A test the military "Can't afford to fail"
For the third time in three years, the United States military plans to hand over the city of Samarra to newly trained Iraqi police, and:It's a major test for the U.S. military in Iraq, and one U.S....
View ArticleHeartbreaker: Samarra Story and America's Imperial Army
Atrios links to this story published by Knight Ridder about the US occupation of the Iraqi city of Samarra. Â This story is a distillation of all that is wrong about the US invasion of Iraq. Â Excerpts...
View ArticleHearts and Minds
Bush and company keep trying to compare Iraq to World War II. And indeed they may have a point -- if you think of the Americans army as playing the German role this time. A few months ago, when we...
View ArticleUpdated: We Failed The Test
Nearly two months ago, I wrote a diary that began:For the third time in three years, the United States military plans to hand over the city of Samarra to newly trained Iraqi police, and:It's a major...
View ArticleObscured by all the Port Talk, Iraq Burns On [3rd UPDATE]
While President Bush and his seemingly unfathomable desire to turn over our ports to a dubious company controlled by the royal family of the United Arab Emirates dominates the American political and...
View ArticleCivil War In Iraq
This week marks the beginning of the Iraqi Civil War. The American mission in Iraq is over. We can either stay and fight everyone, pick sides, or leave. No choice open to America now will improve the...
View ArticleIsolated Incidents
Haditha 24 Iraqis shot in cold blood by U. S. Marines.Ishaqi 11 Iraqis dead.Samarra Pregnant woman and her cousin killed on the way to the hospital to give birth. And now Baghdad.
View ArticleMilitary Culture
What's going on with our military? Â Reports of torture, senseless killing, and brutality are undermining our mission in Iraq and ruining our stature in the world. Â Yes, such incidents have always...
View ArticleWhat's an Iraqi life worth?
In today's Washington Post, Boston University's Andrew Bacevich asks What's an Iraqi Life Worth. Â Bacevich looks at the value we place on American lives versus lives of innocent Iraqis and lays bare...
View ArticlePentagon Threatens Journalists for Exposing Cheney's Lies
Crossposted from Truth 2 PowerAs reported by Glenn Greenwald, the Bush Administration is threatening legal action against the NY Times for exposing Dick Cheney's lies about Iraq. While speaking with...
View ArticleLying, Even Though It's Over. Even when It's SOOOO Over.
Seattle P.I. Caption: A Seahawks fan, refusing to let go of the season, lies in front of the team's charter bus at Boeing Field after the team's return from Chicago. Police removed the fan. (January...
View ArticleIraqis Fleeing Samarra Say Insurgents Control The City
Iraqis Fleeing Samarra Say Extremists Control CityA number of families have fled the city of Samarra, north of Baghdad, saying that if the government does not intervene, their city will end up like...
View ArticleBreaking: Major Mosque Attack in Iraq
I've never done a "breaking" diary before, but I have a feeling this could be quite important. The diary will be short. Anyway, remember the bombing of the Samarra mosque in February of 2006 that set...
View ArticleSamarra mosque bombing
Keep your fingers crossed. Â Believe it or not, the situation in Iraq might actually be about to get even worse. Â The country has been teetering on the brink of open, full-scale civil war for some time...
View ArticleWith Violence Like This, You Know It Has to be Good
Listening to a Tony Snow press conference is often infuriating, but just as often jaw-droppingly surreal. Â Surreal not just because of the nonsense that streams from Tony's lips, but because of how the...
View ArticleGhosh: Why Iraq's Shi'ites Aren't Retaliating - TIME
You may have heard that the minarets of the Al-Askari mosque in Samarra, still standing after the bombing that destroyed its golden dome, were blown up last week. But never fear! TIME magazine is here...
View ArticleAtwar Bahjat and the Media Death Bias
Iraqi Confesses To Rape, Murder Of Journalist Atwar Bahjathttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/...Source: The Huffington Post 08/04/2009I couldn't believe it.I remember when this murder took place, and the...
View ArticleGeneral Leading Tikrit and Samarra Defense in Iraq Issues Letter on Hamas and...
For Americans, this general is known to Middle East political wonks. He is Major General Qassem Suleimani, head of Iran's Qods Force. That operation is similar to the CIA's in-house special forces....
View ArticleISIS In Iraq: U.S. Drone & F/A-18 Strikes Start and a Big Iraqi-Iranian...
The story we are getting from corporate MSM does not match up with ISIS defeats in Iraq. ISIS got slaughtered in a major battle at Samarra that was reported widely abroad. But U.S. media dropped the...
View ArticleHow's Chances That ISIS is a One-Trick Pony ??? All Attack, Not Much Else
[FINAL]In the first weeks of June, ISIS drove through token opposition at Mosul and went on to capture dozens of towns that lacked perimeter defense systems. The Iraqi Army in Nineveh Province had been...
View ArticleDaily Beast covers Iraq with Ignorance, Apathy, Ignoratio Elenchi and Obama...
Daily Beast argues today that central and western Iraq should be left to Al Qaeda in Iraq, renamed severally including "ISIS." Salafi hate-based terrorism is fine. Giving terrorists 25 million people...
View Article"Milestone" Fantasies and How "The Surge" Boondoggle Launched AQI into ISIS
"Milestone,""Mile Post," and "Turning Point" are key markers for Perpetual War sales pitches. There's also "turn the corner.""A new day" comes up as well, applied to Iraqi politics.If they had to stick...
View ArticleIraq and ISIS: Are the RW "Experts" condemned to eternal ignorance ???
Who, what, where, when, how and why ??? Do they ever get it right?For conservatives, getting the best of analysis from "their guys" means relying on American Enterprise Institute and Heritage...
View ArticleGood News in Iraq: Jurf al-Sakhar Surrounded and Retaken from ISIS.
November 5, 2014.Jurf al-Sakhar is a city of 80,000 on a line from Baghdad going south-by-southwest toward Karbala. Back in early June an ISIS attack group took the city unopposed. Since then this was...
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