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Archives: February 2005

Breaking News Lebanese Government

Breaking News: Lebanese Government Resigns in Face of VideoClip RevolutionFutur television satellite news is reporting that the Lebanese government has resigned. For the last few days, I was watching the crowds assembled…

Breaking News Bloodbath In Hilla With

Breaking News: Bloodbath in Hilla with 120 Dead, 200 WoundedGuerrillas drove a carbomb into the midst of young Shiite men standing in line to get physicals for service in the police or…

8 Dead In Mosul Uia Visits Sistani

8 Dead in Mosul UIA visits Sistani Threat of a Deadlock Guerrillas detonated a bomb in Mosul on Sunday that killed 8 persons and injured at least two more. The Syrians found…

Mubarak And Elections Egyptian

Mubarak and elections,Egyptian President Husni Mubarak is going to allow multiparty competition for the presidency. But note that only offically recognized parties can field candidates. This step excludes the Muslim Brotherhood, probably…

S Book Review On Islam And Iraq Paul

sBook Review on Islam and IraqPaul William Roberts reviews a number of books about Islam and/or Iraq, and has some kind words about my Sacred Space and Holy War.

Pipeline Sabotage Baghdad Bombing Ten

Pipeline Sabotage, Baghdad BombingTen people were killed and 11 kidnapped in Iraq on Saturday. The current Marine offensive against guerrillas in Ramadi killed 3 and wounded 15. Al-Hayat reports this as a…

5 Us Troops Die Sistani Blesses

5 US Troops Die Sistani Blesses JaafariIbrahim Jaafari, the candidate for prime minister of the religious Shiite coalition, met Friday with Grand Ayatollah Sistani,who "blessed" (i.e. endorsed) his candidacy. This blessing will…

30 Dead In Iraq Violence Ap Reports

30 Dead in Iraq Violence AP reports that the one-day total for war-related violence in Iraq, including the police station bombing in Tikrit reported here yesterday morning, came to 30. That is…

Koufax Complete List Ive Gotten Around

Koufax Complete List I've gotten around to stealing code for the complete list of Koufax Award Winners at Wampum.Best Blog (Non-Sponsored): Daily KosBest Blog (Pro): Talking Points Memo by Josh MarshallBest Writing:…

Bomb Blasts In Tikrit Haglaniyah Mosul

Bomb Blasts in Tikrit, Haglaniyah, Mosul Produce Dozens of Casualties AP reports on violence in Iraq Tuesday:' A car bomb exploded near police headquarters in the Iraqi city of Tikrit on Thursday,…

Were Shiites Cheated And What Does

Were the Shiites Cheated? And What does Allawi Want?Al-Hayat has a long interview with an "informed Iraqi source" who is close to US officials in Iraq. He maintains that the US officials…

Show Trials And Phony Confessions

Show Trials and Phony Confessions Target SyriaAP reports on a televised confession of someone who said he was a Syrian agent in Iraq in charge of terrorist operations. The confession was broadcast…

Association Of Muslim Scholars Denies

Association of Muslim Scholars Denies Negotiations with USGilbert Achcar kindly supplied the following translation:The following interesting excerpt from today's (Feb 23) Al-Hayat (my translation from Arabic): ' A member of the Association…

Iraq Blogging Nick Turse At

Iraq-BloggingNick Turse at tomdispatch.com skewers Donald Rumsfeld's various rhetorical strategies of evasion whenever he has been asked hard questions about Abu Ghraib, the situation in Iraq, etc.:' I was truly curious: Was…

Germans Trust Putin More Than Bush

Germans Trust Putin More than BushFrank Domoney kindly sends his translation of a Die Welt article that reports that over-all, the German public trusts Vladimir Putin more than it trusts George W.…

Koufax Awards Koufax Awards Have Been

Koufax AwardsThe Koufax Awards have been announced. Many, many thanks to readers who voted mine the best "Expert Blog" and made my piece, "If America were Iraq, What would it be Like?…

Free Mojtaba And Arash If Blogdex Is

Free Mojtaba and ArashIf Blogdex is any indication the campaign to free Mojtaba and Arash is going well.The Iranian government is not immune to public opinion, and I hope people will keep…

