Iraq: Where Was the Plan? - L. Paul Bremer III, New York Times
Iraq: Too Heavy a Hand - Richard Perle, New York Times
Iraq: Das Loot - Anne-Marie Slaughter, New York Times
Iraq: So Much for Good Intentions - Kenneth Pollack, New York Times
Iraq: There’s No Freedom Gene - Danielle Pletka, New York Times
Iraq: Worries Over Being ‘Slimed’ - Nathaniel Fick, New York Times
Iraq: Congress in Recess - Paul Eaton, New York Times
Iraq: The Army Grew Into the Job - Frederick Kagan, New York Times
Iraq: Worse Than Lyndon Johnson’s Team? - Anthony Cordesman, New York Times
Iraq: A Crude Case for War? - Steven Mufson, Washington Post
Iraq: War's Price a Burden for Decades - Joseph Stiglitz, Philadelphia Inquirer
Iraq: Public Suffers War Fatigue - Dick Polman, Philadelphia Inquirer
Iraq: Mess will Snare Next President - Trudy Rubin, Philadelphia Inquirer
Iraq: Mistakes, but Just War - Richard Perle, London Daily Telegraph
Iraq: Prolonging the Horror - Simon Jenkins, London Times
Iraq: War's Price Tag - Los Angeles Times editorial
Iraq: Five Years Later - Philadelphia Inquirer editorial
Patton, Iraq, and the 2008 Vote - Jeff Jacoby, Boston Globe
Full Version: IRAQ
Common Ground Common Sense > National & International News > Op-Ed Articles from the Mainstream Media
After Iraqby Jed BabbinRegardless of what happens in Iraq, the war will not be over.Today's Top Headlines
Tales of Winter Soldier II
by Katie O'MalleyUp close and personal at the anti-war bash.
On the Fifth Anniversary of the Iraq War
by Stephen Soldz / March 17th, 2008
As we contemplate the fifth anniversary of the unleashing of this horror which has cost so many their lives, let us also remember the considerable psychic toll of this act of aggression and destruction. Millions of Iraqis suffer the agonies of loss of loved ones. Uncounted numbers suffer the loss of their homes and communities which, more even than lodging, provide anchors of stability in life. And virtually all Iraqis have lost that sense of progress and hope that makes life’s pains and agonies bearable. Long after the brutal contests for power between rival factions have been resolved through dialog or wound down through exhaustion, Iraqis will be struggling to put together their lives, to create a world in which daily life is not unimaginable, and in which hope for the future exists. (Full article …)
US-IRAQ: Rules of Engagement “Thrown Out the Window”
by Dahr Jamail / March 15th, 2008
SILVER SPRING, Maryland, Mar 15 (IPS) — Garret Reppenhagen received integral training about the Geneva Conventions and the Rules of Engagement during his deployment in Kosovo. But in Iraq, “Much of this was thrown out the window,” he says. (Full article …)
Bush to hail prospect of Iraq "strategic victory": As he marks 5 year anniversary mark
Baghdad Museum Will Not Open: Was ruined in aftermath of invasion
Pentagon admits no Saddam-Qaeda link: US administration tries to bury release of Pentagon study confirming that Saddam had no link to Bin Laden
Stuck in the Iraq Loop - Fareed Zakaria, Newsweek
What Has the Surge Really Achieved? - Jonathan Foreman, Pajamas Media
Security Gains Reverse Iraq's Spiral - Gary Langer, ABC News
Poll: Iraqis See Progress - Tom Bevan, Real Clear Politics
War Issue Waning - Linda Chavez, Washington Times
What Has the Surge Really Achieved? - Jonathan Foreman, Pajamas Media
Security Gains Reverse Iraq's Spiral - Gary Langer, ABC News
Poll: Iraqis See Progress - Tom Bevan, Real Clear Politics
War Issue Waning - Linda Chavez, Washington Times
How Could So Many People Buy into Bush's "Patriotism Sweepstakes" War?Robert Parry, Sam Parry, Nat Parry, Consortium News
War on Iraq: The Iraq War represents a systemic failure of American political and journalistic institutions.
