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Archives: November 2005

Cole In Salon And Truthdig In Salon

Cole in Salon and Truthdig In Salon.com today, I ask "Did Bush plan to Bomb al-Jazeera?" And present new evidence that Rumsfeld considered the Arabic satellite station's reporting to be a form…

Wilkerson Cheney May Be War Criminal

Wilkerson: Cheney May be a War CriminalLawrence Wilkerson, former chief of staff of Colin Powell, told the BBC that Vice President Dick Cheney may be guilty of war crimes for arguing that…

Shiite Militiamen Terrorize Sunni

Shiite Militiamen Terrorize Sunni Arabs Khalilzad Agrees to Talk to Sunni Guerrillas Now terrorists are killing Christian (Chaldo-Assyrian) politicians.The New York Times seems to have become convinced of the credibility of Sunni…

Khalilzad To Talk To Iranians Monday

Khalilzad to talk to Iranians Monday in Iraq was characterized by the usual mayhem, much of it with a dark sectarian character. Two prominent members of the Sunni Iraqi Islamic Party and…

Us Air Power To Replace Infantry In

US Air Power to Replace Infantry in Iraq; Distant President Trapped in UtopianismVeteran journalist Seymour Hersh is reporting in the New Yorker that the Bush administration has decided to draw down ground…

Rubaie Us Will Withdraw Completely

Rubaie: US will Withdraw Completely from Some Areas Muqtada offers National Pact Al-Sharq al-Awsat: Muwaffaq al-Rubaie, national security adviser to the Iraqi government, said Saturday that "The American forces will soon turn…

Al Qaeda Plot Against Tourist Hotels

Al-Qaeda Plot Against Tourist Hotels in Morocco Busted Up 2 Suspects had fought in Iraq Al-Zaman/ AFP: Moroccan security agencies said Saturday that they had foiled a attempt by al-Qaeda to attack…

Iraqi Guerrillas Made Key Demands Of

Iraqi Guerrillas Made Key Demands of CIA at Cairo ConferenceAl-Hayat says that [Arabic URL] informed sources maintained to it that the intelligence services of the Arab states, of Iraq, of the guerrilla…

Ministry Of Interior Moles Busted Wave

Ministry of Interior Moles Busted Wave of Kidnappings, Killings in Mosul, Tikrit Al-Zaman: American forces killed Shaikh Abdullah al-Ani, the preacher at the mosque in the town of Qaim, near the Syrian…

Britain Israel Breaking Law Spreading

Britain: Israel Breaking Law, Spreading Terrorism by Jerusalem Policies The British government presented a secret report to the European Union in which it accused Israel of violating international law and its obligations…

Cruel Thanksgiving In Iraq Over 50

Cruel Thanksgiving in Iraq Over 50 Dead Over 50 Iraqis were killed and 47 wounded in separate attacks on Thursday.In Mahmudiyah just south of Baghdad, a bomber detonated his payload outside a…

White Phosphorus Round Up George

White Phosphorus Round-up George Monbiot of the Guardian weighs in on the current state of the debate on the US military's use of white phosphorus at Fallujah. I think he is too…

Dulaim Chiefs Murder Splits Iraqis

Dulaim Chief's Murder Splits IraqisGuerrillas detonated another bomb in Baghdad on Tuesday, killing 2 and wounding another 2.The murder of Khadim Sarhid al-Hamaiyim, leader of a branch of the Dulaim tribe, on…

Bush As Press Assassin Baathist In

Bush as Press Assassin? Baathist in a Mirror The Mirror broke the story on Tuesday that a secret British memo demonstrates that George W. Bush wanted to bomb Aljazeera's offices in Doha,…

Massacre In Kirkuk Bush Suppressed Cia

Massacre in Kirkuk Bush Suppressed CIA Report exonerating Saddam of al-Qaeda Ties On Wednesday morning, a shaikh of the Dulaim tribe and 3 sons and a son-in-law were shot dead in West…

Iraqis Ask For Withdrawal Timetable Ap

Iraqis ask for Withdrawal Timetable AP reports on the results of the Cairo national reconciliation conference, attended by the major Iraqi political factions, including Sunni Arabs.Al-Hayat gives the orginal Arabic wording of…

Sharons Critique Of Authoritarian

Sharon's Critique of the Authoritarian Likud Party Ariel Sharon's resignation from the Likud Party is a more forceful critique of that party than any I have offered. Likudniks are notoriously unable to…

Guest Editorial On Murtha Achcar And

Guest Editorial on Murtha: Achcar & Shalom"On John Murtha's Position" by Gilbert Achcar and Stephen R. ShalomThere is much of which to approve in the recent speech of Rep. John P. Murtha,…

