Archives: January 2004

Rieff On Iraqi Shiites David Rieffs

Rieff on Iraqi ShiitesDavid Rieff"s excellent firsthand report from Iraq on the Shiite movements there in the New York Times magazine is now available online (free registration required).This report seems to me…

Dutch Embassy Destroyed By Rocket 4

Dutch Embassy Destroyed by Rocket; 4 Policemen gunned down in MosulAccording to wire services, Baghdad was shaken by several explosions late Friday night, including two rocket-propelled grenade attacks on the Dutch embassy…

Debate Begins On Constitutional

Debate Begins on Constitutional Provisions in IraqAlissa Rubin of the Los Angeles Times has a fine piece today discussing debates in Iraq over the Fundamental Law that will govern the country until…

Mi6 To Be Called Before Parliament On

MI6 to be Called before Parliament on Weapons EstimatesThe London Times reports that "Sir Richard Dearlove, the head of MI6, will appear before the Intelligence and Security Committee, headed by Ms Ann…

Islamic Party Neither Us Nor Igc Suited

The Islamic Party: Neither US nor IGC Suited to Organizing General ElectionsAz-Zaman reports that the Iraqi Islamic Party (the Iraqi branch of the Sunni fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood) has expressed support for the…

Demonstrations In Halbaniya Hundreds

Demonstrations in HalbaniyaHundreds demonstrated peacefully in the Sunni Arab town of Halbaniya on Friday against US tactics, and against the curfew imposed on the city by the US authorities. (-Ash-Sharq al-Awsat).

Who Is Hasan Ghul Kurdish Peshmergas

Who is Hasan Ghul?The Kurdish peshmergas apprehended an Egyptian member of al-Qaeda trying to sneak into Iraq recently, and the US hailed the capture as significant. Ghul was said to have been…

Is Kerrys Inconsistency On Iraq

Is Kerry's Inconsistency on Iraq a Liability?Mother Jones,, rather unaccountably relying on Max Boot, raises the question of whether Kerry's changing Iraq position will hurt him in the campaign. Kerry voted for…

Bahr Al Ulum Federalism Can Work With

Bahr al-Ulum: Federalism can work with 18 ProvincesIn a recent interview in al-Siyasah, a Kuwaiti newspaper, Muhammad Bahr al-Ulum implicitly opposed the Iraqi Kurds' demands for a consolidated Kurdish state:"(Bilal) Do you…

Hilfiker On Army Strong Arm Tactics In

Hilfiker on Army Strong-Arm Tactics in Sunni HeartlandDr. David Hilfiker of the Christian Peacemaker Team has written an important account, presented by Tom Engelhardt, of the tactics employed by Col. Nate Sassaman…

John Lecarre On Iraq Intelligence

John LeCarre on Iraq Intelligence FailureFrom Laura Miller's recent interview in Salon.com with the famed spy novelist David Cornwell and former British foreign service officer:"I think it's perfectly true that after the…

10 Members Of Iraqi Civil Defense Force

10 Members of Iraqi Civil Defense Force wounded in BlastGuerrillas in the northeastern town of Baquba donated a big bomb, targeting a patrol of the Iraqi Civil Defense Force, and wounding 10…

10000 Shiites Protest In Nasiriyah Seek

10,000 Shiites Protest in Nasiriyah, seek Resignation of Provincial CouncilAz-Zaman newspaper reports that Muqtada al-Sadr's organization staged a demonstration of 10,000 in the southern Shiite city of Nasiriyah on Wednesday. They were…

Pachachi Envisages Triumvirate As Iraqi

Pachachi Envisages Triumvirate as Iraqi ExecutiveAFP/al-Zaman report that Adnan Pachachi, the octogenarian interim president of the Iraqi Governing Council, envisages that the new transitional Iraqi government due to be installed July 1…

Hutton Inquiry Whitewashes Blair

Hutton Inquiry Whitewashes Blair Government's ExaggerationsSeumas Milne of the Guardian argues that the report by Lord Hutton on the David Kelly affair is biased in favor of the government of Tony Blair.This…