Five Years Later
Spencer Ackerman
March 19, 2008 | web only
According to interviews with detained members of al-Qaeda in Iraq, the most powerful recruitment tool for Islamic extremists is ... the war itself.
Our stated enemy in Iraq appears to be a nightmare of our own miscalculated creation.
Residents of Buhriz, a former Saddam Hussein stronghold about 35 miles north of Baghdad, stand around the body of a suspected al-Qaeda fighter on Aug. 15, 2007. (AP Photo)
New York Times to America:
Stay the Course in Iraq
by David Bromwich
Stay the Course in Iraq
by David Bromwich
THE ROVING EYE
Shocked, awed and left to rot
US Vice President Dick Cheney is spot on when he talks of "phenomenal changes" in Iraq. Millions of Iraqis have lost their homes, their jobs, their families, their dreams and in countless cases their own lives because of a pre-emptive war. And anti-American Muqtada al-Sadr will ultimately be the lord of what remains of Iraq. - Pepe Escobar (Mar 19, '08)
DISPATCHES FROM AMERICA
Already counting to six
When it comes to the American position in Iraq, short of an act of God, the sixth anniversary of George W Bush's war of choice is going to dawn much like the fifth one, no matter who's elected US president in November. - Tom Engelhardt (Mar 19, '08)
Shocked, awed and left to rot
US Vice President Dick Cheney is spot on when he talks of "phenomenal changes" in Iraq. Millions of Iraqis have lost their homes, their jobs, their families, their dreams and in countless cases their own lives because of a pre-emptive war. And anti-American Muqtada al-Sadr will ultimately be the lord of what remains of Iraq. - Pepe Escobar (Mar 19, '08)
DISPATCHES FROM AMERICA
Already counting to six
When it comes to the American position in Iraq, short of an act of God, the sixth anniversary of George W Bush's war of choice is going to dawn much like the fifth one, no matter who's elected US president in November. - Tom Engelhardt (Mar 19, '08)
IRAQ
Five Years Of War
Today marks the fifth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, a preventative war of choice whose purpose, according to President Bush, was "to disarm Iraq, to free its people, and to defend the world from grave danger." Five years later, it is clear there were no weapons of mass destruction to disarm in Iraq and no grave danger from which to defend. In 2006, a National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) concluded that the war in Iraq had become "the 'cause celebre' for jihadists, breeding a deep resentment of U.S. involvement in the Muslim world and cultivating supporters for the global jihadist movement" faster than the United States and its allies can reduce the threat. The 2007 NIE concluded that "al-Qaeda [had] reorganized to pre-9/11 strength," largely as a result of the United States turning its attention away from Afghanistan and Pakistan in order to focus on Iraq. Also, al Qaeda's association with insurgents in Iraq helped "energize the broader Sunni extremist community, raise resources, and...recruit and indoctrinate operatives." Far from making the United States safer, the Iraq war has made the world much more dangerous.
A FAILED RECONSTRUCTION: A recent World Health Organization and Iraqi health ministry report estimated that 151,000 people were killed between the start of the invasion on March 20, 2003 and June 2006. In a March 17 report, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said that millions of Iraqis are still deprived of clean water and medical care, describing Iraq's health care system as "now in worse shape than ever." Iraqis endure intense heat in the summer and freezing cold in the winter because of a lack of electricity, even though more than $6 billion, mostly in American money, has been devoted to improving supply. The New York Times reported that "typical daily peaks are around 4,500 megawatts." According to a recent report by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, "that's only about 500 megawatts more than what it was shortly after the start of reconstruction five years ago -- before the completion of thousands of American-supported projects." Garbage collection is notoriously unreliable, with refuse often piling up "for days, sometimes weeks, emanating toxic fumes." In a new report, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees stated that, five years after the U.S.-led invasion, Iraqis are still fleeing in large numbers. Iraqis topped the list of asylum seekers in industrialized countries for the second year running, accounting for more than 10 percent of the total with 45,200 applications last year. "It is important to bear in mind, however, that Iraqi asylum seekers in industrialized countries represent only one percent of the estimated 4.5 million Iraqis uprooted by the conflict," the report said. Amnesty International reports that Iraq continues to be "one of the most dangerous countries in the world, with hundreds of Iraqi civilians killed every month."
