Inter Press Service Analysis by Ali al-Fadhily and Dahr Jamail* BAGHDAD, Apr 12 (IPS) – Many Iraqis have come to believe that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is just as much a dictator as Saddam Hussein was. “Al-Maliki is a dictator who must be removed by all means,” 35-year-old Abdul-Riza Hussein, a Mehdi Army member from Sadr City in Baghdad told IPS. “He is a worse dictator than Saddam; he
(thanks to Vahe for this contribution) The Neocons may yet get their war on Iran. by Pat Buchanan (from Human Events) Ever since President Nouri al-Maliki ordered the attacks in Basra on the Mahdi Army, Gen. David Petraeus has been laying the predicate for U.S. air strikes on Iran and a wider war in the Middle East. Iran, Petraeus told the Senate Armed Services Committee, has “fueled the recent violence
Ray McGovern: Was Cheney behind Iraqi army’s failed Basra offensive? Raymond McGovern is a retired CIA officer turned political activist. McGovern was a Federal employee under seven U.S. presidents over 27 years, presenting the morning intelligence briefings at the White House for many of them. McGovern was born and raised in the Bronx, graduated summa cum laude from Fordham University, received an M.A. in Russian Studies from Fordham, a certificate
As my readers have already noticed, I am rather angry at Rep. Ron Paul for throwing in the towel in the 2008 election instead of doing what this SOB Lieberman (successfully) did and run as an independent. Still, when I heard Ron Paul’s remarks to Petraeus and Crocker I found myself daydreaming about what a Paul Presidency could have meant to the rest of the world (I am not supportive
Government is the Largest Employer: The Fading American Economy by Paul Craig Roberts for the Baltimore Chronicle According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the US economy lost 98,000 private sector jobs in March, half of which were in manufacturing. Today 13,643,000 Americans are employed in manufacturing, of which 9,849,000 are production workers. Government employs 22,387,000 Americans, 8,744,000 more than manufacturing. Even the category leisure and hospitality employs 13,682,000 Americans,
(thanks to Ayaz for this contribution!) By Justin Elliott for Mother Jones (via Truthout) From Baghdad, veteran Middle East correspondent Patrick Cockburn explains why Muqtada al-Sadr is no maverick. “Interview in Baghdad,” “Interview in Najaf,” “Interview in Basra,” “Interview in Amara”: The endnotes at the back of Middle East correspondent Patrick Cockburn’s new book read like an atlas of Iraq. Such is the depth of reporting in Cockburn’s Muqtada: Muqtada
The great Russian author Dostoevsky once wrote: “The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons“. By that measure, the United States cannot be considered a civilized society. Anyone doubting this should carefully remember following: Dozens of 13 and 14 year old children have been sentenced to life imprisonment with no possibility of parole in this nation. In a new report called Cruel and Unusual,
Iran joined militias in battle for Basra Sarah Baxter and Marie Colvin, Times Online IRANIAN forces were involved in the recent battle for Basra, General David Petraeus, the US commander in Iraq, is expected to tell Congress this week. Military and intelligence sources believe Iranians were operating at a tactical command level with the Shi’ite militias fighting Iraqi security forces; some were directing operations on the ground, they think. Petraeus
by Kobi Nahshoni for Ynet Some 1,000 people attended a memorial service at the Mercaz Harav rabbinical seminary Thursday, marking the one-month anniversary of the murderous attack which claimed the lives of eight young men. Also attending the service were many prominent rabbis of the Religious Zionist Movement, who were not shy about expressing their rage against the government’s policy. Rabbi Yaakov Shapira, head of the Mercaz Harav yeshiva, chose
BUCHAREST, April 4 (RIA Novosti) – Any further expansion by NATO toward Russia’s borders will be interpreted as a direct threat to the country’s security, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday. “The appearance on our borders of a powerful military bloc… will be considered by Russia as a direct threat to our country’s security,” Putin told a news conference after meeting with leaders of the 26-nation alliance on the