Bomb At Baghdad Hotel Kills 3 In Other

Bomb at Baghdad Hotel kills 3; In other attacks, 6 US Troops Killed, 2 CNN Employees, 4 Iraqi Policemen; 6 US troops WoundedThere was so much violence of so many types in…

Informed Comment Up For Koufax Award

Informed Comment up for Koufax Award2003 Koufax Award Finalists Best Expert Blog has been announced, with this column as a finalist. Thanks so much to everyone who has supported the site so…

Humanitarian Grounds For Iraq War Re

Humanitarian Grounds for Iraq War?Re: Human Rights Watch Executive Director Ken Roth, "War in Iraq: Not aHumanitarian Intervention", 26 January 2004, Keynote essay to Human Rights Watch, "World Report 2004."My reply, from…

Sachedina Interview By Cobban Sistani

Sachedina Interview by Cobban: Sistani is Trying to Bring in the UNHelena Cobban's interview with Shiite thinker Abdulaziz Sachedina of the University of Virginia is a must-read contribution. Sachedina has recently been…

Bush Saddam Posed Grave Threat To Us

Bush: Saddam posed grave threat to USBush maintains that despite the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, Saddam Hussein posed "a grave and gathering threat to America and the…

Breaking News Kerry Wins New Hampshire

Breaking News: Kerry Wins New HampshireCaught Kerry's victory speech on CNN. With 73% of precincts reporting, he still has 38% of the vote, a 12-point lead over Dean. The race for third…

Breaking News Same As Headline Below

Breaking News: Same as Headline BelowStill watching CNN. With 30% of precincts reporting, Kerry has a very impressive lead over Dean still. Kerry is getting in the high 30s, Dean only in…

Breaking News Kerry Leads Dean Close

Breaking News: Kerry Leads, Dean close second, Edwards and Clark tied for ThirdI'm watching CNN. With just 13% of precincts reporting, Kerry has the lead over Dean in New Hampshire. The exit…

Annan Will Send Un Election Team To

Annan Will Send UN Election Team to IraqKofi Annan will send an election commission to Iraq, the Washington Post reports. This United Nations commission was the idea of Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani,…

Bombs Rock Baghdad On Monday Powerful

Bombs Rock Baghdad on MondayPowerful explosions rocked downtown Baghdad at 10:35 pm local time on Monday, as a rocket also landed in a parking lot near the American headquarters. It is where…

Kerry Edwards Surge In New Hampshire

Kerry, Edwards surge in New Hampshire; Health Care beats Iraq as ConcernOnly 10 percent of the voters in New Hampshire think Iraq is the most pressing issue in the campaign. I was…

Iraqi Womens Rights Imperiled Sarah El

Iraqi Women's Rights ImperiledSarah el Deeb of the Associated Press explores the implications for Iraqi women of the US tendency to appoint men to high office, to exclude women, and to bow…

Controversy Over 45 Minute Claim Nick

Controversy over 45 Minute ClaimNick Theros is denying stories that appeared in Newsweek and theThe Guardian that claim to demonstrate how expatriate networks suckered the United States and Tony Blair into believing…

Mahatma Sistani From European Peace

Mahatma Sistani?From a European peace worker in Iraq, a week or so ago:"I have heard that Sistani has promoted among his followers the Gandhian method of disobedience against the occupation power, if…

6 Us Soldiers Killed Over Weekend Over

6 US Soldiers killed over Weekend, Over a Dozen Wounded; 2 Iraqi police dead, dozens wounded; Helicopter CrashThe low-grade guerrilla war against the US military continued at a heated pace over the…

Sunday Times Alleges Torture Kidnapping

Sunday Times Alleges Torture, Kidnapping in BasraThe Sunday Times carried a story that members of the Badr Brigade of the Shiite Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq are being used as…

Question Of Elections In Iraq In Past

The Question of Elections in IraqIn the past week, two significant demonstrations were launched by Iraq's Shiites, including one on Monday 1/19 that involved an estimated 100,000 in the streets of Baghdad…

Kay Powell Backtrack On Wmd It Seems To

Kay, Powell, Backtrack on WMDIt seems to me that David Kay's resignation as weapons inspector in Iraq and his open admission that there simply are no "weapons of mass destruction" in Iraq…

