Kurdish security forces publicly informed the central government that they would need permission to enter Iraqi Kurdistan to arrest Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi. Meanwhile, the United Nations decried Iraq’s failure to help citizens made homeless by years of bloodshed. Also, at least six Iraqis were killed and 16 more were wounded in fresh violence.
In a curious reversal of support, Shi’ite Cleric Moqtada al-Sadr is now referring to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki as the “dictator of the government.” Whether this spells an end to the Maliki administration is unclear. Meanwhile, at least four Iraqis were killed and five more were wounded in new attacks.
Wars are fought because some people decide it is in their interests to fight them. World War I was not started over the Archduke Ferdinand’s assassination, nor was it triggered by the alliance system. An “incident” may set the stage for war, but no one keeps shooting unless they think it’s a good idea. The …
Continue reading “Iran, Israel, and the US: The Slide To War”
A Palestinian village, somewhere in the West Bank. In the middle of the night, banging on the door and shouts in Arabic: "Israeli army. Open up!" Somebody — most often the mother — opens the door. The heavily armed soldiers rush in and drag the victim out of bed. They throw him to the floor …
Continue reading “Adnan’s Victory”
"Foreign Intervention in Syria? A Debate with Joshua Landis and Karam Nachar." promised the headline on DemocracyNow! of 2/22. Eagerly I tuned in, hoping to hear a thorough exposé of the machinations of the US Empire in Syria on its march to Iran. But this was neither exposé nor debate. Both sides, Landis and Nachar, were pro-intervention …
Continue reading “Progressives Embrace Humanitarian Imperialism – Again”
Amid the persistent beating of war drums, an influential international conflict prevention group is insisting that a deal between Western countries and Iran on Tehran’s controversial nuclear program can still be reached. In a new report released Thursday, the Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG) said such a deal would include Tehran’s acceptance of full-scope international safeguards to ensure the …
Continue reading “Despite War Drums, Experts Insist Iran Nuclear Deal Possible”
The Islamic State of Iraq claimed responsibility for yesterday’s coordinated attacks across Iraq. The group, which is linked to al-Qaeda, called it revenge for a “torture and liquidation campaign that Sunni women and men are being subjected to in Baghdad’s prisons and other areas.” Meanwhile, violence was much lighter today, but least three Iraqis were killed and 11 more were wounded.
Sen. Joseph Isadore “Joe” Lieberman, the “independent Democrat” from Connecticut, has been one of the most hawkish members of the Senate for years. He is in fact a turncoat who campaigned for John McCain in 2008, and in many ways he has been more Republican than Republicans. He supported the invasion of Iraq in 2003, …
Continue reading “Deconstructing Lieberman’s Iran Resolution”
The failure of a mission by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to get Iranian permission to visit a military testing site mentioned in its latest report has been interpreted in media coverage as a stall to avoid the discovery of confirming evidence of past work on nuclear weapons. But the history of Iranian cooperation …
Continue reading “Iran Holds Up Access to Parchin for Better IAEA Deal”
Empire Studios’ Syrian Sequel Syria is just like Kosovo, argued one interventionist two weeks ago, on the pages of the War Street Journal. According to Fouad Ajami, both involve a brutal dictator oppressing innocent civilians, and the Empire ought to act the same way, bypassing the U.N., and — to borrow a phrase from the …
Continue reading “Intervention, Reloaded” 
