December 31, 2006

How to hang a man: Nuremberg and Baghdad

Darn! I hate it when I need to lay my hands on a particular book but can't find it... Today, it was the account Rebecca West gave in A Train...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 02:33 PM | Fulltext link (28 comments)

December 29, 2006

Saddam's execution and the tragedy of Iraq

A couple of weeks ago the U.S. Institute of Peace organized this panel discussion, at which I got to present the main points in my latest book, which is about...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 09:33 PM | Fulltext link (20 comments)

Riverbend looks at 2006, Saddam's imminent execution

After a disturbingly long absence from the blogosphere, here she is again. Still with the wisdom of someone of far beyond her years. Including this: 2006 has been, decidedly, the...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 03:47 PM | Fulltext link (17 comments)

Bush brings forth a mouse

The Prez, having beaten away the hands that Baker, Hamilton, and and Co. extended to him from their lifeboat, then determined that he would find his own way to swim...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 11:29 AM | Fulltext link (25 comments)

Saddam death sentence further muddying "rule of law" in Iraq

Saddam Hussein may be executed by hanging any day now. AP's Lauren Frayer reported a short time ago that the US military guards holding him allowed his half-brothers to visit...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:56 AM | Fulltext link (2 comments)

December 23, 2006

Sistani foils the occupiers' plot (again)

So now, it appears that not only has Ayatollah Sistani blocked the Bushists' plan to cut off and isolate Moqtada al-Sadr-- but also, the main Shiite party the Bushists were...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 04:00 PM | Fulltext link (39 comments)

December 21, 2006

US in Iraq; Israel in Lebanon

A hawkish and militarily ill-informed political leadership with a losing "plan"... A military leadership, recognizing some realities of imminent defeat on the battlefield, but split over whether to escalate or...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 06:57 PM | Fulltext link (21 comments)

Thanks, Badger!

Our striped-face friend Badger writes that he's taking a few days off. That's a huge pity, because in the few weeks it's been in existence his 'Missing Links' blog of...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 03:22 PM | Fulltext link (8 comments)

Iraq: Divide and rule-- or national unity?

The Bush administration and its hangers-on in the US MSM have concocted a narrative of what the US is doing in Iraq-- and throughout the whole Middle East, except Israel--...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 12:43 PM | Fulltext link (1 comments)

December 13, 2006

CSM column on why the US needs to talk with Iran, Syria

Thursday I have this column in the CSM. (Also here.) Basically I'm arguing that it's not a matter of noblesse oblige or doing anyone any favors. It's a matter of...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 09:00 PM | Fulltext link (2 comments)

Bush losing control of the agenda?

Sen. Bill Nelson (Dem., of Florida) is the first of four U.S. senators who plan to visit Syria over the congressional break. (The others are Kerry of Massachusetts, Dodd of...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 03:34 PM | Fulltext link (4 comments)

December 06, 2006

ISG reaction from Reidar Visser

Reidar Visser has written some very good analysis of the Baker-Hamilton-- Iraq Study group-- report. It's posted here on his historiae.org website. But I'm also going to put it up...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 03:28 PM | Fulltext link (22 comments)

December 04, 2006

Cross-sectarian politics inside Iraq today

US pols and the ponderous commentatoriat in this country have become quite fixated on the idea that Iraqis have become unalterably divided into mutually antagonistic blocs of "Kurds", "Sunnis", and...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 09:32 PM | Fulltext link (2 comments)

Visser on federalism: Iraq and Spain

Reudar Visser has a new article up on his website. It's titled Federalism from Below in Iraq: Some Historical and Comparative Reflections. It's a comparison between, mainly, the federalizing process...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 08:12 PM | Fulltext link (7 comments)

December 03, 2006

Ramazani on engaging Iran

One month ago, I featured here an essay by my mentor, R.K. Ramazani, on how the Bush Administration was misreading Iran's nuclear policy. His latest essay in today's Daily Progress...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 09:16 PM | Fulltext link (2 comments)

November 29, 2006

Battle for the soul of al-Maliki, etc.

I guess by the time I get up Thursday, here in Virginia, we'll know whether Bush was finally able to persuade Maliki to meet him at least once. This, while...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 11:48 PM | Fulltext link (10 comments)

The 'Hadley memo' on Maliki

The NYT's Michael Gordon got an apparent "scoop" yesterday by bring given the text (also here) of a classified memo that Bush's National Security Advisor, Steve Hadley, wrote on November...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:57 AM | Fulltext link (13 comments)

Sadrists quit Maliki's government

The WaPo's website is reporting that five pro-Sadrist cabinet members and 30 pro-Sadrist deputies have announced the suspension of their support for the Maliki government. Maliki's upcoming meeting with Pres....
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:39 AM | Fulltext link (0 comments)

November 28, 2006

Lebanese Hizbullah in Iraq

So much New York Times today, so little time to read and digest it... But as I noted here yesterday, the situation for the whole Bushite scheme in Iraq is...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 01:41 PM | Fulltext link (8 comments)

November 27, 2006

Bushites running (flying) very scared; Rightly

Earlier today, National Security Adviser Steve Hadley publicly admitted that in Iraq, "obviously, as I think everyone would agree and as the President has said, things are not proceeding well...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:25 PM | Fulltext link (7 comments)

November 26, 2006

The 'Namibia Option', Part I: Strategic Context

The 'Namibia Option' (for a UN-covered US withdrawal from Iraq) For four decades after 1948, the apartheid regime in South Africa maintained an illegal military occupation over the land...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 05:29 PM | Fulltext link (3 comments)

Chuck Hagel: Thinking again.

