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By Joshua Kurlantzick
$11.56
By Bill Boyarsky
$23.10
$35
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AP photo / Dusan Vranic
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By Patrick Cockburn — Gen. Petraeus’ oft-declared uncertainty about the future stability of Iraq is genuine. It is the Shiites and their Iranian backers, not the Americans, who are the true victors in the Iraqi war.
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Americans seem to have bought into the idea that the “surge” is working, but this Baghdad journalist returned home to a city of walls and bloodshed.
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Emad Hajjaj, Jordan —
Posted on Mar 30, 2008
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Moqtada al-Sadr, after reaching an agreement with several Iraqi officials, has ordered his followers to stop fighting. Basra has reportedly quieted, but fighting continued in Baghdad despite the announcement. Underscoring Iran’s influence over the affairs of its neighbor, the deal was apparently brokered by the head of Iran’s Quds force, which the U.S. Congress has branded a terrorist organization.
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AP photo / Karim Kadim
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By Patrick Cockburn — A new civil war may be looming in Iraq as American-backed Iraqi government forces battle Shiite militiamen for control of Basra and parts of Baghdad.
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AP photo / Nabil al-Jurani
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The British government is planning to downsize its military presence in Iraq this May by 800 to leave a total of 7,000 troops, a move Defense Secretary John Reid insists is not meant to signal a “handover of responsibility” to Iraqi forces, according to the BBC. Updated
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If one were to ask President Bush to make sense of his strategy in Iraq, he would likely suggest that by providing stability, the Iraqi government could work toward reconciliation and an end to sectarian bloodletting, but according to several key Iraqi leaders, that just isn’t going to happen. Better, they argue, to focus on the basics of governing and providing services that Iraqis continue to suffer without.
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uncorrelated.com
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Sen. Joe Biden’s plan to divide Iraq along sectarian lines has had an unintended consequence: It has united much of the country, Shiite and Sunni alike, in opposition to the measure.
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The BBC explores the refugee crisis in Iraq, where camps for displaced civilians are filling up and, in some cases, closing due to horrendous conditions.
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nytimes.comiraq
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According to two humanitarian organizations, Iraqis are fleeing their homes in record numbers, despite the much touted (if difficult to demonstrate) accomplishments of the “surge.” Iraqis are increasingly separating themselves into sectarian groups, according to the data.
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By Marie Cocco — Tens of thousands of U.S. weapons have disappeared in Iraq. For years they are likely to be killing people across the globe, including Americans in Iraq and elsewhere.
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With the Bush administration set to offer a progress report on Iraq—assuredly an attempt to make the case for a prolonged surge—seven active-duty GIs have offered their own assessment in The New York Times. Their view, though bleak, is not cynical, but instead a practical approach to the many problems they’ve witnessed during their time in the quagmire.
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AP Photo / Dusan Vranic
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By Anonymous — A self-confessed “overpaid Department of Defense contractor” writes about his experiences living and working in Baghdad and the suffering of his Iraqi friends, who risk life and limb every day to get by in the “sinking ship” of Iraq.
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AP Photo / Hameed Rasheed
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By Chris Hedges — The Pulitzer Prize-winning Mideast observer warns that the situation in Iraq is about to get much, much worse, whether we stay or leave.
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news.bbc.co.uk
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According to the U.N., roughly 50,000 Iraqis flee their homeland each month, bringing the total of refugees so far to over 2 million—in addition to the 2 million displaced within Iraq. The United States, for its part, has welcomed just 133 Iraqi refugees over the last nine months.
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news.bbc.co.uk
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A devastating explosion near a Shiite mosque in the center of Baghdad has killed at least 78 people and injured more than 200. The mosque’s imam said the attack was carried out by “sick souls” who targeted worshipers as they left the prayer hall. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said that such attacks have “scarred the beautiful face of Baghdad by destroying the religious landmarks it has known over the centuries.”
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news.bbc.co.uk
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One of the holiest of Shiite Muslim shrines has been bombed in the Sunni-dominated Iraqi city of Samarra north of Baghdad. Explosions reportedly caused the collapse of the shrine’s two minarets. The 2006 bombing of the golden dome at the same shrine sparked the rampant sectarian strife in Iraq that continues today.