Jaafari Slams Hilary Stephen Farrell

Jaafari slams Hilary Stephen Farrell reports for the London Times that a minor tiff occurred last week between Senator Hilary Clinton and prime ministerial candidate Ibrahim Jaafari:' Last week Hillary Clinton, the…

Chalabi Is Prevailed Upon To Withdraw

Chalabi is Prevailed upon to WithdrawIt turns out that the other members of the United Iraqi Alliance prevailed on Ahmad Chalabi to drop his bid to become candidate for prime minister. It…

Breaking News Jaafari Pm Candidate For

Breaking News: Jaafari PM Candidate for UIAWell, the United Iraqi Alliance just announced that Ibrahim Jaafari has won out against Ahmad Chalabi. Jaafari's victory is not a surprise, since he was backed…

3 Us Troops Dead 8 Wounded 18 Iraqis

3 US Troops Dead, 8 Wounded 18 Iraqis Killed Wire services reported that ' Twenty-two people including four US soldiers have died in a series of attacks in Iraq since Sunday evening,…

Uia Will Hold Secret Ballot Chalabi

UIA Will Hold Secret Ballot Chalabi, Allawi Still in Running for PMThe Shiite religious coalition, the United Iraqi Alliance, will hold a secret ballot within the list to decide on a prime…

Basra Council Dominated By

Basra Council Dominated by FundamenatlistsAsh-Sharq al-Awsat: The results have been announced for Basra province. The city of Basra alone has 1.2 million inhabitants, so this is a major province, and is largely…

Back Channels Us Military Has

Back Channels The US military has established back-channel negotiations with some of the leaders of the Sunni Arab guerrilla war, according to Time magazine. Earlier on, the US had refused such negotiations.Ahmad…

Abu Ghraib In Brooklyn Larry Cohler

Abu Ghraib in Brooklyn Larry Cohler-Esses of the New York Daily News reveals that Abu Ghraib has been going on in the United States itself. Five Israeli suspects and dozens of Muslim…

How Many Methods Are There To Enact

How Many Methods Are There to Enact a New Constitution in Iraq?Guest Editorialby Andrew AratoMany commentators keep repeating a fundamentally erroneous statement, namely that Sunni part of the population unrepresented in the…

Chalabi Interviewed By Stephanopoulos

Chalabi Interviewed by StephanopoulosGeorge Stephanopoulos interviewed Ahmad Chalabi on ABC's This Week Sunday morning. Here are some excerpts from the press release issued with the transcript afterwards:' · When Mr. Stephanopoulos asked…

At Least 55 Dead Over 100 Wounded In

At Least 55 Dead, Over 100 Wounded In Ashura Bombings Eight suicide bombers struck at various sites in Iraq on Saturday, killing and wounding dozens during the commemboration of Ashura. This holy…

Present Conflicts Looming Conflicts

Present Conflicts, Looming Conflicts Reuters reports, ' Five U.S. soldiers were killed in separate guerrilla attacks in Iraq, the U.S. military said Friday, three in or near the northern city of Mosul,…

Bomb Blasts Kill At Least 40 Suicide

Bomb Blasts kill at Least 40Suicide bombers targeted three Shiite mosques in Baghdad and one near Kirkuk, and other blasts went off elsewhere in the country, wreaking devastation. The guerrillas continue to…

Shiite Iraq Al Hayat Muhammad Husain

Shiite IraqAl-Hayat: Muhammad Husain Adili, the Iranian ambassador to the United Kingdom, said Thursday that his government had leant substantial help to the United States in fostering a "calm atmosphere" for the…

Shiites Have Majority Iraq_110867151708965021

Shiites Have MajorityThe Iraqi Electoral Commission confirmed on Thursday the projection I reported here last Monday, that the United Iraqi Alliance or the Shiite religious parties have a 51 percent majority of…

Engelhardt And Hiro On Iraqs Fault

Engelhardt and Hiro on Iraq's Fault LinesTom Engelhardt is a national treasure and always worth reading. Whenever I think that Russell Jacoby might have been right about the passing of the "last…

