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By Norman G. Finkelstein
Edited by Cynthia E. Cohen, Roberto Gutiérrez Varea and Polly O. Walker $21.95
$23
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Last time on Truthdig Radio in association with KPFK: Bill Clinton said the Democrats stand for “a nation of shared opportunities, shared prosperity and shared responsibilities.” Also on the show: voter disenfranchisement and a report from the Syrian border.
Posted on Sep 9, 2012
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Photo illustration from an image by Colin Grey (CC-BY)
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Last time on Truthdig Radio in association with KPFK: Bill Clinton said the Democrats stand for “a nation of shared opportunities, shared prosperity and shared responsibilities.” Also on the show: voter disenfranchisement and a report from the Syrian border.
Posted on Sep 9, 2012
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 Reese Erlich
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By Reese Erlich — For decades ordinary Kurds have struggled between an oppressive government and authoritarian guerrillas.
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 World Economic Forum / Andy Mettler (CC-BY-SA)
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Turkey is no Libya or Syria in terms of repression, but the country has a few million disgruntled Kurds who would like more autonomy. One Kurdish political leader is threatening civil disobedience ... (more)
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 AP / Murad Sezer
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By Barry Lando — President Obama has ordered his staff to examine how his predecessors handled situations such as the Libyan revolution. One of the most frequently mentioned was a disgraceful episode that reverberates to this day.
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 DoD / CWO2 Michael A. Lujan, USMC
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The Turkish military launched an airstrike aimed at Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq on Sunday. It was the latest in a series of cross-border attacks authorized by the Turkish parliament in response to what it has criticized as the Iraqi government’s lack of attention to the Kurdish fighters.
Posted on Oct 12, 2008
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 AP photo / ISNA, Amir Kholusi
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By Patrick Cockburn — Iraq will be plunged into a new war if Israel or the U.S. launches an attack on Iran, Iraqi leaders have warned. Iranian retaliation would take place in Iraq, said Dr. Mahmoud Othman, the influential Iraqi MP.
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 abcnews.go.com
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By Patrick Cockburn — The militia leader’s threat of an “open war” between his supporters and the U.S.-backed Iraqi government has ratcheted up tensions in Basra and Baghdad. [In this analysis, columnist Patrick Cockburn of The Independent looks into the current situation in light of Sadr’s history with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.]
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On Tuesday, the Iraqi Cabinet expressed extreme displeasure over the incursion of Turkish troops into the Kurdish northern region of Iraq and called for a halt to Turkish interference, which Cabinet officials called a “violation of Iraqi sovereignty.” Also on Tuesday, an apparent suicide attack on a bus headed toward Syria from Mosul in northern Iraq killed nine people, according to The New York Times.
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 english.aljazeera.net
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After bombarding the area with airplanes and artillery, Turkish forces entered northern Iraq, ostensibly in search of Kurdish rebels. It isn’t the first time Turkey has crossed the border, but one source described the force as much bigger—roughly 10,000 men—than previous incursions. A U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad, however, said he believed only a few hundred Turkish troops were involved in the operation.
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 news.bbc.co.uk
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Turkey has dramatically ramped up its cross-border campaign against Kurds in Iraq with an airstrike involving as many as 50 warplanes. The Turkish military says the assault was aimed at Kurdish rebels seeking refuge in Iraq and not “people living in northern Iraq or local groups not engaged in enemy activity.”
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The Mosaic Intelligence Report takes a look at the United States’ Kurdish double standard: Washington supports those in Iraq while declaring Kurdish fighters in Turkey a “common enemy.”
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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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 AP Photo / Darko Vajinovic
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The remaining days of Ali Hassan al-Majid, aka “Chemical Ali,” are numbered. More specifically, after an Iraqi court upheld his June sentence, al-Majid, who earned his nickname by playing a key role in the gassing deaths of some 100,000 Kurds in 1988, has 30 days or less to live.