Link Exchange Courtesy Link Exchange

Link Exchange Courtesy Link Exchange for Informed CommentAcid Test. Politics and science.Against the War on Terror. Amicus For Peace. Christian, Jewish and Muslim Dialogue.Ansonia Ventures. Political images.Baker Muckraker. Political comment.The Blue State:…

Blogroll Political Journalism Talking

Blogroll Political Journalism Talking Points Memo - Joshua Micah Marshall (Progressive politics, elegantly argued.)Air America (Progressive Web Site with Radio Stream)Huffington Post.Helena Cobban - Just World News (Veteran journalist, Middle East) The…

Iraqi Army Not Ready For At Least Two

Iraqi Army Not Ready for at Least Two Years Zarqawi's group rejects Talabani Parlay OfferViolence in Iraq on Sunday left 2 American and one British soldier dead, along with some 12 Iraqis,…

Zarqawi Rip It Just Does Not Matter If

Zarqawi RIP? It just does not matter if Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is dead. US troops searched a house in Mosul where guerrillas took their own lives rather than be captured for signs…

More Than 50 Dead In Saturday Bombings

More than 50 Dead in Saturday Bombings Guerrillas killed 5 GIs and wounded 5 others in Baiji on Saturday with roadside bombs.They also blew up a market in southern Baghdad near the…

Conversation Between Sunni Muslim And

Conversation between a Sunni Muslim and a SCIRI LeaderGilbert Achcar kindly writes:"AN EXCHANGE BETWEEN SUNNI MUSLIMS AND A SCIRI LEADEROn the occasion of the Iraqi conference to be held in Cairo under…

What To Do If This Page Is Old Readers

What to Do if this Page is Old Readers sometimes have difficulty seeing recent postings. There are always recent postings. If your browser is showing a posting from several days ago, that…

Straw Man Resolution In Congress

Straw Man Resolution in Congress: Joking around with the Lives of the Troops Brad Blog gives the text of Democratic congressman and retired Marine Colonel John Murtha's resolution on Iraq:Therefore be it…

Dozens Dead In Another Black Friday

Dozens Dead in another Black Friday Shiite Worshippers Massacred Suicide bombers went into two Shiite religious centers [Husayniyyahs] in Khaniqin northeast of Baghdad on Friday at the time of noon Friday prayers…

Blowing In Wind In Background Of

Blowing in the Wind In the background of today's entries, Bob Dylan's "blowing in the wind" is playing.How many roads must a man walk downBefore you call him a man?In response to…

Skin Is Peeling Off New Iraq White

The Skin is Peeling off the New Iraq: White Phosphorus and Torture Al-Quds al-Arabi: First, the Pentagon was forced to admit that it had in fact used white phosphorus as a weapon…

Woodward And Insider Trading Bob

Woodward and Insider TradingBob Woodward, who as a young man exposed the Watergate burglaries has now become wrapped up in a scandal himself. He did not tell his employers at the Washington…

Iraqi Prisoner Abuse Preparations For

Iraqi Prisoner Abuse Preparations for Cairo Conference Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari revealed Tuesday that nearly 200 prisoners detained by the Ministry of the Interior had been discovered to have been tortured…

Woman Bomber Unrepentant Al Hayat

Woman Bomber UnrepentantAl-Hayat: Sajidah Mubarak Atrus al-Rishawi, who attempted to detonate a belt bomb at the Radisson SAS hotel in Amman last Wednesday night is still unrepentant. She insists that she is…

Muslims And 5 Questions Somebody Named

Muslims and the 5 Questions Somebody named Dennis Prager wrote a frankly bigotted op-ed for the LA Times asking "Muslims" 5 questions. The questions are fairly easy to answer in themselves, but…

Strange Death Of Moustapha Akkad

The Strange Death of Moustapha Akkad; Zarqawi and "Halloween" The ironies and dangers of globalization are tragically epitomized in the death last week of Hollywood director Moustapha Akkad at the Radisson SAS…

Bombing At Green Zone Exodus Of

Bombing at Green Zone; Exodus of Physicians from Capital Guerrillas detonated a roadside bomb outside an entrance to the Green Zone in downtown Baghdad, striking at a convoy of 3 vehicles and…

Death And Revenge In Iraq Guerrillas

Death and Revenge In Iraq Guerrillas killed two US troops on Sunday and a third died in a jeep accident. Mortar shells fell near the Iranian embassy in downtown Baghdad. A guerrilla…

Bush Administration Lie About Iraq

Bush Administration Lie about Iraq George W. Bush denied on Veteran's Day that he had manipulated intelligence in order to take the country to war against Iraq. He said that the Democrats…

Sister Of Tawhids Anbar Cell Captured

Sister of Tawhid's Anbar Cell Captured in Jordan BombingsJordanian authorities have captured Sajida Mubarak Atrous al-Rishawi, the wife of suicide bomber Ali Hussein Ali al-Shamari, who detonated his belt bomb at the…