On August 21st, I (Scott) posted a jwn commentary on Senator Chuck Hagel (R-Neb) and his rather lonely, if compelling complaints against the Bush Administration approach to the Middle East,...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 02:42 PM | Fulltext link (4 comments)

November 22, 2006

MoDo ignores my "Namibia" plan

Maureen Dowd (also known as MoDo) is a smart, often hilarious, and nearly always very savvy columnist for the NYT. Unfortunately, like all their columnists, she is currently locked up...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 04:51 PM | Fulltext link (45 comments)

November 16, 2006

Abizaid reveals the military dead-end

I read carefully the two accounts in the NYT of the hearing the Senate Armed Services Committee held yesterday into the administration's Iraq policy. Michael Gordon and Mark Mazzetti wrote...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 03:42 PM | Fulltext link (8 comments)

Iraq open thread # 10

I've been busy and still am. I'm in Cambridge, Mass., thru Tuesday. (Taking part in a panel discussion at MESA Monday evening on blogging the Middle East-- along with Juan...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:05 AM | Fulltext link (5 comments)

November 10, 2006

America's Iraq policy after the elections

I've been thinking through what is likely to emerge regarding policy for Iraq from the new configuration emerging in Washington after Tuesday's elections. Giving Donald Rumsfeld the boot the day...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 05:37 PM | Fulltext link (16 comments)

November 05, 2006

Riverbend on Saddam's death sentence

... Read the latest post of this wise and talented young Iraqi blogger: we all knew the outcome upfront (Maliki was on television 24 hours before the verdict telling people...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 02:46 PM | Fulltext link (10 comments)

Some questions to ask about the Saddam Hussein trial

The judges at the Iraqi High (formerly "Special") Tribunal today sentenced Saddam Hussein to death by hanging for his role in the 1982 killing/execution of 148 people in the town...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 11:49 AM | Fulltext link (9 comments)

November 04, 2006

Mutiny at the Military Times?

What would Hawkeye think of this!? Independent thinking at the Army Times? The Military Times Media - the publisher of the papers avidly read by millions of American military service...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 07:13 PM | Fulltext link (4 comments)

October 28, 2006

Maliki pushes back; power shift in the relationship?

So according to Hassan al-Suneid, an aide to Iraqi PM Nouri al-Maliki, Maliki demanded a video conference with George Bush Saturday, and when he got Bush on the line he...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 06:01 PM | Fulltext link (23 comments)

October 24, 2006

The lights are going out all over the Green Zone...

It seems symbolic that it happened in the middle of a "We're in charge and we have a plan" press conference that Zal Khalilzad and Gen. Casey had teamed up...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 08:09 PM | Fulltext link (1 comments)

Zeitgeist shift among Iraqis, too (of course)

A really revealing round-up of the views of many Iraqi bloggers was published last week by the currently exiled Iraqi blogger "Treasure of Baghdad"-- " A young reporter from a...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 03:19 PM | Fulltext link (9 comments)

October 20, 2006

Iraq: school attendance plummets

This, from Save the Children via IRIN: Thousands of students have been forced to stay at home due to escalating violence across the country. Attendance rates for the new school...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 11:25 PM | Fulltext link (1 comments)

White House nixing Iraqi partition

The pressure has been growing on Pres. Bush to "do something" to reassure Americans-- and in particular, the many millions of Republican voters who are currently disaffected, dubious, and distinctly...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:59 PM | Fulltext link (3 comments)

October 19, 2006

"Dannatt effect" spreads to US generals?

Well, what did I say here just seven hours ago? But maybe Dannatt's action was also directed toward encouraging his US counterparts to have a bit more spine in their...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 09:23 PM | Fulltext link (9 comments)

Riverbend on the 'Lancet 'study

She's back... thank G-d. She put up a post yesterday-- her first since August 5-- in which she somberly considered the recent Lancet study on Iraqi mortality and the controversy...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 08:13 AM | Fulltext link (37 comments)

October 18, 2006

Bush reeling from Iraqi "Tet"?

Things are going seriously badly in Iraq this month. For the Iraqis, but also for the Americans. The number of US dead there has now reached 70 since October 1--...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 11:42 PM | Fulltext link (8 comments)

October 16, 2006

Saddam re-enters Iraqi politics

He's back. Iraq's currently imprisoned former president has dictated an open letter through his chief lawyer in which he assures the Iraqi people that "victory is at hand" and calls...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:10 AM | Fulltext link (10 comments)

October 13, 2006

Dannatt drops a bombshell

British Army Chief of Staff Gen. Sir Richard Dannatt has spoken out forcefully in favor of a swift withdrawal of British troops from Iraq: Sir Richard's lead in shining a...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 07:45 AM | Fulltext link (10 comments)

October 12, 2006

Iraqi 'Constitutional' developments: who cares?

Steve Negus wrote in the FT yesterday about the distinctly rumpish-looking session the Iraqi "parliament" held yesterday to discuss changes in the Constitution that will specify and facilitate the devolution...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 09:11 AM | Fulltext link (7 comments)

October 11, 2006

Iraqi deaths under occupation

I've now had the chance to start reading the latest, very disturbing Lancet study of the mortality rate inside Iraq since the US invasion. The researchers, who were from the...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 08:48 PM | Fulltext link (4 comments)