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Recent morgue figures show a rise in sectarian violence in Iraq, challenging the effectiveness of the U.S. troop surge and a three-month old security crackdown. The Bush administration had cited a drop in violence as evidence of success, but many attributed the relative lull in killings, now but a memory, to an order from Moqtada al-Sadr for his militia to temporarily stand down.
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In a newly released report, the London-based think tank Chatham House warns of the possibility of widespread catastrophe and chaos in Iraq, claiming that the Iraqi government is practically impotent and obsolete and calling for serious policy revisions on the part of the U.S. and Great Britain.
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The Sunni insurgent coalition known as the Islamic State in Iraq has claimed responsibility for an attack that led to the deaths of four U.S. soldiers and the purported capture of three more. About 4,000 American troops were dispatched to search for their missing comrades on an especially brutal day in Iraq, with a civilian death toll of more than 124.
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Washington and Tehran have agreed to temporarily set aside their differences and meet in Baghdad for limited talks on the security of Iraq. The surprise move comes amid rising tensions between the two nations, which have been publicly taunting each other in recent days.
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pensitoreview.com
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Twelve American soldiers were killed in Iraq over the weekend, six and a civilian journalist in one attack alone. Meanwhile, bombings in Baghdad and Samarra on Sunday killed at least 44 Iraqis, including a police chief and 11 of his officers.
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AP Photo / Hadi Mizban
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The Iraqi Interior Ministry says the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, Abu Ayyub al-Masri, was killed in an internal fight among Sunni insurgents. However, the U.S. and at least one Iraqi official have expressed only cautious optimism, as a body has not yet been recovered. Update: al-Masri’s umbrella organization has denied reports of his death.
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A military wife whose husband is deployed in Iraq corners conservative pundit William Kristol over his support for the war.
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news.bbc.co.uk
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A car bomb explosion in the holy city of Karbala has killed 68 people. After the attack, an angry crowd gathered and began attacking Iraqi police, accusing them of failing to protect the population. Elsewhere in Iraq, nine U.S. soldiers have been killed in the last two days.
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By Eugene Robinson — Walls don’t unite, they divide. Contrary to Bush’s rosy estimation of the “surge,” the news that the U.S. is ghettoizing Baghdad is a sign of how chaotic the situation has become.
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Last week U.S. forces began building a controversial wall around a Sunni neighborhood in Baghdad, ostensibly to protect its residents from sectarian violence. On Sunday, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said he opposed the construction and had ordered it stopped.
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Despite a week of horrific violence in Iraq, President Bush reaffirmed on Friday his belief that the surge was working, while Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki insisted two days later that his country was not in a state of civil war. In the latest round of attacks Sunday, 70 people were killed, including 23 members of a religious minority.
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A coalition of eight Sunni insurgent groups has announced the formation of a cabinet, naming the head of al-Qaida in Iraq the minister of war. The announcement from the “Islamic State of Iraq” was made hours after the group released a video showing the executions of 20 people who were Iraqi civilians, soldiers or policemen.
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A new report from the Red Cross says living conditions in Iraq, from healthcare to general safety, continue to worsen. One woman interviewed by the ICRC said it would be helpful if someone removed the bodies piling up in front of her house so her children wouldn’t have to look at them on the way to school.
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Anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr ordered his militia to redouble efforts to oust U.S. forces and called on Iraq’s army and police to join him. The U.S. military, meantime, said 10 American troops were killed over the weekend, including six on Sunday.
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Iraqi police are searching for victims of mass kidnappings that occurred Wednesday. At least 43 people were abducted in two areas of Iraq. Some of the gunmen responsible for the attacks reportedly wore uniforms resembling those of Iraqi security forces.
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nytimes.com
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Merchants at a Baghdad market have objected to Sen. John McCain’s assertion that his recent visit was evidence of the U.S. troop surge working. Unlike the typical Iraqi shopper, the Republican congressional delegation that visited the Shorja market Sunday was protected by 100 U.S. soldiers, attack helicopters, body armor and, just to be safe, a contingent of snipers.