3 Us Soldiers Wounded In Mosul Blast Ap

3 US soldiers Wounded in Mosul BlastAP is reporting that "A roadside bomb exploded Wednesday near the northern city of Mosul, wounding three U.S. soldiers and seven other people, the military and…

5000 Sadrists March In Baghdad

5000 Sadrists March in BaghdadThe Financial Times reported that the demonstrations in Baghdad on Tuesday were smaller than the approximately 100,000 who came out on Monday, and that they were also poorer.…

Independent Reports That 100000

The Independent reports that 100,000 demonstrators marched through the streets of Baghdad on Monday, as part of Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani s bid to put pressure on Kofi Annan and the United…

British Say Open Elections Feasible

British Say Open Elections FeasibleThe Financial Times is reporting that British authorities in Basra now believe that there are no procedural obstacles to holding open elections in Basra of the sort that…

Gone Fishin Just Warning To Regular

Gone Fishin'Just a warning to regular readers that for personal reasons I may find it difficult to post regularly the week of Jan. 19-25. It is possible I am exaggerating the difficulties,…

Us And Un Caught Between Shiites And

US and UN: Caught between Shiites and SunnisTwo parallel reports from Baghdad, one from Alissa Rubin of the LA Times and one from Hamza Hendawi of AP, point to the increasing difficulties…

Bomb Blast Rocks Shrine City Of Karbala

Bomb Blast Rocks Shrine City of Karbala; 13 InjuredAFP is reporting that guerrillas left a bomb in a package in the center of the Shiite holy city of Karbala, near the shrine…

23 Killed 2 Americans 130 Injured

23 Killed (2 Americans), 130 Injured (including 6 Americans) in Baghdad Car BombingAFP has raised the casualty count to as many as 23-25 killed and 130 wounded in the Baghdad car bombing…

Benny Morris On Arabs There Is

Benny Morris on the ArabsThere is an interesting discussion going on over at H-Mideast-Politics about a recent interview given by Israeli "New Historian" Benny Morris, who is increasingly a neoconservative.See especially the…

Whistle Blower On Us Dirty Tricks At Un

Whistle-Blower on US Dirty Tricks at UN to be Tried in UKThe Guardian reports that Britain's Katherine Gunn may face two years in prison for whistleblowing on American dirty tricks at the…

3 Us Soldiers Killed North Of Baghdad

3 US Soldiers Killed North of BaghdadGuerillas in the cane fields north of Baghdad detonated an enormous bomb on Saturday as a US military convoy went by, turning a 30 ton vehicle…

Latest Tomgram On Chalmers And Us

Latest Tomgram on Chalmers and the US MilitaryTom Engelhardt's Tomdispatch.com at the Nation Institute is always entertaining and insightful. For anyone interested in the debate on the new American empire (which actually…

Cobban On Cpa Laws And Transition To

Cobban on CPA Laws and Transition to new Iraqi Government Veteran journalist and blogger Helena Cobban wrote in with further remarks on the issue of whether Coalition Provisional Authority regulations in Iraq…

Bomb In Baghdad Kills 1 Wounds 3 Ap

Bomb in Baghdad Kills 1, Wounds 3AP reports, "The bloodshed persisted in Baghdad Friday, as a roadside bomb missed American troops but killed one Iraqi boy and wounded three others as they…

Shiite Preachers Throughout Iraq

Shiite Preachers throughout Iraq support Sistani, Slam US Plans as "Colonialism."al-Hayat reported that Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani's representative in Karbala, Shaikh Abdul Mahdi al-Karbala'i, warned that the coming days will witness demonstrations…

Democratic Candidates In Iowa Differ On

Democratic Candidates in Iowa Differ on Iraq, and it Probably Doesn't MatterI think the Iraq War as an issue has probably been overblown as a factor in the US elections, and don't…

Paul Oneill Controversy Smith On Iraq

The Paul O'Neill Controversy: Smith on the Iraq War Planning and the PNACThe allegation by Paul O'Neill that Bush wanted people to get him ajustification for an Iraq war already in January…

Nathan Brown On Trial Of Saddam Nathan

Nathan Brown on the Trial of SaddamNathan Brown, an eminent political scientist at George Washington University, shared with me thefollowing with regard to issues around the trial of Saddam and Coalition Provisional…

