Aaron Glantz

I have to wonder what George Bush must be thinking as Iraq’s elected Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari readies for his trip next week to Iran. I wonder if he’s surprised that the two countries have recently inked a deal to have the Iranian government train the new Iraqi Army and to send grain to Iraq, … Continue reading “Iraq and Iran: Still the Axis of Evil?”

It’s time the U.S. military stopped shooting journalists. In the last three weeks, American soldiers have killed at least four journalists in Iraq – each while the reporter was driving his car. Two of the cases are especially telling. There is the case of Yasser Salihee, an Iraqi correspondent for Knight Ridder newspapers. He was … Continue reading “Media Death Toll Still Mounting in Iraq”

As the United States celebrated its independence this weekend, Iraq celebrated another week under foreign occupation. So I thought it useful to look at Thomas Jefferson’s case against England’s King George III and compare it with the Iraqi case against our own President George II. Below are some of the complaints leveled against King George … Continue reading “In Iraq, Another Occupation Day”

Congressional Democrats are demanding more oversight over U.S. prisons in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay. In a letter released Thursday, Democratic House leader Nancy Pelosi joined 170 other members of Congress, introduced legislation to establish an independent commission to investigate abuses of detainees caught during the “global war on terror.” In the minds of the … Continue reading “No New Abu Ghraibs”

I‘m not a big fan of Saddam Hussein. I know it violated the Geneva Convention, but when photos of the deposed dictator in his underwear appeared in newspapers around the world last month, I couldn’t help but smile. What else can you do when you see a man who killed hundreds of thousands during 25 … Continue reading “Justice for Saddam and His Victims”

As I travel around this country speaking about my experience as an unembedded journalist in Iraq, calling for an end to the occupation, I am inevitably asked the same question: “If the U.S. military leaves Iraq, won’t there be a civil war?” This, I think, is the wrong question. Since toppling Saddam Hussein in April … Continue reading “The Only Hope to Avert Civil War”

Slowly, it seems, all my sources are dying. The latest death is in the northern oil rich city of Kirkuk, where there have been a number of attacks on non-Kurdish members of the City Council. I get a terrible sickening feeling when I read about the assassination Friday, of Sheik Naif al-Jabouri, an Arab member … Continue reading “Farewell Sheik Naif al-Jabouri”

It seems that the movement of Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr is getting ready for a major push against the occupation. In his first public address in months, the scion of one of Iraq’s most important religious families called for an immediate end to U.S. occupation. “I demand several things,” the black-robed cleric told a press … Continue reading “Return of the Mahdi”

Jordan’s new Prime Minister Adnan Badran is coming under attack from pro-democracy advocates for his role in the killing of three university students in 1986. Badran wasn’t elected prime minister of Jordan – he was simply picked for the post by Jordanian ruler and U.S. ally, King Abdullah II. Columnist Jamal Tahat had just graduated … Continue reading “Jordan Quashes Unions, Critics of US”

WASHINGTON, D.C. – When the Senate Foreign Relations Committee votes on John Bolton’s appointment as ambassador to the United Nations Tuesday, they will do so having never asked him about his support for a group called the Mujahedin-e-Khalq, an Iranian dissident group that was backed by Saddam Hussein for almost two decades and has a … Continue reading “Laying the Groundwork for War With Iran”