Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, says al-Qaeda’s power base in Iraq has been squeezed by a lack of funds and a power vacuum at the top. Despite al-Qaeda weakening, attacks continue to vex Iraq. At least 21 Iraqis were killed and 72 more were wounded in new violence. Also, Iraq lodged complaints with Iran over reports that Iranian troops have crossed the border and started to erect a new fort as part of their operations against Kurdish rebels.
read moreDrowning in the Law of the Sea
Within an hour after Israel commandos hijacked the Free Gaza Movement flotilla on the high seas and killed at least nine relief workers, Israel's Foreign Ministry posted to its Web site a “legal background” to the attack. The short, 12-point statement makes a low-key,...
Exodus 2010
On the high seas, outside territorial waters, the ship was stopped by the navy. The commandos stormed it. Hundreds of people on the deck resisted; the soldiers used force. Some of the passengers were killed, scores injured. The ship was brought into harbor; the...
Our Enemies, the Israelis
One of my readers, in the comments section below, wrote the following in response to my last column on Israel's hijacking of the Gaza flotilla: “Again I ask the question: What do the Israelis have on our politicians that makes them such whores? Dirty pictures? Threats...
Sunday: 12 Iraqis Killed, 46 Wounded
Updated at 9:09 p.m. EDT, June 6, 2010
A spate of attacks focused on Baghdad and surrounding communities. Overall, at least 12 Iraqis were killed and 46 more were wounded in those and other attacks across the country. Meanwhile, a lack of water could fuel Iraq’s next insurgency. Also, cross-border attacks between Turkish forces and the PKK continue in the north.
read moreSaturday: 10 Iraqis Killed, 14 Wounded
Updated at 7:55 p.m. EST, June 5, 2010
At least 10 Iraqis were killed and 14 more were wounded in attacks that included two political assassinations of Iraqiya candidates. In Diyala province, meanwhile, relations between Sunni fighters and the Shi’ite council deteriorated after a call to disarm them. Also, Kurdish officials reported another armed incursion into Iraqi Kurdistan by Iranian troops chasing Party For A Free Life in Kurdistan (PJAK) rebels.
read moreA Global Civil Society Campaign to Delegitimize Israel?
If, as expected, the U.N. Security Council remains politically impotent and refuses to penalize Israel for the killings of nine pro-Palestinian civilians on a ship carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza, what is the next course of action? A global civil society campaign to...
Flotilla Raid Fires Up Israel Lobby
BRUSSELS -- Within three days of Israel's attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla Monday, the pro-Israel lobby in Brussels was already seeking to deflect attention from the killing of nine peace activists in international waters. The European Friends of Israel, a grouping...
A Meeting in Sarajevo
Friday: 1 US Soldier, 5 Iraqis Killed; 12 Iraqis Wounded
At least five Iraqis were killed and 12 more were wounded in prayer day violence. Also, a U.S. soldier died in Baghdad on Wednesday after an accident that is under investigation.
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