Archives for December 2005

Al-Hakim Sees Baghdad as Federated Province Sadrists Urge Alliance with Sunni Arabs Al-Zaman/ AFP [Ar.]: Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, the head of the victorious (fundamentalist Shiite) United Iraqi Alliance suggested Friday that Baghdad province join Kurdistan, the Middle Euphrates, and the deep south as a confederacy with special privileges, overseen by a federal government. He said […]

Iraq Petroleum Crisis Bahr al-Ulum Forced Out Drivers in Baghdad are waiting in lines a quarter of a mile long, according to the NYT, as the country faces a fuel crisis. They feared further price increases, and were also stocking gasoline to run their generators, since electricity provision in the capital has been erratic. Al-Zaman/ […]

Iraq Petroleum Production “Suffocating”: Bahr al-Ulum An informed observer writes: ‘ Reuters reports that “average exports in November fell to 1.21 million barrels a day – the lowest level since at least November 2003 – and down from 1.24 million barrels per day last month,” indicating that something may be seriously wrong. The figures for […]

The Middle East and America in 2005: How the Region Has Changed The Bush administration has several major policy goals in the Middle East, which are often self-contradictory. They include: 1. Fighting terrorism emanating from the region, which might menace the US or its major allies, Israel and Saudi Arabia. 2. Ensuring the security of […]

International Team to Assess Elections Al-Hakim meets Talabani In Baghdad, , AP reports that the International Mission for Iraqi Elections will send a team of assessors to look into charges by Sunni Arabs and secularists that there was significant ballot stuffing in the Dec. 15 elections. UN observer Craig Jenness had earlier defended the over-all […]

10-20 Dead in Failed Terrorist Prison Break Sunni Arabs Demonstrate Against Election Results in Samarra Prison guards killed between 4 and 16 inmates when some of them attempted a jail break from a special facility for terrorists in Kadhimiyah, northeast Baghdad, on Wednesday, according to AFP. An inmate got hold of a weapon and began […]

Kurds Plan to Seize Kirkuk Militarily: Knight Ridder Tom Lasseter of Knight Ridder reports that the Kurds have seeded 10,000 peshmerga militiamen into the Iraqi army units in the north of Iraq, and plan to use them to seize control of oil-rich Kirkuk. (Actually, the Kurds already control Kirkuk militarily, since their forces conquered it […]

Over 10,000 Sunnis, Secularists March in Baghdad against Election Results; Al-Hakim meets Kurdish Leaders AP reports that in Iraq, over 10,000 mainly Sunni Arab demonstrators rallied in downtown Baghdad on Tuesday, calling for a rerun of the elections on the grounds of massive fraud, and demanding a government of national unity (which would include many […]

Top Ten Myths about Iraq in 2005 Iraq has unfortunately become a football in the rough and ready, two-party American political arena, generating large numbers of sound bites and so much spin you could clothe all of China in the resulting threads. Here are what I think are the top ten myths about Iraq, that […]