September 29, 2005

Gilbert Achcar, elections, Iraq, Palestine

Some of the most insightful analysis that Juan Cole's blog has on the situation inside Iraq are those that are guest-posted there by leftist Parisian intellectual Gilbert Achcar. Like the...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 04:30 PM | Fulltext link (21 comments)

September 28, 2005

Capt. Fishback's stand for humanity

Regarding the responsibility of the US military and political command at the highest levels for the commission of atrocities by people at lower levels of the military ladder-- as I...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 08:37 AM | Fulltext link (8 comments)

NTFU porn story reaching MSM

The body part porn story is (at last) reaching the English-language portion of the MSM. Today's UK Guardian has a good short report on the NTFU website, written by Andrew...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 08:28 AM | Fulltext link (8 comments)

September 26, 2005

Realism from the generals (and the ICG)

Back in April, I published a CSM column in which I argued for two key changes in US policy toward Iraq. Now, very belatedly, key portions of the west's decision-making...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 03:26 PM | Fulltext link (42 comments)

September 25, 2005

Iraq: the Kosovo analogy

My good friend and esteemed colleague Juan Cole and I continue to disagree about whether the appropriate thing to call for now is the speedy withdrawal of all US (and...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:25 AM | Fulltext link (2 comments)

September 24, 2005

Iraq between politics and war

I've been reading the post Juan Cole had up Friday, in which he criticized an argument Michael Schwartz made as to why the US forces should get out of...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 01:00 PM | Fulltext link (76 comments)

September 23, 2005

Iraq open thread #7

Hi. I'm traveling back from London to Virginia today. I've been working a little on writing a post about British attitudes to the Iraq war-- in the wake of the...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 03:25 AM | Fulltext link (10 comments)

September 20, 2005

Sadrists and Brits in Basra

I was just watching the CNN footage of the massive British tank rolling backward and forward as it tried to get out of a tight corner in Basra, while being...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 02:49 AM | Fulltext link (2 comments)

September 18, 2005

Riverbend takes on the constitution

The talented and wise young female Iraqi blogger Riverbend has now put her smart mind to work on analyzing the Iraqi constitution. (Hat-tip to commenter Jean for noting that.) All...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 01:55 AM | Fulltext link (0 comments)

September 14, 2005

Unimaginable horror, Baghdad

Unimaginable horror in Baghdad-- again!-- today as a large truck-bomb and a series of other attacks kill at least 152 and wounds many hundreds more. AP's Slobodan Lekic writes there...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:37 AM | Fulltext link (18 comments)

September 11, 2005

Iraq open thread #6

So it looks like the latest US-"Iraqi" offensive against Tal Afar was predictably unsuccessful? Insurgents staged a classic guerrilla retreat from Tal Afar on Sunday, melting into the countryside through...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:29 PM | Fulltext link (26 comments)

September 01, 2005

Az-Zaman on Baghdad bridge collapse

Big thanks to the JWN reader who sent in a translation of the Az-Zaman article I mentioned this morning. Here it is, preceded by my own translation of the (lengthy)...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 08:02 PM | Fulltext link (1 comments)

Catastrophes & politics: Iraq

In the wake of every catastrophe comes grief... mourning... human solidarity and the arrival of efforts to help... and a search for understanding and answers. In many cases, this last...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 09:49 AM | Fulltext link (40 comments)

August 31, 2005

Catastrophes: the best response

I have changed the border of the blog to black to express my deep condolences to those who lost loved ones or have otherwise had their lives blighted by the...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 09:56 PM | Fulltext link (15 comments)

August 30, 2005

Iraq: constitution as process

The Prez and his people continue to crow to the US citizenry about the Iraqi negotiators' "agreement" on the text of a Constitution-- even while Viceroy Zal Khalilzad is also...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 04:51 PM | Fulltext link (41 comments)

August 27, 2005

Bush "biking", Iraq definitely burning

It's been such a busy week for poor old President Bush! This week, this guy-- whose handsome salary and lavish upkeep I am of course contributing to-- had to take...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 04:47 PM | Fulltext link (11 comments)

August 25, 2005

Iraq constitution talks, RIP?

Well, they've gone through two extensions on the previously "firm" Aug 15th deadline... Then today, this: BAGHDAD, Iraq - Parliament announced it had no plans to meet Thursday night and...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 12:15 PM | Fulltext link (85 comments)