Brian Conley

With Isam Rashid BAGHDAD – Iraqis are beginning to see striking similarities between Lebanese civilians and themselves three years ago. Talk on the streets of Baghdad is taking a tone of oneness with the Lebanese. Anger over the bombing of Lebanon that Iraqis say they can feel as their own has led to some of … Continue reading “Many Iraqis See Lebanon as Mirror Image”

With Omar Abdullah BAGHDAD – More than three years after the invasion, Iraqis seem increasingly to want to leave the country. Reports come pouring in about Iraqi refugees overwhelming Syria, Jordan, and other nations in the region. Last month, the United Nations released a report that more than 150,000 Iraqis have been displaced since February. … Continue reading “Iraqis Struggle to Leave, Somehow”

With Omar Abdullah BAGHDAD – The trial of Iraq’s former president Saddam Hussein has been wracked with controversy and spectacle. Now entering its final phase, the question for all Iraqis and the world is whether he will be executed for the deaths of 148 Shi’ites, killed in Dujail in 1982, as requested by prosecutors. Perhaps … Continue reading “Saddam’s Execution Likely, Fair Trial Less So”

RUWEISHID REFUGEE CAMP – A small stretch of desert, sandwiched between the borders of Jordan and Iraq, is a "no-man’s land," created by the Iraqi government’s decision to cede part of its western frontier to Jordan. It has become a place where refugees from the war in Iraq bide their time, desperate for resettlement. For … Continue reading “Kurds Stuck in No-Man’s Land”

With Isam Rashid BAGHDAD – Baghdad’s central morgue received more than a thousand bodies each month this year, a doctor has revealed. The body count here gives a more accurate picture of the story in Baghdad than any official statistics. Before the war, this morgue, located at Bab al-Mu’atham near the city center, received only … Continue reading “Baghdad Morgue Tells Story Statistics Can’t”

AMMAN – These days, Ramadi is nearly impossible to enter. Against the backdrop of the Haditha massacre, IPS has received reports of civilians killed by snipers, and homes occupied with American snipers on the roof while families were detained downstairs. One man, who wishes to be known simply as "an Iraqi friend," met with IPS … Continue reading “Ramadi Becomes Another Fallujah”

With Muhammad Zaher BAGHDAD – It could be instructive to recall that the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq and its armed wing, the Badr Corps, arose from a conference of Iraqi opposition parties called in Iran in 1982. The Supreme of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) was a breakaway faction of … Continue reading “Badr Groups Move From Troubled Past to Uncertain Future”

with Isam Rashid BAGHDAD – The execution of 13 suspected insurgents in March marked a revival of the death penalty in Iraq – and sparked a debate among Iraqis about whether capital punishment should be written into the laws of a modern society. The death penalty was suspended by the US when it took control … Continue reading “Capital Punishment in Iraq Seen Simply As Death, Not Justice”

With Isam Rashid BAGHDAD – Tens of thousands have fled their homes or the country since the bombing of the Shia shrine in Samarra Feb. 23. At least 30,000 Iraqis have been displaced from their homes since then, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) says. The IOM, a leading international organization that works on migration … Continue reading “Violence Driving Iraqis From Homes, Country”

*with Isam Rashid BAGHDAD – Talk of withdrawal has been dogging the administrations of the United States and Britain for months. Recently the Sunday Telegraph in Australia and the Daily Mirror in Britain ran reports quoting a senior British official that the two countries will withdraw by 2007. The United States was quick to deny … Continue reading “Withdrawal May Not Mean Liberation”