A FAILING POLITICAL RECONCILIATION: In the latest blow against progress toward political accommodation between Iraq's ethnic and sectarian factions, a conference to reconcile Iraq's political groups began to unravel even before it got under way on Tuesday, as members of the Sunni Iraqi Accordance Front said "they would not participate in the conference until Shiite lawmakers address their political demands." The Shiite bloc led by cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and some smaller groups also boycotted the conference, revealing the deep and persistent divisions between and within Iraq's main sects. Over the past few months, several legislative accomplishments that were first seen as signs of progress turned out to be much less favorable on closer inspection, or were simply reversed. In January, a de-Baathification reform law, initially "billed as the first significant political step forward in Iraq after months of deadlock," was "riddled with loopholes and caveats to the point that some Sunni and Shiite officials say it could actually exclude more former Baathists than it lets back in." In February, the passage of a package of three laws (addressing amnesty for detainees, budget allocations, and provincial powers) was hailed by conservatives as a significant political advance. Days later, the provincial powers law was struck down by Iraq's three-member presidency council, breaching the compromise that had enabled the passage of the three laws.
WAR ARCHITECTS STILL IN DENIAL: The individuals who devised and supported the Iraq war still refuse to admit error. President Bush insists that the war was worth the "high cost in lives and treasure." On separate surprise visits to Iraq this week, Vice President Dick Cheney and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) seemed oblivious to the tragedy that their policy had unleashed upon the people of Iraq. Cheney preposterously claimed that the Iraq war has been a "successful endeavor" and blithely "warned against losing the gains the surge has produced," even as Baghdad was again wracked by explosions. On the same day that a suicide bomber killed over forty people in the Shia shrine city of Kerbala, McCain repeated his mantra that "the surge is working." Here at home, the war architects frantically cast blame on each other, and even on the Iraqis themselves. American Enterprise Institute (AEI) scholar Richard Perle still maintains that invading Iraq was "the right decision," but blames Iraq proconsul L. Paul Bremer for "underestimat[ing] the task" of nation-building. Douglas Feith, the former director of the Pentagon's Office of Special Plans, has also blamed Bremer for "mishandling...the political transition" in Iraq. AEI analyst Danielle Pletka blamed the Iraqi people for not embracing the opportunity afforded them by the American invasion and occupation. Alas, Pletka laments, "there is no freedom gene."
A WAY FORWARD: The Iraq invasion has wrought a fractured, dysfunctional government, a disunified largely militia-controlled state closely allied with Iran to the east and in simmering conflict with Turkey to the north, an open-source training ground for terrorists and a cause around which global jihadists have rallied. American standing is at a low point in the Middle East and Arab world, with Arab democrats and reformers isolated and frustrated. It not enough to simply stay the course. The United States must reset its strategy by looking beyond the deteriorating situation in Iraq in order to counter the threat from global terrorist groups and ensure stability in the entire Middle East and Gulf region, using the credible promise of withdrawal from Iraq to encourage Iraqi leaders to come to a sustainable political accommodation. This is an essential first step in order to correct the tragic policy mistakes of the last years, of which the decision to invade Iraq is the most obvious and profound.
Five Years Of War
Today marks the fifth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, a preventative war of choice whose purpose, according to President Bush, was "to disarm Iraq, to free its people, and to defend the world from grave danger." Five years later, it is clear there were no weapons of mass destruction to disarm in Iraq and no grave danger from which to defend. In 2006, a National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) concluded that the war in Iraq had become "the 'cause celebre' for jihadists, breeding a deep resentment of U.S. involvement in the Muslim world and cultivating supporters for the global jihadist movement" faster than the United States and its allies can reduce the threat. The 2007 NIE concluded that "al-Qaeda [had] reorganized to pre-9/11 strength," largely as a result of the United States turning its attention away from Afghanistan and Pakistan in order to focus on Iraq. Also, al Qaeda's association with insurgents in Iraq helped "energize the broader Sunni extremist community, raise resources, and...recruit and indoctrinate operatives." Far from making the United States safer, the Iraq war has made the world much more dangerous.
