Facts, News, Trends, Analysis
Amidst an already tense situation in Iraq, three planeloads of small arms, delivered in September to the Kurdish region of Northern Iraq, are at the center of an expanding controversy. In Kurd-controlled Sulaymaniyah, officials are discussing the implications of the imported arms in terms of regional autonomy and the long held Kurdish aspiration for an [...]
Demanding immediate withdrawal and an end to the American occupation, thousands of protesters have taken to the streets of Baghdad to voice their dissatisfaction with the proposed American troop extension. Spurred by the declarations of Moqtada Sadr, a peaceful multi-sectarian crowd, composed of Sunnis, Shias and Kurds, assembled downtown in a surprising show of collective [...]
Syrian Ambassador, Bashar Ja’afari, praised Obama’s announcement that he planned on making good on a promise that he made one of the major platforms of his presidential campaign: to withdraw troops from Iraq in sixteen months. This shows a level of respect and acknowledgment of the wishes of the people of the Middle East. In [...]
The longstanding legal immunity for private military contractors working in Iraq could soon be a thing of the past. A new arrangement, set for a vote in the Iraqi parliament next week, will grant Iraqi jurisdiction over American companies working for the Departments of State and Defense. Contractors, “such as Blackwater, DynCorp International LLC and [...]
The Speaker of Iran’s Parliament spoke out again urging the Iraqi Parliament not to sign the security pact with the United States. Although, Iraqis see the agreement as a step forward from the immovable stance that the Bush administration had been promulgating (“no timetable”), Iran’s concern, of course, is the possibility that Iraq could be [...]
Iraqi security forces found and detained a man whom they alleged to be a commando from the elite Iranian Revolutionary Guard. The man is accused of “involvement in facilitating Iranian weapons shipments into Iraq,” a practice thought to be widespread in Iraq since the beginning of the insurgency. The man was operating under the cover [...]
The United States’ military pact with Iraq, which calls for the complete withdrawal of American troops by the end of 2011, has become the center of attention for Turkish Foreign Minister, Ali Babacan. Currently, the U.S. controls Iraqi air space and has allowed the Turkish government to conduct air operations against Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) [...]
It’s been a couple months since the release of the book, “War Surgery in Iraq and Afghanistan” and it is still in contention. The book was designed as a teaching novel for doctors, especially in the military. It details the injuries and treatments given to soldiers and civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan. It came under [...]
Finally, after a year of negotiations, a pact has been reached regarding a timetable for American troop presence in Iraq. The agreement was agreed upon Sunday by President al-Maliki and his cabinet. Now the deal must make it through Iraqi parliament this week to be considered binding. Still, this is a major benchmark in the [...]
As a deal nears, violence escalates in Iraq. On Saturday, the country saw two car bombings, one in the increasingly violent area of Tal Afar and the other outside a theater in Baghdad. The country has seen a spike in attacks following a decline in violence over the past view months. All of this violence [...]