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In this episode of “Hometown Baghdad,” Adel, Ausama and Saif comment on the violence that has become so commonplace a daylong gun battle feels more like an inconvenience than cause for alarm.
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thinkprogress.org
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It has now been four years since the United States invaded Iraq and, according to the latest CNN poll, only 30 percent of Americans are “proud” of the war—half the number recorded in 2003. Still—with thousands of Americans and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis killed; hundreds of billions of dollars spent, stolen and wasted; millions of refugees created; terrorist recruitment thriving and a civil war that threatens to engulf the region—we just have to ask: What could anyone possibly be proud of?
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rollingstone.com
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Rolling Stone gathered notables ranging from Zbigniew Brzezinski to Juan Cole to learn their takes on the future of Iraq. They agreed on one thing: The war is lost. Gen. Tony McPeak (ret.), formerly of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, put it this way: “Even if we had a million men to go in, it’s too late now.”
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A series of attacks targeting Shiite pilgrims killed more than 100 people in Iraq on Tuesday. Some victims said they blamed the Sunnis, but also the lack of security provided by Iraqi police and U.S. forces. Though reports vary, Reuters has reported the death toll at 149.
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iraqdevelopmentprogram.org
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The Iraqi Cabinet has approved an oil revenue sharing plan that would divide profits among the provinces based on population, and allow foreign oil companies unprecedented access to Iraq’s reserves. Distributing the wealth of Iraq’s natural resources has been a major political obstacle, as most of the nation’s current oil fields are in Shiite territory.
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Moqtada al-Sadr pulled his forces off the streets of Baghdad in response to the U.S.-Iraqi security crackdown, but a devastating bombing at a university Sunday and other Sunni attacks have caused the cleric to rethink his position: “Here we are, watching car bombs continue to explode to harvest thousands of innocent lives from our beloved people in the middle of a security plan controlled by an occupier.”
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Grim reports from Iraq continue despite the PR campaign to understate the deadliness of the mix of American military presence, civil war and improvised explosives ravaging the country. Today at least 42 people died in a car bombing in a town 50 miles west of Baghdad. Earlier today, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki issued a statement touting a recent crackdown, citing a reduction in violence in Baghdad, but on Saturday in the capital alone at least seven people were killed and more than 30 injured, according to the BBC.
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aljazeera.net
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After a Sunni mother of 11 told al-Jazeera she had been raped by Iraqi soldiers, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki accused her of fabricating the story to stir sectarian tensions. But four men, including an officer who allegedly recorded the crime on his mobile phone, were arrested and confessed to the crime. Update: An alleged victim in a similar rape case has come forward.
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Lt. Gen. Aboud Qanbar, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s point man for military operations in Baghdad, announced sweeping new military powers on Tuesday as part of a large-scale crackdown on sectarian violence. Qanbar said he is in absolute control of the effort and answers only to Maliki, signaling an expansion of the prime minister’s authority.
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msnbc.com
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An anonymous U.S. official said on Tuesday that prominent Shiite cleric and Iraqi political figure Moqtada al-Sadr had fled to Iran in order to escape either an American crackdown or fringe elements of his own militia. But several Iraqi officials on Wednesday, also speaking anonymously, said al-Sadr was still in Iraq.
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news.yahoo.com
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Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has blamed Saddam loyalists for a market bombing that killed at least 130 people and injured 305. The market is in a predominantly Shiite district. Meanwhile, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani made an appeal for unity.
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U.S. and Iraqi soldiers killed 250 militants Sunday in a day of fighting in Najaf. According to an Iraqi official, the battle with the previously unknown militia involved tanks, jets and helicopters, one of which was shot down.
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news.bbc.co.uk
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The U.S. military says a series of 52 operations over 45 days led to the capture of some 600 militants and 16 leaders of Moqtada al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army. With some estimates placing the size of the Shiite militia at 60,000, that leaves only 59,384 to go.
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A double bombing outside a Baghdad university has killed at least 70 people and injured 170, according to police. Twenty-five more died elsewhere in Baghdad from bombings and shootings on one of the most violent days in Iraq since the war began.
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