While Shi’ites observed the Eid al-Ghadeer holiday, one Shi’ite school in Sadr City suffered a tragic attack. At least 19 Iraqis were killed and 56 more were wounded there and across the country. The bombing comes just as Iraqi officials are hoping to pin down a date in late February for national elections. Full details were not revealed, but Parliament approved a new elections law late yesterday after Sunni and Kurdish objections were apparently resolved.
read moreUS Foreign Policy and the Cult of ‘Expertise’
The news that Americans want the U.S. government to mind its own business when it comes to foreign affairs has our Washington elite in a panic. The explanatory notes accompanying a new Pew poll [.pdf] describe the "rise in isolationist sentiment" that...
Israel Slips the Snare of ‘Particular Concern’
Leave it to the State Department to soft-pedal religious extremism in the Middle East. Oh, not in, say, Iran or Saudi Arabia. In the most recent edition of the department's annual Report on International Religious Freedom, both are designated "Countries of...
Sunday: 8 Iraqis Killed, 20 Wounded
Updated at 4:59 p.m. EST, Dec. 6, 2009
At least eight Iraqis were killed and 20 others were wounded in the latest attacks. While attacks in Mosul have seemingly dissipated, reporters appear to have moved to the contested city of Kirkuk. Late in the evening, parliament approved a new elections law.
read morePentagon’s War Pitch Belied by Taliban-Qaeda Conflict
U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen argued in Senate Testimony Wednesday that the 30,000-troop increase is necessary to prevent the Taliban from giving new safe havens to al Qaeda terrorists. But that...
Saturday: 6 Iraqis Killed, 13 Wounded
Updated at 9:45 p.m. EST, Dec. 5, 2009
At least six Iraqis were killed and 13 more were wounded in attacks across Iraq. Meanwhile, lawmakers have apparently reversed an elections law amendment that had delighted Kurd citizens but enraged their Sunni counterparts; however, a conflicting report notes that a quorum was not reached in parliament, imperiling the passage of the law.
read moreTrial and Error
World Court Ponders Kosovo "Independence" In October 2008, the government in Belgrade gloated for one whole day because the UN General Assembly allowed it to request an advisory opinion from the World Court (International Court of Justice) concerning the...
Neocons Get Warm and Fuzzy Over ‘War President’
U.S. President Barack Obama's plan for a 30,000-troop surge and a troop withdrawal timeline beginning in 18 months has caught criticism from both Democrat and Republican lawmakers. But a small group of hawkish foreign policy experts – who have lobbied the White...
O=W
"O=W" is a bumper sticker beginning to show up on liberals' cars. After the president's speech Tuesday night at West Point, I suspect it will spread rapidly. For eight years, conservatives endured the agony of watching President George W. Bush attach the...
Friday: 4 Iraqis Killed, 6 Wounded
Updated at 4:13 p.m. EST, Dec. 4, 2009
At least four Iraqis were killed today and six more were wounded in the latest attacks. With many Iraqi politicians still on holiday, Parliamentary speaker Iyad al-Samarrai fears that a lack of a quorum will prevent discussion of the elections law impasse. Also, Lt. Gen. Sir Anthony Pigott, former deputy chief of the defense staff, testified at a British inquiry, stating that U.S. forces were premature in declaring victory in Iraq.
read more