A FAILED RECONSTRUCTION: A recent World Health Organization and Iraqi health ministry report estimated that 151,000 people were killed between the start of the invasion on March 20, 2003 and June 2006. In a March 17 report, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said that millions of Iraqis are still deprived of clean water and medical care, describing Iraq's health care system as "now in worse shape than ever." Iraqis endure intense heat in the summer and freezing cold in the winter because of a lack of electricity, even though more than $6 billion, mostly in American money, has been devoted to improving supply. The New York Times reported that "typical daily peaks are around 4,500 megawatts." According to a recent report by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, "that's only about 500 megawatts more than what it was shortly after the start of reconstruction five years ago -- before the completion of thousands of American-supported projects." Garbage collection is notoriously unreliable, with refuse often piling up "for days, sometimes weeks, emanating toxic fumes." In a new report, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees stated that, five years after the U.S.-led invasion, Iraqis are still fleeing in large numbers. Iraqis topped the list of asylum seekers in industrialized countries for the second year running, accounting for more than 10 percent of the total with 45,200 applications last year. "It is important to bear in mind, however, that Iraqi asylum seekers in industrialized countries represent only one percent of the estimated 4.5 million Iraqis uprooted by the conflict," the report said. Amnesty International reports that Iraq continues to be "one of the most dangerous countries in the world, with hundreds of Iraqi civilians killed every month."
A FAILING POLITICAL RECONCILIATION: In the latest blow against progress toward political accommodation between Iraq's ethnic and sectarian factions, a conference to reconcile Iraq's political groups began to unravel even before it got under way on Tuesday, as members of the Sunni Iraqi Accordance Front said "they would not participate in the conference until Shiite lawmakers address their political demands." The Shiite bloc led by cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and some smaller groups also boycotted the conference, revealing the deep and persistent divisions between and within Iraq's main sects. Over the past few months, several legislative accomplishments that were first seen as signs of progress turned out to be much less favorable on closer inspection, or were simply reversed. In January, a de-Baathification reform law, initially "billed as the first significant political step forward in Iraq after months of deadlock," was "riddled with loopholes and caveats to the point that some Sunni and Shiite officials say it could actually exclude more former Baathists than it lets back in." In February, the passage of a package of three laws (addressing amnesty for detainees, budget allocations, and provincial powers) was hailed by conservatives as a significant political advance. Days later, the provincial powers law was struck down by Iraq's three-member presidency council, breaching the compromise that had enabled the passage of the three laws.
WAR ARCHITECTS STILL IN DENIAL: The individuals who devised and supported the Iraq war still refuse to admit error. President Bush insists that the war was worth the "high cost in lives and treasure." On separate surprise visits to Iraq this week, Vice President Dick Cheney and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) seemed oblivious to the tragedy that their policy had unleashed upon the people of Iraq. Cheney preposterously claimed that the Iraq war has been a "successful endeavor" and blithely "warned against losing the gains the surge has produced," even as Baghdad was again wracked by explosions. On the same day that a suicide bomber killed over forty people in the Shia shrine city of Kerbala, McCain repeated his mantra that "the surge is working." Here at home, the war architects frantically cast blame on each other, and even on the Iraqis themselves. American Enterprise Institute (AEI) scholar Richard Perle still maintains that invading Iraq was "the right decision," but blames Iraq proconsul L. Paul Bremer for "underestimat[ing] the task" of nation-building. Douglas Feith, the former director of the Pentagon's Office of Special Plans, has also blamed Bremer for "mishandling...the political transition" in Iraq. AEI analyst Danielle Pletka blamed the Iraqi people for not embracing the opportunity afforded them by the American invasion and occupation. Alas, Pletka laments, "there is no freedom gene."
