I have to ask this question: where is this going? … Are we going to continue to invest American … Continue reading “Surging Toward Iran”

The former Cockney flower-girl-turned-elegant- English-speaker Eliza Doolittle caught something of our moment in these lyrics from My Fair Lady: “Oh, words, words, words, I’m so sick of words…. Is that all you blighters can do?” Of course, all she had to do was be Pygmalion to a self-involved language teacher. We’ve had to bear with … Continue reading “Imperial Autism”

Updated at 11:45 p.m. EDT, Sept. 11, 2007No major attacks were reported today, but 79 Iraqis were killed and 38 more were wounded during numerous smaller incidents. One unidentified foreigner was killed and 11 GIs were wounded during indirect fire at Camp Victory.In Baghdad, 12 unidentified bodies were scattered among several neighborhoods. A roadside bomb … Continue reading “Tuesday: 79 Iraqis Killed, 48 Wounded”

On the same day Gen. David H. Petraeus delivered to Congress his much-anticipated progress report on the U.S. military’s "surge strategy" in Iraq, neoconservative ideologues associated with the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) took aim at another one of the reputed foes of "freedom" – the Islamic Republic of Iran. During a panel discussion Monday aimed … Continue reading “American Enterprise Institute Hypes Iran ‘Threat’”

BAGHDAD – Religious clerics are beginning to play an increasingly powerful role in Iraq. Many Iraqis now fear that they are endangering human rights and religious freedom in the once largely secular country. Clerics began to play a major role since the U.S.-led occupation began in April 2003. Despite the promises of U.S. President George … Continue reading “Clerics Begin to Take Over Iraq”

That’s all I said in the unusual silence on Monday afternoon as first aid was being administered to Gen. David Petraeus’ microphone before he spoke before the House Armed Services and Foreign Affairs Committees. It had dawned on me that when House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton (D-Mo.) invited Gen. Petraeus to make his … Continue reading “‘Swear Him In’”

In an interview with Der Spiegel online, American military historian Gabriel Kolko argues that the situation in Iraq is worse than ever and that the artificial nation, created after World War I, is breaking up. The “surge,” he says, is also failing. SPIEGEL: The long-awaited results of the “surge” are now in. Has the surge … Continue reading “‘The US Will Lose War Regardless What it Does’”

When my friends fall prey to despair, I show them a piece of painted concrete, which I bought in Berlin. It is one of the remnants of the Berlin Wall, which are on sale in the city. I tell them that I intend, when the time comes, to apply for a franchise to sell pieces … Continue reading “A Big Victory Against the Wall”

It evokes a tragedy that marks an epoch. From the outset, the warfare state has exploited “9/11,” a label at once too facile and too laden with historic weight – giving further power to the tacit political axiom that perception is reality. Often it seems that media coverage is all about perception, especially when the … Continue reading “Six Years of 9/11 as
a License to Kill”