(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
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
Every place is Kerbala, every day is Ashura If there is one event which is central to the entire ethos of Shia Islam it is the martyrdom of Imam Husayn ibn Ali (a grandson of Muhammad the founder of Islam) and 72 of his followers at the hands of a 40’000-strong army of Yazid Ibn Muawiyah Ibn Abu Sufyan in 680 AD at the battle of Kerbala. Here is how
Sayyed Ammar al-Hakim Calls for Full US Pull-Out BAGHDAD, A key member of Iraq’s ruling coalition called Saturday for the complete withdrawal of foreign troops from his country and rejected the possibility of permanent US bases. Ammar Hakim, a leading figure of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (SIIC), also called on the US occupation troops to be more careful in their use of force after recent bombings killed civilians in
NAJAF, Iraq, Sept 27–Iraq’s spiritual leader Ayatollah Ali Sistani received Iraqi vice president-cum-the secretary general of the Iraqi Islamic Party, Tariq al-Hashemi, in this holy city, south of Iraqi capital Baghdad, Alalam TV reported Thursday. The meeting came a day after Al-Hashemi published a proposal that he said would help achieve reconciliation in Iraq. The document calls for a blanket pardon for Iraqis who took up arms against the government
A stable Iraqi state would constitute a strategic victory—and the only one still possible. by William S. Lind Among the bits of lore of the United States Senate is a story that dates back to before I arrived there in 1973 as a staffer to Sen. Robert Taft Jr. of Ohio. A senator—from New York, perhaps—known for depending wholly on his staff while treating it with contempt, told his assistant
by Matt Duss for Foreign Policy in Focus In a July 11 Wall Street Journal op-ed, writer Kimberly Kagan touted the success of the Iraq surge strategy. Kagan noted, among other supposed triumphs, that the Maliki government had “confronted Muqtada al-Sadr for promoting illegal militia activity, and has apparently prompted this so-called Iraqi nationalist to leave for Iran for the second time since January.” While one can perhaps excuse Kagan’s
Iran Daily reports that a suicide bomber apparently targeting a meeting of US-allied Sunni sheikhs penetrated layers of security and blew himself up in a hotel lobby on Monday, killing four tribal leaders and at least eight others, police reported. The sheikhs were associated with the Anbar Salvation Council, which had taken up arms to help drive extremists of Al-Qaeda in Iraq from the western province of Anbar, AP reported.
Moqtada al-Sadr visits with Ali al-Sistani (Voices of Iraq) – Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr visited, on Sunday night, top Shiite cleric ayatollah Ali al-Sistani in his office in Najaf and both discussed the latest security and political developments in Iraq, a source from Sistani’s office said. “Sayyed Muqtada al-Sadr visited, today at 9:30 pm, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani and both leaders discussed the political and security situation in the country,”