Cole On Lehrer 116 Some Readers Have

Cole on Lehrer 1/16Some readers have kindly asked me to let them know about these things in advance. I'll be on Jim Lehrer's show on PBS Friday 1/16 talking about Iraq and…

Us Hq In Kirkuk Comes Under Fire

US HQ in Kirkuk comes under Fire; Civilians killed by bomb near Tikrital-Hayat: Guerrillas launched an RPG attack in Karbala, with no casualties reported. Guerrillas fired a Katyusha rocket at the US…

30000 Shiites March In Basra Demanding

30,000 Shiites march in Basra demanding Free and Fair ElectionsBritish troops estimated that 30,000 Shiites demonstrated in Basra on Thursday, with massive crowds beginning at two separate points and wending their way…

One Us Soldier Wounded Several Kbr

One US Soldier Wounded, Several KBR Employees Killed, Samarra Guerrillas killedAP reported a flurry of attacks on US forces on late Tuesday into Wednesday, including "three road ambushes and a hand grenade…

Dean Calls Clark Republican

Dean Calls Clark a "Republican."As Wesley Clark increases his poll numbers despite not running in Iowa, Howard Dean has attacked his credentials as a Democrat, saying, "I truly believe he's a Republican."…

Kennedys Attack On Bush Senator Ted

Kennedy's attack on BushSenator Ted Kennedy's speech attacking Bush was a good summation of the liberal Democratic case against the administration. One allegation caught my eye, concerning Iraq:"He said Bush officials had…

Wave Of Demonstrations Against

Wave of Demonstrations against Abrogation of Civil Personal Status Lawaz-Zaman reports a "storm" of street protests again on Thursday against the Interim Governing Council's abolition of the 1958 civil personal status laws…

Sistani Plays Tribal Card Demonstration

Sistani Plays the Tribal Card; Demonstration in BasraAccording to al-Hayat newspaper, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani held a meeting in Najaf at which he encouraged visiting clan ("tribal") leaders of Rumaitha and Samawah…

Kidnappers Have Private Prisons Patrick

Kidnappers have Private PrisonsPatrick Cockburn reports from Iraq that the wave of kidnappings that began last summer has not subsided. Rather, it has become a crime of choice among Iraq's many gangsters…

Saddam Warned Baathists Against

Saddam Warned Baathists against Cooperating with Radical IslamistsThe New York Times revealed on Wednesday via a leaked document found with Saddam Hussein that the Iraqi dictator forbade his followers in recent months…

Hero Of Day Our Hero Of Day Is Rabbi

Hero of the DayOur hero of the day is Rabbi Arik Ascherman, who put himself in front of a bulldozer in a protest against the Israeli government's razing of the home of…

Another Helicopter Shot Down Bomb In

Another Helicopter Shot Down; Bomb in Baqubah; 4 Killed at Fallujah ProtestsIn the eastern city of Baqubah, guerrillas detonated a car bomb outside a police station, killing several people.The US lost yet…

Continued Demonstrations In Kut

Continued Demonstrations in Kut: Ukrainians kill 1, wound 2 Demonstrators; Kut Governor resignsDemonstrations against unemployment and the poor economic situation in Kut continued for the fourth day on Tuesday. Demonstrators traded gunfire…

Mass Demonstrations By Women Others

Mass demonstrations by Women, Others, against Sudden Islamization of LawThe Baghdad/London daily az-Zaman reports that there were widespread demonstrations on Tuesday by women against the order decreeing abolition of Iraq's uniform civil…

Clark Gains On Dean In New Hampshire

Clark Gains on Dean in New HampshireWesley Clark is gaining on Howard Dean in New Hamphire, at least in the polls. Clark has raised $10 mn. in a short period of time,…

1 Us Soldier Killed Ukrainian Troops

1 US Soldier Killed; Ukrainian Troops fire over Heads of Kut Protesters Nadia Abou al-Magd reports for AP that guerrillas detonated a roadside bomb on Monday in Baghdad that killed one US…