5 Dead In Baghdad Blast Sistani

5 Dead in Baghdad Blast Sistani withdraws from Politics The 77 refitted T-72 Soviet-era tanks offered to Iraq by Hungary have finally arrived, at Taji base. The tanks were due in September.…

Omani Embassy Killings Iraqis

Omani Embassy Killings Iraqis Suspected in Jordan Bombings First, Secretary of State Condi Rice called Friday for more Arab states to open embassies in Iraq. Then, guerrillas staged a drive-by shooting at…

67 Dead In Iraq Guerrilla Violence

67 Dead in Iraq Guerrilla ViolenceOliver Poole of the Telegraph reports that suicide bombers hit a restaurant in Baghdad on Thursday that is a favorite of local police, killing at least 33…

Al Qaeda In Iraq Claims Jordan

Al-Qaeda in Iraq Claims Jordan Bombings Jordanians held an anti-terrorism demonstration in Amman on Thursday to protest the hotel bombings. The death toll rose to 59.The Times of London reported that"Bashir Nafeh,…

Mccain And Oil Spots Senator John

McCain and the Oil SpotsSenator John McCain has now jumped on the "oil-spot" bandwagon, urging that the US forces concentrate on making a handful of key cities safe rather than doing sweep…

Sistani Aide Blasts Jaafari Government

Sistani Aide Blasts Jaafari GovernmentFrom BBC World Monitoring:November 11, 2005AIDE SAYS IRAQ'S AL-SISTANI'S CRITICIZES PM AL-JA'FARI'S GOVERNMENTText of report by Iraqi Al-Sharqiyah TV on 11 NovemberThe representative of Grand Ayatollah Al-Sayyid Ali…

Chalabi Rides Again My Article On

Chalabi Rides AgainMy article on Ahmad Chalabi and his revived connections to the Bush administration and the Neocons is at Salon.com.Excerpt:On the street in Iraq, people give nicknames to the big longtime-expatriate…

Terrorists Strike Hotels In Amman

Terrorists Strike Hotels in Amman Suicide bombers struck three tourist hotels in Amman, Jordan on Thursday, killing at least 67 persons and wounding nearly 200. Among the innocent victims was a wedding…

Baghdad Bombs Kill 13 Wound 34

Baghdad Bombs kill 13, wound 34; Divisions among Jihadis AFP reports that "13 people, including seven Iraqi policemen and six civilians, were killed and 34 were injured in three car bombs in…

Kashmir Victims 80000 May Die 3

Kashmir Victims: 80,000 May Die; 3 Million HomelessDisasters in South Asia are Himalayan compared to our own. Three million persons have been made homeless in Pakistan. Oxfam and other aid agencies are…

Stevenson On Riots In France Roger

Stevenson on Riots in FranceRoger Stevenson kindly writes:"Thanks so much for your thoughtful and enlightened piece on the riots that are currently besetting France. I, too, am extremely upset over the inflated,…

Judith Miller Fired From New York

Judith Miller fired from New York TimesLynne Duke examines the issues around the departure of Judith Miller from the NYT. Toward the end, she raises the question of whether Miller is a…

Problem With Frenchness Readers Have

The Problem with Frenchness Readers have asked me for comment about the riots in France that have now provoked emergency laws and a curfew. What I would rather comment on, however, is…

Saddam Attorney Assassinated Reuters

Saddam Attorney AssassinatedReuters reports that another attorney working for Saddam's defense team was assassinated on Tuesday. It is obvious that Saddam cannot be properly tried in Iraq under these circumstances.It is not…

Chalabi And Abdul Mahdi Informed

Chalabi and Abdul MahdiAn informed reader writes:' There appears to be some Bush Administration disarray in relation to the candidates for Iraqi Prime Minister, which the “Western press” deem to be Messrs.…

Conyers To Chalabi Press Release From

Conyers to ChalabiA press release from the office of Congressman John Conyers:Today, Congressman John Conyers, Jr., Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, Congressman Maurice Hinchey and other Members will send the…

5 Gis Dead Us Kills 36 In Qaim

5 GIs Dead, US Kills 36 in Qaim District; Guerrillas Kill 16Guerrillas at a checkpoint south of Baghdad detonated a car bomb that killed 4 US GIs. In addition, AFP writes:' A…

Italians Release Video Of Phosphorous

Italians Release Video of Phosphorous Attack on FallujahThe Italian television network RAI has released a video that includes an interview with an ex-Marine and footage of the use of phosphorous bombs at…

Comment Section Rules Comment Section

Comment Section RulesThe comment section of Informed Comment is intended to allow readers to weigh in on the issues raised in the postings. The ideal comment would be meaty, with some analysis…