A WAY FORWARD: The Iraq invasion has wrought a fractured, dysfunctional government, a disunified largely militia-controlled state closely allied with Iran to the east and in simmering conflict with Turkey to the north, an open-source training ground for terrorists and a cause around which global jihadists have rallied. American standing is at a low point in the Middle East and Arab world, with Arab democrats and reformers isolated and frustrated. It not enough to simply stay the course. The United States must reset its strategy by looking beyond the deteriorating situation in Iraq in order to counter the threat from global terrorist groups and ensure stability in the entire Middle East and Gulf region, using the credible promise of withdrawal from Iraq to encourage Iraqi leaders to come to a sustainable political accommodation. This is an essential first step in order to correct the tragic policy mistakes of the last years, of which the decision to invade Iraq is the most obvious and profound.
Links at:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-naima...ry_b_92350.html
On the Fifth Anniversary, What Could We Cautiously Say About the Iraqi
Death Toll?
Today thousands of Americans will gather in hundreds of vigils across
the country sponsored by MoveOn and United for Peace and Justice,
among others, to mark the fifth anniversary of the illegal and unjust
war in Iraq. These vigils will note the 3990 U.S. deaths and 29,314
wounded, and will note the terrible toll the war has taken on Iraq.
But what is a cautious, conservative, responsible thing to say about
the Iraqi death toll? No accurate count can be given, and the question
has been further clouded by poor reporting in the U.S. media, and
misleading commentary by the Bush Administration and its supporters.
There are two scientific studies that have used standard techniques
for estimating the death toll.
The first, generally referred to as the "Lancet study," estimated that
just over 600,000 Iraqis had been killed as a result of the invasion
as of July 2006.
The second, generally referred to as the WHO study or the Iraq Health
Ministry study, estimated that 151,000 Iraqis had been killed over
essentially the same period. There is some reasonable basis for
questioning whether this study underestimates the death rate - indeed,
some Iraqi officials indicated that they thought that it did - but it
was a scientific study, using generally accepted methods.
If we assume that the tally of deaths reported by Iraq Body Count,
while not giving us an accurate picture of the overall scale of death
(no tally could, in such a situation), does give us an rough picture,
when compared to itself over time, of changes in the death rate, then
we can extrapolate these two numbers forward to the present.
The Lancet study would suggest an Iraqi death toll today of about
1,190,000. This is how we arrive at the Just Foreign Policy estimate
of Iraqi deaths. This is also broadly consistent with the death toll
of 1.2 million estimated by Opinion Research Business in Britain in
September 2007 (as of August 2007).
The WHO/Iraqi Health Ministry Study, based on the same extrapolation,
would suggest a death toll today of about 300,000.
Note that the WHO study also uses Iraq Body Count trends to
extrapolate, suggesting that this is a reasonable approach, in the
absence of better information.
Thus, a cautious, balanced appraisal based on available scientific
information would suggest an Iraqi death toll today of between 300,000
and 1.2 million since March 2003.
Note that, if you look for estimates of war dead in past wars - for
example, Vietnamese dead in the Vietnam War - you will also see what
appears at first to be a wide range. The exact death toll will never
be known. More studies - and certainly such an important question
deserves to be further studied - will give us more information. But as
of today, a responsible, cautious, conservative thing to say is that
between 300,000 and 1.2 million Iraqis have died, and the statement
"hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have died" has very strong support.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-naima...ry_b_92350.html
On the Fifth Anniversary, What Could We Cautiously Say About the Iraqi
Death Toll?
Today thousands of Americans will gather in hundreds of vigils across
the country sponsored by MoveOn and United for Peace and Justice,
among others, to mark the fifth anniversary of the illegal and unjust
war in Iraq. These vigils will note the 3990 U.S. deaths and 29,314
wounded, and will note the terrible toll the war has taken on Iraq.
But what is a cautious, conservative, responsible thing to say about
the Iraqi death toll? No accurate count can be given, and the question
has been further clouded by poor reporting in the U.S. media, and
misleading commentary by the Bush Administration and its supporters.
There are two scientific studies that have used standard techniques
for estimating the death toll.