Bremer Will Seek Compromise With

Bremer Will seek Compromise with SistaniThe Arabic press on Tuesday morning mostly reported that Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani had been rebuffed by the Interim Governing Council and by US civil administrator Paul…

International Law Still Allows Us To

International Law still Allows the US to hand Saddam over to Iraqis for trialMa`d Fayyad of ash-Sharq al-Awsat filed a story on Tuesday in which he quoted several experts in international law…

Sistani Insists On General Elections

Sistani Insists on General ElectionsAfter weeks of silence and rumors that he might back down on his demand that free and fair elections be held in Iraq, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani has…

Mahmud Osman We Dont Want To Kurdify

Mahmud Osman: We don't want to Kurdify KirkukKurdish politician and IGC member Mahmud Osman gave a long interview to the London daily ash-Sharq al-Awsat in which he maintained that the Kurds do…

Questions About Clarks Consistency On

Questions about Clark's "Consistency" on Iraq and al-QaedaEdward Wyatt of the New York Times paints Gen. Wesley Clark as "inconsistent" for saying in October, 2002, that there were links between al-Qaeda and…

What Does It Mean That Saddam Is P

What does it mean that Saddam is a P.O.W.? IGC AnnoyedJust when you think you've got Rumsfeld figured out, he throws a spit ball that loops around your elbow. I thought Iyad…

Bremer Opposes Kurdish Canton Talabani

Bremer Opposes Kurdish Canton; Talabani insists on itIn an interview with the London daily al-Hayat, US civil administrator of Iraq Paul Bremer has come out against the idea of consolidating the provinces…

Situation In Basra David Patel Kindly

Situation in BasraDavid Patel kindly writes from Basra with more information about the situation there, some of it contradicting the report in ash-Sharq al-Awsat that I summarized recently:"I noticed you have a…

Higher 2 Day Casualty Totals I Had

Higher 2-day Casualty TotalsI had written on Friday, "(More troops have been killed on a single day in the past, but 44 killed-and-wounded must be the highest 2-day total since May 1;…

Cheney Coup Detat And Death Of Crassus

A Cheney Coup D'Etat? And the Death of Crassus in IraqI knew that Paul Wolfowitz, Deputy Secretary of Defense, and Douglas Feith, Undersecretary of Defense for Planning, came into office in January…

British Kill 6 Injure 11 In Amarah

British Kill 6, Injure 11 in Amarah Unemployment RiotsCrowds gathered in Amara Saturday to protest continued joblessness and also to indicate their displeasure with the mayor of the city. Although the BBC…

Kurds Win On Loose Federalism In Igcs

Kurds win on Loose Federalism in IGC's Fundamental LawKurdish Interim Governing Council member Dara Nour Eddine announced that the IGC had agreed to put language in the Fundamental Law it is now…

Bombing Wounds 37 Kills 5 At Shiite

Bombing Wounds 37, Kills 5 at Shiite Mosque in BaqubahThe WP reports that on Friday in the eastern city of Baqubah, guerrillas detonated a bicycle bomb in front of a Shiite mosque…

Al Hakim Igc Will Invite Un Election

al-Hakim: IGC will Invite UN Election Commission to IraqAbdul Aziz al-Hakim met Thursday with Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani in Najaf, and afterwards announced that the Interim Governing Council will write to Kofi…

Igc Will Implement Islamic Law In

IGC Will Implement Islamic Law in Personal StatusEarlier this year, the Interim Governing Council abolished secularism. This is an item I hadn't come across at the time, and it doesn't seem to…

9 Us Soldiers Killed In Helicopter

9 US Soldiers Killed in Helicopter DowningAP reports that the Blackhawk helicopter downed on Thursday near Fallujah was hit by a rocket. It was a clearly marked medical helicopter, and all 9…

Pachachi Fundamental Law To Be Drafted

Pachachi: Fundamental Law to be Drafted by Jan. 31 This month's president of the Interim Governing Council, Adnan Pachachi, said in a Thursday news conference in Baghdad that he hoped the IGC…

No Wmd

No WMD. Nada. Bupkes*.A message of mine replying to the argument that Iraq did have someWMD but that its nuclear program was not as far along has had beenthought (!!)(See also the…

