Mohammed Salih

ARBIL – Growing confrontation between Iraqi Kurds and neighboring Turkey presents a new threat to a fragile calm in the north. Tensions have run high between Iraqi Kurds and Turkey since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, but they were further exacerbated last month when Turkish Prime Minister Recep Teyyip Erdogan threatened to send … Continue reading “Turkey Could Emerge as a New Threat in Iraq”

ARBIL – Academic life in Iraq’s volatile southern and central regions has become increasingly paralyzed, with hundreds of students and professors targeted and many more abandoning their educational institutions in search of a refuge. Raad Yaseen, 25, fled Baghdad’s insecurity in mid-2004 to study at Mosul University, 396 kms north of the capital. He stayed … Continue reading “Students, Professors Flee to the Kurdish North”

IRBIL – Iraqis have left a bloody 2006 behind, but the two opening weeks of 2007 do not bode well for the rest of this year. As the United Nations reported a death toll of 34,000 civilians for last year, the non-government organization Iraq Body Count suggested that more than 1,000 civilians have been killed … Continue reading “An Unhappy New Year
Thus Far in Iraq”

ARBIL – After an estimated 10 percent of active journalists in Iraq died in 2006, the rest are asking themselves what lies ahead for them in the New Year. A report released by the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RWB, also known as Reporters sans Frontieres), on the last day of 2006 described Iraq as “the … Continue reading “Bloody Years for
Journalists in Iraq”

ARBIL – Khanzad, 26, originally Kurdish, returned to Arbil with her family in mid-2004 after 16 years of living in Baghdad. Like many coming from the violence-stricken city, she has a harrowing story to tell. A number of armed robbers broke into their house on a sunny day in summer. Khanzad and her sisters locked … Continue reading “Iraqi Refugees Run From Violence to Deprivation”

ARBIL – Iraq’s national reconciliation conference held over the weekend highlights the gap between the country’s various political groups and their lack of consensus on a common basis for reconciliation. Shia Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s call for the return of members of the country’s dissolved army under former president Saddam Hussein was interpreted as positive, … Continue reading “Slim Chance for Iraq Reconciliation Recedes”

ARBIL – In a strongly worded statement, the president of Iraq’s northern Kurdistan region rejected in its entirety the report by the Iraq Study Group, and threatened that Kurds would opt for secession from Iraq should Washington try to implement some of the key recommendations of the report regarding Kirkuk, federalism and the constitution. The … Continue reading “Kurds Reject US Study Group’s Report”

ARBIL – The call from his mother changed Dr. Harb Zakko’s life. "Someone has been calling me to open the door, saying he has something for you," his mother said. Soon after, apparently the same person called him at his clinic, asking personal questions. The doctor got the message. He returned home and asked his … Continue reading “Iraqi Professionals Targeted for Abduction, Murder”

ARBIL – As Saddam Hussein faces his second trial, this one over the killing of an estimated 180,000 Kurds in the late 1980s, people in Kurdistan are taking a particular interest whether the death sentence in the first case will be carried out before there can be a verdict in the second. Former dictator of … Continue reading “Kurds Want Early Death for Saddam”

ARBIL – Through a steadily worsening security situation and deepening political divisions, a dispute is now erupting between Kurdish leaders and the Baghdad regime over access to oil resources. Kurdish authorities and the federal government in Baghdad have exchanged sharply worded statements recently in their rival claims for control over northern oil fields. The row … Continue reading “Kurdistan Oil Troubles
Begin to Surface”