December 31, 2008

US military still committing atrocities in Iraq

Did you think that after the chief US commander and the US Ambassador in Baghdad both signed a final "Withdrawal Agreement" with the Iraqi government on November 17, the 140,000-plus...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 04:51 PM | Fulltext link (5 comments)

December 26, 2008

More Warriors Needed

The US Army is currently on track to increase 65,000 people to a total of 547,000 active-duty soldiers next year, up from 482,000 before the current conflicts. There is a...
Posted by Don Bacon at 05:34 PM | Fulltext link (11 comments)

December 15, 2008

Bush's militarism gets the shoe

Pres. Bush's present tour to Iraq and Afghanistan was probably designed to be a "legacy-establishing" trip, or perhaps even-- in the imagination of some of his advisers?-- a victory lap....
Posted by Helena Cobban at 12:33 PM | Fulltext link (15 comments)

December 08, 2008

Obama on Iraq: before and after

After a spirited exchange with Alex regarding what Barack Obama's plans might be for Iraq, I thought it would be informative to look at Obama's remarks before and after the...
Posted by Don Bacon at 05:23 PM | Fulltext link (9 comments)

December 07, 2008

Recruiting for the Enemy

The US occupation forces in Iraq have, from the beginning of the occupation more than five years ago, engaged in the arbitrary imprisonment ("detaining") of Iraqi citizens. As one former...
Posted by Don Bacon at 02:19 PM | Fulltext link (4 comments)

December 02, 2008

Burying the SOFA (WA) text: Mission Accomplished?

I just saw Phyllis Bennis on the Real News Network talking about the Obama foreign policy team. She did a terrific job. Except at one point, a couple of minutes...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 05:57 PM | Fulltext link (21 comments)

November 29, 2008

Raed Jarrar discussing the SOFA/WA

Raed discusses the SOFA/WA with Iranian-owned Press TV, here....
Posted by Helena Cobban at 08:56 AM | Fulltext link (1 comments)

November 28, 2008

The Iraqi SOFA/WA: Uncertainties-- but also a text

Yesterday, the Iraqi parliament gave preliminary ratification for the Status of Forces-- or, more correctly, Withdrawal-- Agreement with the US that had been negotiated by PM Maliki (and foreign minister...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 11:46 AM | Fulltext link (1 comments)

November 25, 2008

Iraq's international 'Contact group' becoming stronger?

The Security Cooperation and Coordination Committee of Iraq's neighboring countries held its third meeting in Damascus Sunday. This 'Contact Group' brings together representatives of the UN, the US, Iraq's neighbors...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:12 AM | Fulltext link (0 comments)

November 23, 2008

Rumsfeld, Kagan, and Chalabi in the NYT

I can't believe that the NYT gave a huge chunk of its prime op-ed real estate today to allow war criminal Donald Rumsfeld to offer his views and advice on...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 04:58 PM | Fulltext link (18 comments)

U.S. in Iraq: Good-bye 'Conditionality'

It is now official: The US government will not be imposing on the Iraqi government any of the 'conditionality'-- as a precondition for the US troop pullback/withdrawal-- that the Bush...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:10 AM | Fulltext link (12 comments)

November 20, 2008

L. Rozen on Israelis in Kurdistan

Laura Rozen has a great new investigative piece at Mother Jones about the very lucrative business and security activities undertaken in post-2003 Kurdistan by former Israeli Mossad head "Danny" Yatom...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 12:05 PM | Fulltext link (1 comments)

November 19, 2008

Red Queen Perino declares 'Victory' in Iraq

Just like the Red Queen in Alice's Adventures Through the Looking Glass, White House spokesperson Dana Perino is determined that words will mean what she wants them to mean! Especially...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 05:21 PM | Fulltext link (7 comments)

November 17, 2008

Urgent memo to Bush: Tell us honestly what this agreement with Iraq says

"All U.S. forces must withdraw from all Iraqi territories no later than December 31st 2011." That's the text of Article 24, para 1 of the the text of the agreement...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 09:16 PM | Fulltext link (26 comments)

Some Iranian support for the US-Iraq SOFA: Why?

Iranian judiciary chief Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi has been quoted by the state television's website as expressing his approval of the decision the Iraqi cabinet made Sunday to approve the...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 08:53 PM | Fulltext link (1 comments)

November 15, 2008

Casino capitalists in the brainwash-Iraqis biz

I have long maintained (e.g. here, PDF) that two of the major goals of all oppressive powers that undertake campaigns of mass incarceration is to use that incarceration both as...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 12:03 PM | Fulltext link (7 comments)

November 07, 2008

'China Hand' on extrajudicial killings

The excellent (though sporadic) blogger China Hand has a great new post today tracking the degree to which extensive use of extra-judicial killings has been incorporated into the "standard operating...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:14 PM | Fulltext link (3 comments)

November 05, 2008

To get out of Iraq...

... will require a completely transformed relationship between Washington and the United Nations. That is, it will require this if President-elect Obama is serious about pursuing, at the very least,...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 11:56 AM | Fulltext link (4 comments)

November 04, 2008

Fortified 'embassy' to university: Yes!

Here's a great suggestion from Iraqi-American prof Adil Shamoo: convert the controversial US Embassy in Baghdad into a university for the Iraqi people. This powerful message from our new leader...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:09 AM | Fulltext link (5 comments)

November 02, 2008

Biggest items on next Prez's plate

Here's a good question: Why would anyone want to become president of the United States at a time of such huge and multifaceted crises? Well, I guess two years ago,...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:45 AM | Fulltext link (8 comments)

October 28, 2008

The struggle for Baghdad's soul?

The WaPo's Mary Beth Sheridan has a piece in today's paper describing the US-Iraqi negotiations over a SOFA as having an important backstory of a US-Iranian struggle for influence over...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 04:43 PM | Fulltext link (15 comments)

Iraqi, Iranian dimensions of the Sukkariyeh raid

Well, as was quite predictable Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh has now trotted out new lines condemning Sunday's raid in which US ground forces took off from (presumably) Iraqi territory...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 03:04 PM | Fulltext link (2 comments)

October 27, 2008

Syria raid, additional notes

I see that Pat Lang is speculating that the raid might have been some kind of rogue operation on the part of the US Special Forces Command. I certainly respect...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 02:35 PM | Fulltext link (17 comments)

October 21, 2008

US-Iraq SOFA latest draft, in English

... It's been translated from the Arabic and posted here on the AFSC website by their Iraqi consultant, the talented and hard-working Raed Jarrar. I haven't had time to read...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 04:12 PM | Fulltext link (15 comments)