by Gilad Atzmon (originally posted here) It is a common trend amongst rabid Zionists and notorious Islamophobes to quote some isolated and mistranslated verses from the Qur’an for the purpose of collectively libeling Muslims and presenting Islam as a regressive and violent belief system. Needless to say, so far, such repetitive attempts have been found futile if not actually counter-effective. Not a single Western politician, Zionist campaigner or Neocon think
Acting as one – which of course they are – President Bush and the US House of Representatives announced yesterday that they both favor the entry of the Ukraine and Georgia into NATO. That Dubya would take such an idiotic position is of no surprise of course, but that the House would pass such a resolution unanimously is quite shocking: not a single Representative had the brains to understand what
by Leila Fadel for McClatchy Newspapers Iraqi lawmakers traveled to the Iranian holy city of Qom over the weekend to win the support of the commander of Iran’s Qods brigades in persuading Shiite cleric Muqtada al Sadr to order his followers to stop military operations, members of the Iraqi parliament said. Sadr ordered the halt on Sunday, and his Mahdi Army militia heeded the order in Baghdad, where the Iraqi
Sadr Fighters Withdraw from Baghdad, Basra Streets Muslim Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has ordered his Mahdi Army fighters on Monday to withdraw from the streets in a move signaling the end of clashes which erupted in the southern port city of Basra and quickly spread to areas across Iraq. The Sadr group in Baghdad confirmed that fighters from Mahdi Army were no longer deployed in the capital. “Sadr movement and
THE FOLLOWING IS A ONE YEAR OLD REPORT PICKED UP BY MISTAKE: MOSCOW, March 27 (RIA Novosti) – Russian military intelligence services are reporting a flurry of activity by U.S. Armed Forces near Iran’s borders, a high-ranking security source said Tuesday. “The latest military intelligence data point to heightened U.S. military preparations for both an air and ground operation against Iran,” the official said, adding that the Pentagon has probably
Mahdi Army Stands Firm in its Basra NeighborhoodsDemonstrations in Baghdad against al-Maliki By Juan Cole “Information Clearinghouse” — – People are asking me the significance of the fighting going on in Basra and elsewhere. My reading is that the US faced a dilemma in Iraq. It needed to have new provincial elections in an attempt to mollify the Sunni Arabs, especially in Sunni-majority provinces like Diyala, which has nevertheless been
Two rather interesting, if unrelated, reports from PRESS TV this morning: Obama slammed for anti-Israeli advisor US Presidential nominee Barack Obama has come under fire over his anti-Israeli national campaign co-chairman, Gen. Merrill Tony McPeak. An inquiry by conservative American media outlets reveals that McPeak, who is also Obama’s military advisor, is a longtime anti-Israel critic who slammed American Zionists for acting against US interests. In an interview with The
It is a great honour and long awaited pleasure for me to interview a real expert on Palestine and the rest of the Middle-East: Tony, the author of what is definitely one of the best Palestinian blogs – Palestinian Pundit, a “must visit daily” for anybody interested in the Palestinian drama. I have been reading Tony’s posts for quite a while already (many thanks to datta for drawing my attention
First: here is the ‘approved” official version of the events by Ynet and AFP French official sacked over for anti-Israel slur: Senior civil servant sacked for writing in online column Israel is ‘only state where snipers shoot down little girls outside their school gates’A French senior civil servant has been sacked for publishing a violent anti-Israeli diatribe on a website, the Interior Ministry said. The article was published on March
According to Press TV , Hezbollah’s Deputy Secretary General Sheik Naim Qassem reaffirmed today that the movement has “100 percent solid evidence that Israel had killed martyr Mugniyah“. Interestingly, the Ha’aretz article had a somewhat different rendering of Sheikh Naim Qassem’s words: ” “we have clear proof, of 100 percent that cannot be doubted, that Israel is the head of the assassination” Qassem said there is no basis for the
