A triple bombing in Mosul may have left the most casualties today, but a bombing in Hilla is the most significant. The second attack targeted a man working for Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq’s top cleric and possibly the most powerful man in Iraq. Overall, at least 16 Iraqis were killed and 36 more were wounded across the country. Also, three Iranian pilgrims were wounded in an attack in Diyala province.
read moreUN Tally Excluded Most Afghan Civilian Deaths in Night Raids
WASHINGTON/KABUL — A July United Nations report asserting that only 30 civilians died in targeted raids in Afghanistan during the first six months of 2011 reflected only a very small fraction of night raids in which civilians were killed, according to officials of the...
American Arrogance Accidentally Leads to Good Outcome
The Iraqi government, sensitive to its public’s perception that occupying U.S. forces have run roughshod over the indigenous population, refused to give immunity from prosecution under Iraqi law for any future lawbreaking by the occupier’s soldiers. The United States...
Why Governments Make War
Why is the US involved in endless war around the world? Why, for that matter, do nations – or, rather, their governments – act the way they do? The number of answers is no doubt nearly equal to the number of questioners. It’s all about economics, say...
Attacks Against Iraqi Security Forces Continue
Updated at 9:44 p.m. EDT Oct. 25, 2011
Attacks targeting security personnel continued across Iraq today, where they left eight Iraqis dead and 27 more wounded. Also, one U.S. soldier died of non-hostile causes in Tallil, and another U.S. soldier supporting Operation New Dawn died of an illness in Texas. Meanwhile, about 500-1000 Turkish troops may have entered northern Iraq, chasing after Kurdish rebels. No casualties have been reported yet, but the Kurdistan Workers Party (P.K.K.) says that some fighting already occurred. Turkey denied the incursion.
read moreDefending Bloated Military Spending
The Association of the United States Army packed hundreds of exhibitors into two halls the size of football fields at its annual convention. Companies from around the world came to the event, recently held at the Washington Convention Center, to sell the Army...
What’s Next for US-Libyan Relations?
After Moammar Gadhafi's demise, the future of Libya's relationship with the United States remains uncertain. Libya ousted its longtime leader in essentially a civil war in which the U.S. and NATO backed one side. This is a stark contrast with the independent and...
City of the Living Dead
Anyone covering Capitol Hill knows that congressional hearings can be deadly — deadly boring and deadly predictable. But when a reported Iraq war veteran exploded into a House Armed Services Committee hearing this month as Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta was reading...
TSA Releases VIPR Venom on Tennessee Highways
Listen to Rep. Ron Paul deliver this address. If you thought the Transportation Security Administration would limit itself to conducting unconstitutional searches at airports, think again. The agency intends to assert jurisdiction over our nation’s highways,...
13 Killed in Attacks Against Iraqi Police
Today’s violence appeared to focus mainly on Iraqi police forces. The attacks came just a day after a controversial crackdown on alleged supporters of the now outlawed Ba’ath Party. A second mass arrest, of Arabs in predominantly Kurdish Kirkuk, is also drawing fire from critics. It is not clear if any of the attacks are related to the arrests. At least 13 Iraqis were killed and 37 more were wounded.
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