Middle East

Iran Aiming to Provoke With Missile Tests?

Staff / Truthdig Sep 29, 2009 Is the Iranian regime taking a page from North Korea with its recent, potentially provocative displays of missile-launching power? Or are those preplanned exercises (nothing to see here, move along, folks)? Or, as White House press wrangler Robert Gibbs suggests, a little bit of both? Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Letterman Heckles Obama’s Heckler

Staff / Truthdig Sep 11, 2009 Two can play this game, Joe Wilson. While the South Carolina congressman's heckle heard ’round the country triggered dismay from his opponents and enthusiasm from his supporters, Rep. Wilson's "You lie!" war cry to Obama provided humor fodder for David Letterman's Thursday night show. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

The Second Insurgency

Anna Badkhen / Truthdig Aug 19, 2008 Many Iraqis struggle every day to find work, but a shortage of jobs, superimposed on a tradition of using personal connections to do business, has led to what Iraqis complain is an explosion in corruption and graft among their nation's officials. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Baghdad Behind Walls

Anna Badkhen / Truthdig Aug 14, 2008 Walls have become ubiquitous in Baghdad, a place where barricades keep militias from one another and hungry shoppers from the nearest kebab. As Iraqis struggle with sovereignty, the barriers are a constant reminder of the American military occupation. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

The Unsung Victims of the Emerald City

Sarah Stillman / Truthdig May 29, 2008 There's a group of contractors working in Baghdad's Green Zone that we don't often hear about: The cleaners, cooks and construction workers from places like Uganda who toil and die in obscurity. Dig deeper ( 5 Min. Read )

A Better Iraq? That’s What Saddam Said

Anna Badkhen / Truthdig May 19, 2008 The war is over for now in Sahar al-Jawari's Baghdad neighborhood, but life is still a struggle. An American soldier encourages her not to be pessimistic, but it's hard to look on the bright side while supporting a family by selling off your jewelry. Dig deeper ( 4 Min. Read )

Trading Spaces, Iraq Edition

Anna Badkhen / Truthdig May 15, 2008 Sectarian violence has driven millions of Iraqis from their homes. Now that the violence has abated in one formerly upscale Baghdad neighborhood, residents are returning to find squatters who refuse to leave and a government and occupying army unwilling to kick them out. Dig deeper ( 4 Min. Read )

Baghdad’s Other Power Struggle

BLANK May 11, 2008 As one U.S. soldier tells Truthdig foreign correspondent Anna Badkhen, it's not entirely a bad sign that residents of Baghdad's Saidiyah neighborhood are complaining about their meager daily power allotment: A year earlier they were concerned about just staying alive. Dig deeper ( 4 Min. Read )

Hillary Clinton Does Not Endorse This ‘SNL’ Sketch

Staff / Truthdig May 11, 2008 You just can't catch a break as a politician these days. Right when you think you look all "hip" and "endearingly self-deprecating" by allowing yourself to be skewered by certain late-night comedians (bonus points if you're actually on the show while this gentle, aide-approved ribbing is happening), those same wise asses up and turn on you. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Business Stirs in a Walled Neighborhood

BLANK May 9, 2008 In this first installment in her series of stories from Iraq for Truthdig, veteran foreign correspondent Anna Badkhen reports about the civilian costs of war, life under occupation and the precarious state of a Baghdad burger joint. Dig deeper ( 4 Min. Read )

Bloated in Baghdad

BLANK Apr 29, 2008 Truthdig foreign correspondent Sarah Stillman reports from Iraq, where she finds parallels between America's fast food fortresses and the general engorgement of the war. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Palestinians’ Hard Choice: An Interview With Sari Nusseibeh

Jon Wiener / Truthdig May 3, 2007 Palestinian intellectual, political figure and former PLO official Sari Nusseibeh (above) talks with Jon Wiener, historian and contributor to The Nation, about Nusseibeh's new memoir, future prospects for peace between Israelis and Palestinians, and the 2006 July War in Lebanon -- a war, he says, that "both sides lost." Dig deeper ( 8 Min. Read )