36 Us Troops Wounded In Mortar Attacks

36 US troops Wounded in Mortar AttacksGuerrillas launched some six mortar rounds at Logistical Base Seitz west of Baghdad on Wednesday, wounding 36 US soldiers. (Reuters initially gave the toll as 35,…

Iranians More Favorable On Iraq

Iranians more Favorable on IraqThe Financial Times reports that Britain's special representative in Iraq, Jeremy Greenstock, has said that he finds a big change in the Iranian attitude toward the Iraq situation.…

Sistani Kofi Annan Consult By Phone

Sistani, Kofi Annan, Consult by PhoneGrand Ayatollah Ali Sistani and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan had a telephone conversation Wednesday about the transition to an Iraqi government this summer, according to sources…

Kurdish Official Calls For Campaign Of

Kurdish official Calls for Campaign of Civil DisobedienceNushirvan Mustafa, the number 2 man in the Kurdish Patriotic Union, has demanded that the Interim Governing Council recognize Kurdish plans for a loose federation…

Clark Blames Cheney Sees Bush As Cipher

Clark Blames Cheney, Sees Bush as CipherFrom Greg Pierce's Inside Politics "Wesley Clark, interviewed by Chris Matthews on MSNBC's "Hardball," was asked, "Tell me what you think about the performance of Dick…

Pigeonholing Cole Ive Been

Pigeonholing ColeI've been concentrating in this Web Log in recent months on Iraq, though I continue to follow al-Qaeda, Pakistan, Iran and other big Middle East developments. I've noticed that others in…

2 Frenchmen Shot 4 Protesters Die Four

2 Frenchmen Shot; 4 Protesters DieFour Iraqi protesters were killed by Iraqi police in Basra. They were veterans demonstrating because they had not received their monthly stipends, promised by the CPA. Two…

Syria Turkey Agree On Kurds Syrias

Syria, Turkey agree on KurdsSyria's Bashar al-Asad, in Ankara for talks with the Turkish government, has come out strongly against Kurdish autonomy from Iraq or the break-up of the country. Syria, Turkey…

New Opinion Poll Results In Iraq 48

New Opinion Poll Results in Iraq: 48% View US PositivelyThe results of an opinion poll done in 5 of Iraq's provinces (Baghdad, Basra, Diwaniyah, al-Hillah, Kirkuk), with 1300 respondents late fall, 2003,…

4 Us Soldiers Wounded Guerrillas

4 US Soldiers wounded Guerrillas detonated a roadside bomb as a US military convoy passed west of Baghdad, wounding three US soldiers on Monday. Other guerrillas ambushed a US soldier northwest of…

Clark Prescient On Nato Democratic

Clark Prescient on NATODemocratic Presidential candidate Wesley Clark has been urging that NATO be given larger responsibilities in Iraq. AP reported that 'Clark said he would try to rapidly establish an Iraqi…

Igc Complains About Announcement That

IGC Complains about Announcement that Coalition Troops will StayThe British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has now said that UK troops are likely to be in Iraq until at least 2007. Interim Governing…

Baathists Being Rehabilitated To Offset

Baathists being Rehabilitated (to offset Shiites?)AFP (via az-Zaman) is reporting that Paul Bremer issued an order three weeks ago allowing Baath Party members to regain their posts and reenter civil society if…

Kirkuk Issue Made Complex By Turkmen

Kirkuk Issue Made Complex by Turkmen, Kurdish Ethnic NationalismThe Turkmen representative on the Interim Governing Council, Songul Chapouk, called Monday for her hometown of Kirkuk to be demilitarized and for weapons to…

Resistance To Us Military Presence

Resistance to US Military Presence Continues Unabated in IraqA reader asked me about my claim that the pace of attacks on US troops hasn't slowed since Saddam's capture. The phrase is the…

Us Soldier Shot Wounded In Tikrit On

US Soldier Shot, wounded in TikritOn Sunday, a guerrilla in Tikrit managed to shoot and wound a US soldier while he was on foot patrol. He is in stable condition.Alaskan journalist Dahr…

Democratic Presidential Debate

Democratic Presidential Debate: Lieberman, Kerry slam DeanIn the Democratic debate yesterday, Sen. Joe Lieberman slammed Howard Dean for saying that the capture of Saddam Hussein had made America no safer: "I don't…