Jaafari Islam To Be Source Of

Jaafari: "Islam to be Source of Legislation"Against the backdrop of political horse trading, the violence continued in Iraq on Tuesday. AFP reports:' Two soldiers were killed and another wounded when a bomb…

Hariri Murder Provokes Political Split

Hariri Murder Provokes Political SplitThe family of slain former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri refused to allow members of the government of President Lahoud to attend his massive funeral in Beirut on…

Jaafari Takes Lead Reuters Is

Jaafari Takes lead Reuters is reporting that Ibrahim Jaafari is emerging as the frontrunner in the negotiations for prime minister. Jaafari opposed the US military assault on Fallujah, telling UPI: ' I…

Guerrillas Kill Us Soldier Cbc Reports

Guerrillas Kill US Soldier The CBC reports that " Roadside bombs killed a U.S. soldier and three Iraqi National Guard troops Monday and officials said insurgents blew up an oil pipeline near…

Hariri Killed In Huge Car Bombing In

Hariri Killed in Huge Car Bombing in BeirutEchoes of the bad old days reverberated through Beirut Monday when a powerful car bomb was detonated in front of the St. Georges Hotel, killing…

Shiites Take Absolute Majority In

Shiites Take Absolute Majority in Parliament Iran Scores Victory in the Iraqi ElectionsLebanese Broadcasting Co.'s satellite television news is reporting that the United Iraqi Alliance (UIA), comprising Shiite religious parties, has won…

Ams On Its Role In Forcing Elections

AMS on its Role in Forcing ElectionsThanks to Gilbert Ashcar for kindly sharing and permitting the reprinting of his translation of this recent article from al-Hayat, which is revealing of attitudes in…

Committee To Protect Bloggers

Committee to Protect BloggersThe Committee to Protect Bloggers is proposing a special campaign for imprisoned Iranian bloggers on Tuesday, February 22. This is a great idea.

Platform Of Al Hakims Leader Of United

Platform of the Al-HakimsThe leader of the United Iraqi Alliance, which is likely to have a majority of seats in parliament when the smoke clears, is Abdul Aziz al-Hakim. He is the…

Distribution Of Seats In Iraqi

Distribution of Seats in Iraqi ParliamentAl-Hayat [Arabic link] has printed the number of seats won by all the small parties in the Iraqi elections. The total number of seats is 275. What…

Shiites Kurds Win Big Bush Loses

Shiites, Kurds, win Big Bush Loses Election in IraqSome key election results are now being reported for Iraq. The statistics available point to about 8.5 million voters out of an eligible 14…

Sciri Sweeps Provincial Elections In

SCIRI Sweeps Provincial Elections in South There is a rumor going around that interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi has formed a parliamentary coaltion with the Kurds in a bid to create a…

31 Killed Friday 17 Early Saturday On

31 Killed Friday, 17 early Saturday On Saturday, guerrillas set off a car bomb in the mixed Sunni-Shiite city of Musayyib. The bomb killed 17 and wounded 16, including 3 policemen.The explosion…

Over 50 Dead In Iraq Carnage As

Over 50 Dead in Iraq Carnage as Rumsfeld VisitsAnthony Shadid of the Washington Post reports carnage in Iraq on Thursday. A huge car bomb ripped through Liberation Square in Baghdad, killing four.…

Post Election Violence And Maneuvering

Post-Election Violence and Maneuvering AP reports that ' An American soldier was killed Wednesday and another wounded in an ambush north of the capital, the U.S. military said . . . Gunmen…

Some 30 Killed In Iraq Violence

Some 30 Killed in Iraq Violence [Updated early Weds. Morning] A guerrilla strapped on a bomb belt and blew up a police recruiting station in west Baghdad Tuesday, killing at least 21…

Playing With Human Lives Goldbergs

Playing with Human Lives Goldberg's descent into pathetic lack of humanity has been a pitiful thing to watch. I am so sorry to bother readers here with this one last posting on…

Guerrillas Kill Over 30 Wound Dozens

Guerrillas Kill over 30, wound Dozens, In Continued Iraq Violence Sadr Movement Coming in Third in South Mariam Fam of AP gives us the details of the continued guerrilla war in Iraq.…