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Multiple bombs exploded across the city of Kirkuk in northern Iraq Monday. The BBC reported that at least 85 people were killed and more than 180 wounded. The deadliest of the bombs was detonated near the offices of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, a party led by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, leaving a 30-foot crater.
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 (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
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By Barry Lando — Saddam Hussein was a ruthless tyrant, but he had help from his friends, including powerful world leaders and wealthy businessmen. Former “60 Minutes” producer and “Web of Deceit” author Barry Lando wonders what embarrassing revelations might have emerged had Saddam’s trial—and those of his associates—been more interested in truth than execution.
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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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 militaryphotos.net
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The Bush administration finds itself in a difficult position as tensions between two regional allies threaten to escalate to war. The Turkish military is fed up with Kurdish rebels it says have safe harbor in northern Iraq, and now wants to mount an assault across the border. One of Iraq’s Kurdish leaders has said such an attack would trigger retaliation.
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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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 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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 news.bbc.co.uk
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After a brief stint in an Iraqi hospital, President Jalal Talabani was flown to Jordan, where he was again hospitalized. His office said there was no cause for worry, but inconsistent reports on his status have clouded the picture—he’s either suffering from kidney problems or low blood pressure, depending on who is asked.
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Former “60 Minutes” producer and author Barry Lando connects the dots between Saddam Hussein and his American backers in this powerful documentary.
(h/t: BarryLando)
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 msnbc.com
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According to Condoleezza Rice, President Bush authorized the recent seizure of Iranian operatives in Iraq. U.S. forces seized at least five Iranian officials from Iran’s consulate in Irbil, Iraqi Kurdistan, prompting a confrontation with Kurdish forces. Update: Iran has called the consulate seizures illegal and demanded that the prisoners be returned.
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 apan-info.net
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Just hours before the president’s national address, during which he accused Iran of supporting attacks on American troops, U.S. forces raided the Iranian consulate in Erbil, Kurdistan, abducting at least five people and seizing documents and other property, according to eyewitnesses.
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 Reese Erlich
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By Reese Erlich — The award-winning investigative journalist probes the divided loyalties of Iraqi Kurdistan, where U.S. trainers are working to fold political militias into the Iraqi army.
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 sl.wikipedia.org
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A Turkish publisher, two editors and a translator have all been acquitted of insulting Turkishness. The four were charged for translating and publishing “Manufacturing Consent,” by Noam Chomsky (above), which criticizes Turkey’s treatment of Kurds. Though the EU has pressured Turkey to reform its laws regarding expression, it remains a crime there to insult the state.
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 AP / Hasan Sarbakhshian
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By Parag Khanna — The semiautonomous northern region of Iraq is an island of relative stability in an ocean of turmoil. If America does not support Kurdistan’s independence, we may well lose our best shot of having a desperately needed secular ally in the region. New America Foundation fellow Parag Khanna, just back from the area, reports.
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The Iraqi tribunal charged Hussein on Tuesday with new criminal charges—steming from the late 1980s gassing that allegedy left 5,000 civilians dead. (more)
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 Khalid Mohammed / AP
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The parliamentary results are confirmed: Shiites will dominate both the Sunnis and the Kurds in Iraq. So while the U.S. tries to intimidate Iran over its nukes, Iranian-bred theocratic Shiites—those most hostile to our interests—are in the ascendancy in Iraq. So much for the neocons’ “Field of Dreams” scenario for creating democracy in Iraq: “If you break it, they will come.” | story
- Also, read Juan Cole on how Bush created a theocracy in Iraq. | column
- And read Robert Scheer on Iran’s victory in Iraq. | item
Update: A former Pentagon analyst is sentenced to 12 years-plus for leaking confidential documents in an attempt to get the U.S. to take the threat of Iran more seriously. | story Update No. 2: Iran and Iraq are already linking arms on the construction of electricity facilities.
Posted on Jan 20, 2006
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