The first, generally referred to as the "Lancet study," estimated that
just over 600,000 Iraqis had been killed as a result of the invasion
as of July 2006.
The second, generally referred to as the WHO study or the Iraq Health
Ministry study, estimated that 151,000 Iraqis had been killed over
essentially the same period. There is some reasonable basis for
questioning whether this study underestimates the death rate - indeed,
some Iraqi officials indicated that they thought that it did - but it
was a scientific study, using generally accepted methods.
If we assume that the tally of deaths reported by Iraq Body Count,
while not giving us an accurate picture of the overall scale of death
(no tally could, in such a situation), does give us an rough picture,
when compared to itself over time, of changes in the death rate, then
we can extrapolate these two numbers forward to the present.
The Lancet study would suggest an Iraqi death toll today of about
1,190,000. This is how we arrive at the Just Foreign Policy estimate
of Iraqi deaths. This is also broadly consistent with the death toll
of 1.2 million estimated by Opinion Research Business in Britain in
September 2007 (as of August 2007).
The WHO/Iraqi Health Ministry Study, based on the same extrapolation,
would suggest a death toll today of about 300,000.
Note that the WHO study also uses Iraq Body Count trends to
extrapolate, suggesting that this is a reasonable approach, in the
absence of better information.
Thus, a cautious, balanced appraisal based on available scientific
information would suggest an Iraqi death toll today of between 300,000
and 1.2 million since March 2003.
Note that, if you look for estimates of war dead in past wars - for
example, Vietnamese dead in the Vietnam War - you will also see what
appears at first to be a wide range. The exact death toll will never
be known. More studies - and certainly such an important question
deserves to be further studied - will give us more information. But as
of today, a responsible, cautious, conservative thing to say is that
between 300,000 and 1.2 million Iraqis have died, and the statement
"hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have died" has very strong support.
Iraq's regional ambitions to take decades to recover
Baghdad (AFP) Mar 19, 2008 - Iraq's once-lofty ambition to be a major power lies in tatters five years after the US-led invasion, with Turkish forces crossing its northern border with impunity and former bitter foe Iran now the preeminent force in the region. What will it take for Iraq to recover is unknown but an end to ethnic strife and a sense of national unity are prerequisites. Observers say that can be best reache ... more
iraq
+ US military growing weary in Iraq
Washington (AFP) Mar 19, 2008 - Five years after the US-led invasion of Iraq, the US military is flagging under long and repeated deployments that have taken a toll on troops and hurt its readiness to deal with other crises. "People are tired," is the way Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, summed it up at a congressional hearing last month. The third longest war in US history ... more
iraq
+ Cheney: Iraq security boost won't speed US withdrawals
Baghdad (AFP) Mar 19, 2008 - US Vice President Dick Cheney said on Monday he had seen significant security improvements in Iraq but warned that this would not automatically yield more American troop withdrawals after July. "No, it does not," Cheney said during a surprise visit to Baghdad, stressing that troop levels would be guided by "conditions on the ground in the months ahead". ... more
iraq
+ America's smallest allies bolster shrinking Iraq coalition
Mosul, Iraq (AFP) Mar 19, 2008 - The commando peered down the long barrel of his sniper rifle, scanning the battle-scarred Iraqi houses in front of the sandbagged firing position protecting the gate of a huge US military base. But the bird emblazoned on his shoulder flash wasn't the "Screaming Eagle" of the US airborne. It was the double-headed eagle of Albania, one of the small allied contingents still fighting alongside ... more
Baghdad (AFP) Mar 19, 2008 - Iraq's once-lofty ambition to be a major power lies in tatters five years after the US-led invasion, with Turkish forces crossing its northern border with impunity and former bitter foe Iran now the preeminent force in the region. What will it take for Iraq to recover is unknown but an end to ethnic strife and a sense of national unity are prerequisites. Observers say that can be best reache ... moreiraq
+ US military growing weary in Iraq