Comments At Informed Comment Readers

Comments at Informed CommentReaders have occasionally asked for a comment feature at this web site.I of course love the idea, but did not move in that direction for a number of reasons.…

Future Of Book Institute For Future Of

Future of the BookThe Institute for the Future of the Book is having a gathering soon to which I am invited, as an academic blogger.They thought it would be useful to poll…

Dennis Oflaherty Reader Comment On

Dennis O'Flaherty Reader Comment on Qaim CampaignCole: [Al-Zaman: Sunni Arab leaders accused the US of conducting a campaign of genocide and ethnic cleansing in their sweep of the Western cities. (This allegation…

Blair Could Have Delayed Beginning Of

Blair Could have Delayed Beginning of War: Meyer; Sadrists Will Boycott Cairo Conference Sir Christopher Meyer, former British ambassador in Washington, blames Prime Minister Tony Blair for not slowing the Bush administration's…

Bush And 7 Deadly Sins Washington Post

Bush and the 7 Deadly SinsThe Washington Post reports a new poll that shows that the public's approval of Bush in the realms of trust, honesty and values has declined even in…

Sunni Constitution Drafter Killed

Sunni Constitution Drafter Killed; Chalabi in Iran Fakhri al-Qaisi of the National Dialogue Council was assassinated in Baghdad on Saturday. The Sunni politician had helped draft the new Iraqi constitution and was…

Al Libi Tagged As Liar By Us

Al-Libi Tagged as Liar by US Intelligence Bush Alleged Saddam-al-Qaeda Tie Douglas Jehl of the NYT reports that the Defense Intelligence Agency and other intelligence professionals strongly suspected that Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi…

Sunni Cleric Calls For Participation

Sunni Cleric Calls for Participation in Elections NATO Rules out Iraq Role Al-Sharq al-Awsat/ AFP: The Sunni religious leader in the Association of Muslim Scholars, Shaikh Mahmud Mahdi al-Sumaidaie has called on…

Former Uk Ambassador In Washington

Former UK Ambassador in Washington: Iraq War brought Terror to UK Sir Christopher Meyer, former UK ambassador in Washington, DC, admits that the war he supported increased the risks of terrorism in…

Sectarianism Dominates Iraq In Run Up

Sectarianism Dominates Iraq in Run-up to Elections The December 15 elections are shaping up as a sectarian affair. The United Iraqi Alliance groups four of the five main Shiite religious parties: Dawa,…

Billmon On Zarqawi Myth Billmon Does

Billmon on the Zarqawi MythBillmon does an excellent job of summarizing my argument that the Sunni Arab guerrillas (many of them rooted in the old Baath security forces) are attempting to provoke…

Libby Pleads Innocent I Just Saw That

Libby Pleads InnocentI just saw that former vice presidential chief of staff Irving Lewis Libby has pleaded innocent of charges that he obstructed justice and lied under oath. If Libby sticks with…

Triangulating Scandal Italian

Triangulating a ScandalThe Italian parliament is again looking into charges that Italian military intelligence passed forged documents alleging Iraqi purchases of Niger uranium to the US. The charges were amplified in the…

20 Killed In Mosque Guerrillas

20 Killed in Mosque The guerrillas detonated a huge bomb outside a Shiite mosque on Wednesday at Musayyib south of Baghdad, killing 20 and wounding twice that number. Another four GIs were…

North African Riots In Paris Paris

North African Riots in Paris Paris outskirts had a seventh night of violence on Wednesday. The riots seem to be typical race riots, mainly involving North and West African Muslims. Some 200…

Blogging At Billmons Brief Blogging Im

Blogging at Billmon's The brief blogging I'm doing this morning is courtesy of the kindness of Billmon, whom I'm visiting. He'll have something to say about a talk I gave yesterday evening…

Dems Press For Iraq Investigation

Dems Press for Iraq Investigation Toward A Unified Field Theory of the Fraud? Senator Harry Reid, backed by Senators Charles Schumer and Debbie Stabenow, invoked an arcane rule of the senate allowing…

Talabani Opposes Military Action

Talabani Opposes Military Action against Syria Admits Helplessness Some 20 Iraqis were killed or wounded in guerrilla violence on Tuesday. In one incident, a 13 year old boy carried out a suicide…

Car Bomb Kills 20 In Basra 7 Us Troops

Car Bomb Kills 20 in Basra 7 US Troops Killed Bombing near Qaim Guerrilla violence in Iraq killed 7 GIs on Monday, making October the deadliest month in Iraq for US troops…

Libby Replaced By Scandal Ridden Aides

Libby Replaced by Scandal-Ridden Aides Vice President Richard Bruce Cheney replaced his indicted chief of staff, Irving Lewis Libby on Monday with two problematic figures-- David Addington and John Hannah.As Jonathan Landay…