Will there be autocracy in Iraq or renewed civil war? The country seems headed for either one or the other, as Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki tightens the noose on Iraqi democracy and sectarian bombings resume. Mohammed Shayaa al-Sudani, Iraq’s human rights minister, recently declared that casualties in the roughly nine-year period since the American invasion …
Continue reading “The Already Forgotten Iraq War”
The recent YouTube documentary Kony 2012 has become quite a sensation. It has inspired millions of people to demand, in one form or another, that the U.S. military take action in Uganda in order to bring to justice a supposedly ruthless warlord. The fact that numerous wars are being waged already, none of them just, …
Continue reading “Humanitarian Aid Is Military Intervention”
A large blast rocked Baghdad today, killing 20 police recruits and policemen. The attack, which occurred near the heavily fortified Interior Ministry, may have been a message to the Maliki government. However, it wasn’t the only violence targeting policemen. At least 40 Iraqis were killed and 42 more were wounded overall. Many of those victims were either security personal or their informants.
Iraq’s top court gave an unbinding opinion on Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi’s terrorism charges. Meanwhile, Iranian dissidents living in Camp Ashraf are voluntarily relocating to Camp Liberty. Also, during a scan in Falluja, radioactive materials were found. At least 12 Iraqis were killed and nine more were wounded in new violence. The Iraqi Supreme Judicial …
Continue reading “Iraq Court Believes Evidence Against Hashemi; Attacks Against Police Continue”
Violence targeted police and other security personnel today. Several of the attacks were on the homes of policemen, and they left civilian relatives dead or wounded in their wake. At least seven Iraqis were killed and 13 more were wounded overall.
Although most of today’s attacks were small, one bombing in Mosul left over 20 people dead or injured. In Baghdad, a brigadier general was assassinated. Overall, at least six Iraqis were killed and 34 more were wounded.
Since World War II, the impulse of the American foreign policy elite has been to intervene in trouble spots abroad and apparently let God sort out the consequences. The ill effects of such interventions are usually plain to see — if nothing else, after the episodes are over — but the arrogance of the elite …
Continue reading “US Oblivious to Unintended Consequences of Foreign Policy”
Long out of the news, Iraq – you remember Iraq? – is falling apart. The “government” is in chaos, with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki at war with Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi, whom he accuses of “terrorism.” Days after ending his party’s participation in Parliament, an arrest warrant for al-Hashimi was issued. Sixteen of the VP’s …
Continue reading “Iraq in Retrospect”
Although there were no massive bombings in Iraq today, insurgents were still able to kill at least 31 Iraqis in new violence. Another 36 people were wounded. The most significant attack occurred south of the capital where bombs killed 10 family members at an intelligence officer’s home. Meanwhile, one of Iraq’s top clerics asked the Iraqiya party to return to parliament.
Despite George W. Bush’s and Barack Obama’s efforts to topple foreign dictators and use military power to forcefully impose democracy from without, democracy usually works better if it bubbles up from below by popular desire. In Iraq, even before U.S. forces had withdrawn, Shi’ite President Nouri al-Maliki was taking the country back toward dictatorship. Now …
Continue reading “Democratization: Indigenous Beats Imported” 