New Sunni Fundamentalist Militia

New Sunni Fundamentalist Militia Announced; al-Kubeisi Exiled by US, will not Join other SunnisThe London daily al-Hayat reports that the "Clear Victory Movement," a Sunni group, has formed a militia to offset…

Us Arrests Kurdish Official But

US arrests Kurdish official but Acquiesces in Continued Kurdish Semi-AutonomyOn the one hand, US troops have moved decisively to arrest a high official of the Kurdistan Democratic Party in Kirkuk, apparently on…

Basra Ward Leader Assassinated Labor

Basra: Ward Leader Assassinated; Labor Riot against al-Khorafi Construction Co.The British-appointed leader of one of Basra's city quarters, an attorney, was assassinated over the weekend. the announcement was made as British PM…

3 Us Soldiers Killed Friday 3 Wounded

3 US soldiers killed Friday, 3 woundedAFP reports that guerrillas in Balad (45 miles north of Baghdad) fired a mortar shell at the US base there around 5:00 pm Baghdad time on…

Iraqi Mi5 In Works Funded At 3 Bn

Iraqi MI5 in the Works, funded at $3 bnAccording to the Telegraph Dick Cheney has managed to put through a plan to have the US CIA train an Iraqi secret police (mukhabarat)…

Kurdish Ethnic Conflict Leaves 6

Kurdish Ethnic Conflict leaves 6 Wounded; Curfew imposed by USSix persons were injured on Saturday in ethnic violence in Kirkuk, and US troops imposed a night time curfew on the city. Paul…

Responses To Top Five Tasks In War On

Responses to 'Top Five Tasks in War on Terror for 2004'On Jan. 2, I presented "Top 5 Tasks Remaining in 2004 in the War on Terror". I received in response some thoughtful…

Mars Rover Spirit Lands Safely Nasa

Mars Rover "Spirit" Lands Safely!!NASA announced around 1 am Sunday 1/4 that the Mars Rover, Spirit, had landed safely on the surface and sent a signal showing that it was undamaged. This…

1 Us Soldier Killed 4 Wounded Us

1 US soldier Killed, 4 woundedA US helicopter was shot down on Friday, killing one US soldier and wounding another. There are confusing reports from the scene. The US military asserts that…

Sunnis Protest Mosque Raid There Was

Sunnis Protest Mosque RaidThere was a large (1000 to 1500 strong) demonstration in the Yarmouk quarter of Baghdad against a US raid on two mosques in the district on Friday. The Guardian…

More Ethnic Violence In Kirkuk Ap

More Ethnic Violence in KirkukAP reported that in the northern, mainly Arab city of Mosul, on Wednesday assailants kidnapped and killed Adel Jabar Abid Mustafa, a Baathist whom Saddam had appointed dean…

30 Bulgarians Refuse To Serve Afp

30 Bulgarians Refuse to ServeAFP reports that 30 Bulgarian soldiers in a 500-man battalion scheduled to go to Iraq have refused to serve there. A recent attack by guerrillas in Karbala wounded…

6 Us Troops Wounded Weds

6 US troops wounded Weds.; Bomb blast in Baghdad Kills 8 IraqisAP reported that on Wednesday, a bomb hidden in foliage outside a Baghdad restaurant exploded as a US army convoy passed.…

Top 5 Tasks Remaining In 2004 In War On

Top 5 Tasks Remaining in 2004 in the War on TerrorUS Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld worried in a memo last fall that the US lacks a "metric" or a means of…

Bremer And Cpa Extremely Offended At

Bremer and CPA "Extremely Offended" at Call for UN Role A member of the Interim Governing Council, Mahmoud Osman, told al-Hayat newspaper that the Coalition Provisional Authority was extremely offended by the…

Ethnic Violence In Kurdistan Boils Over

Ethnic Violence in Kurdistan Boils Over; 3 Dead on Thursday, 5 Dead on WednesdayOn Thursday, Kirkuk Police Chief Turhan Yusuf said, "Unknown attackers stabbed two Kurds to death and threw their bodies…