Foreign Service officer Peter Van Buren had an interesting week. Aside from getting a book published, he became a news-cycle celebrity of sorts in Washington — not for his book, per se, but for the fact that he might get fired for it. Reporters and bloggers quickly picked up on a column he wrote last …
Continue reading “Who’s Afraid of Peter Van Buren’s Book?”
Who doesn’t like roasted chicken? Fresh, crispy with a little salt, it falls off the bone into your mouth. It’s a great thing, unless the price is $2.5 million of your tax dollars. As a Foreign Service Officer with a 20-year career in the State Department, and as part of the George W. Obama global …
Continue reading “How the American Taxpayer Got Plucked in Iraq”
At least 13 Iraqis were killed and 90 more were wounded in the latest violence. One attack, on security personnel, took place in Kirkuk where a U.S. general says American troops are no longer needed. Separately, a U.S. soldier was also killed in a rocket or mortar attack. Meanwhile, Turkey continued its aerial assault on suspected P.K.K. hideouts across northern Iraq.
In a development that could help resolve an 8-year-old diplomatic and humanitarian standoff, the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), an Iranian opposition group that has several thousand adherents at a military camp in Iraq, has agreed to allow residents to apply for refugee status and be interviewed individually by U.N. officials. Vincent Cochetel, Washington representative for the …
Continue reading “MEK Allows Adherents in Iraq to Seek Refugee Status”
This week marks the beginning of what is supposed to be the final 100 days of the U.S. occupation of Iraq. But if U.S. troops are to leave Iraq at the end of this year as promised — repeatedly — it will take grassroots pressure to counter the growing “occupy Iraq forever” chorus in Washington. …
Continue reading “100 Days of Solidarity With Iraq”
U.S. soldiers shot and wounded an Iraqi policeman in an apparent case of mistaken identity. He was just one of the nine killed and 35 wounded in today’s attacks. Meanwhile, the border situation between Iraq and its neighbors, Kuwait and Turkey remain uneasy. Also, Iraq made its first payment for new warplanes.
At least 11 Iraqis were killed and 16 more were wounded in several attacks that each left just a few casualties. In several of them, gunmen seemed to pick specific political or religious targets. Meanwhile, the International Crisis Group warned that corruption was hampering Iraq’s development. Their report was issued just a couple weeks after the head of Iraq’s Integrity Commission, Raheem Uqaili, quit his post.
New violence left 11 Iraqis dead and 10 more wounded. Separately, a mass grave yielded 27 decomposed bodies. Meanwhile, Turkey renewed its air strikes against rebels in northern Iraq, and Iran declared victory in its own operations on a related group of Kurdish rebels.
BAGHDAD — When a middle-aged mother took a taxi alone from Baghdad to Nasiriyah, about 200 miles south, earlier this year, her 20-year-old driver stopped on the way, pulled her to the side of the road and raped her. And that began a telling legal struggle. “She is not a simple case,” says Hanaa Edwar, …
Continue reading “Fight for Iraqi Women’s Rights Begins All Over Again”
If he were to pat you on the back, you would list it on your resume. When in Rome, they do as he does. He is the life of parties he has never attended Sharks have a week dedicated to him. He is the most interesting man in the world. Just a few lines from …
Continue reading “Surge Finally Getting a Second Look?” 