Washington (AFP) Mar 19, 2008 - Five years after the US-led invasion of Iraq, the US military is flagging under long and repeated deployments that have taken a toll on troops and hurt its readiness to deal with other crises. "People are tired," is the way Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, summed it up at a congressional hearing last month. The third longest war in US history ... moreiraq
+ Cheney: Iraq security boost won't speed US withdrawals
Baghdad (AFP) Mar 19, 2008 - US Vice President Dick Cheney said on Monday he had seen significant security improvements in Iraq but warned that this would not automatically yield more American troop withdrawals after July. "No, it does not," Cheney said during a surprise visit to Baghdad, stressing that troop levels would be guided by "conditions on the ground in the months ahead". ... moreiraq
+ America's smallest allies bolster shrinking Iraq coalition
Mosul, Iraq (AFP) Mar 19, 2008 - The commando peered down the long barrel of his sniper rifle, scanning the battle-scarred Iraqi houses in front of the sandbagged firing position protecting the gate of a huge US military base. But the bird emblazoned on his shoulder flash wasn't the "Screaming Eagle" of the US airborne. It was the double-headed eagle of Albania, one of the small allied contingents still fighting alongside ... more
Analysis: Iraq, 5 years and gaffes later
Washington (UPI) Mar 19, 2008 - This Wednesday will mark the fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq. Five years during which time America has been at war; make that wars, in the plural. While Iraq, due to the sheer scale of the conflict, seems to take center stage, there are two other wars being fought simultaneously. One is in Afghanistan against the resurgent Taliban who simply refuse to be beaten, and the other is the ... more
iraq
Commentary: Fox Fallon's fall
iraq
<li>Five years on, Iraq still a nation at war
iraq
<li>Iraq: a three trillion dollar war?
iraq
<li>Iraq to hang over Bush successor
iraq
+ Britain's Brown struggles to turn page on Iraq
London (AFP) Mar 19, 2008 - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown wants to turn a page on Iraq by pulling out troops controversially sent in by his predecessor Tony Blair, but his hands are tied politically, experts say. Brown has increasingly put the focus on Afghanistan since succeeding Blair last year, repeatedly warning that fighting the Taliban is now the frontline in the US-led "war on terror" triggered by the Sept ... more
iraq
+ Life goes on behind Baghdad's concrete walls
Baghdad (AFP) Mar 19, 2008 - Baghdad, for centuries a beacon of culture in the Arab world, is today a capital under occupation divided by grim concrete walls. Yet life bustles on and the city's spirit refuses to die. Residents daily ignore the ever-present threat of bombs and gun attacks. They brave checkpoints, roadblocks and traffic gridlock to head to school or work, go shopping, frequent coffee and juice bars, play ...
Washington (UPI) Mar 19, 2008 - This Wednesday will mark the fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq. Five years during which time America has been at war; make that wars, in the plural. While Iraq, due to the sheer scale of the conflict, seems to take center stage, there are two other wars being fought simultaneously. One is in Afghanistan against the resurgent Taliban who simply refuse to be beaten, and the other is the ... moreiraq
Commentary: Fox Fallon's fall
iraq
<li>Five years on, Iraq still a nation at war
iraq
<li>Iraq: a three trillion dollar war?
iraq
<li>Iraq to hang over Bush successor
iraq
+ Britain's Brown struggles to turn page on Iraq
London (AFP) Mar 19, 2008 - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown wants to turn a page on Iraq by pulling out troops controversially sent in by his predecessor Tony Blair, but his hands are tied politically, experts say. Brown has increasingly put the focus on Afghanistan since succeeding Blair last year, repeatedly warning that fighting the Taliban is now the frontline in the US-led "war on terror" triggered by the Sept ... moreiraq
+ Life goes on behind Baghdad's concrete walls
Baghdad (AFP) Mar 19, 2008 - Baghdad, for centuries a beacon of culture in the Arab world, is today a capital under occupation divided by grim concrete walls. Yet life bustles on and the city's spirit refuses to die. Residents daily ignore the ever-present threat of bombs and gun attacks. They brave checkpoints, roadblocks and traffic gridlock to head to school or work, go shopping, frequent coffee and juice bars, play ...