Goldberg V

Goldberg v. Cole Redux Goldberg seems to like embarrassing himself, so he won't let go. Let us see what has been established. First, I alleged that Goldberg has never read a book…

Republicans Iraq And Islamic Republic

The Republicans' Iraq and the Islamic Republic of Iraq A guerrilla attack on a police station at Mahawil south of Baghdad left 22 police and soldiers, and 14 attackers, dead on Sunday.…

Letter To Jonah Goldberg Reader Ccd Me

Letter to Jonah Goldberg A reader cc'd me with this letter to Jonah Goldberg and allowed me to share it here. Jonah: In your post to the Corner today ("A NEW DAY"),…

Focus On Elections In Iraq Al Hayat

Focus on Elections in Iraq Al-Hayat: An official spokesman for the Da`wa Party said Saturday that its political office had put forward Ibrahim Jafari as a candidate for president of Iraq. At…

Wolcott On Goldbergs Language

Wolcott on Goldberg's Language Competencies James Wolcott of Vanity Fair weighs in on the Goldberg/Cole debate. My favorite line: "Yes, but Jonah speaks fluent Simpsons, which is why he's so popular with…

Shiite Religious Coalition Dominates

Shiite Religious Coalition Dominates Parliamentary Voting With 3.3 million votes counted from about 10 mostly southern provinces, the United Iraqi Alliance of mainly Shiite religious parties is so far garnering an astounding…

Jonah Goldberg Embarrasses Himself

Jonah Goldberg Embarrasses Himself Once Again Jonah Goldberg attacked yours truly in a column recently. I think it is time to be frank about some things. Jonah Goldberg knows absolutely nothing about…

2 Us Soldiers Killed 5 Wounded 19

2 US soldiers Killed, 5 wounded 19 Iraqis killed; Mosque Bombed CNN reports that guerrillas used a roadside bomb to kill two US soldiers and wound five others near Baiji outside Tikrit…

Guerrillas Kill 29 Incl

Guerrillas Kill 29, Incl. 3 Marines Sistani List Looks set to Win Big Late in the Iraqi election season, interim Prime Minister Allawi and his supporters clearly attempted to build a buzz…

Guest Editorial Arato On

Guest Editorial: Arato on Constitutional Participation in Iraq Constitutional Participation in Iraq by Andrew Arato The election of January 30, 2005 was Sistani’s victory. It is indisputable that it was he above…

Marine Generals Idea Of Fun Marine Lt

Marine General's Idea of Fun Marine Lt. General James Mattis said Thursday ' "Actually, it's a lot of fun to fight. You know, it's a hell of a hoot. ... It's fun…

Guerrillas Kill 11 As Mosul Ninevah

Guerrillas Kill 11 as Mosul & Ninevah Demonstrate Security problems are reemerging as traffic gets back to normal. Al-Zaman says that Tuesday and Wednesday 11 persons were killed in Baghdad, including 8…

Bombing I Dont Always Agree With Dahr

The Bombing I don't always agree with Dahr Jamail, an independent journalist in Iraq. I don't think the US used chemical weapons at Fallujah, and I don't think people were coerced to…

Religious Shiites Claim Victory Abdul

Religious Shiites claim Victory Abdul Aziz al-Hakim claimed victory in the Sunday elections for the United Iraqi Alliance, the coalition of religious Shiite parties he leads. And this is what the winners,…

3 Marines Killed 2 Wounded Violent

3 Marines Killed, 2 Wounded Violent clashes broke out Tuesday into early Wednesday between guerrillas and US Marines in the vicinity of Fallujah, according to LBC (Lebanese satellite television news). Al-Jazeerah is…

Election Fallout Ash Sharq Al Awsat

Election Fallout Ash-Sharq al-Awsat: The Association of Muslims Scholars, a hardline Sunni clerical group, announced that it rejects the legitimacy of the elections, insofar as they were conducted under the shadow of…

Guest Editorial Fisher On Perle And

Guest Editorial: Fisher on Perle and Iran THE PRINCE OF WONDERLAND By William Fisher Good news! The Prince of Darkness has morphed into The Prince of Peace. Having fixed Iraq, Richard Perle…