Need more information? Let's see what bloggers have to say about Baghdad
35 Wounded in Mosul Car Bombing; Sistani Upbraids MPs; Al-Maliki Threatens to Resign
The Iraq War is still hot in the northern city of Mosul (pop. 1.7 mn.) , where 10-12 car bombs still are detonated every day. On Thursday, McClatchy reports, "A suicide car bomber detonated in Mosul city around 8:30 pm. Police opened flame on the car before targeting a police station in the area that made its driver swerved away of its direction. Thirty five people were injured in that incident." Al-Hayat reports in Arabic that Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has threatened to resign if
21 Nov 2008, 3:43 am | click here for more
Remembering Iraq (Nov 14-20)
Stagnation continues - problems are already being reported in the Iraqi government's handling of Awakening Council payments. But of course the big news this past week out of Iraq was the cabinet''s approval of an agreement that will keep US troops in Iraq through 2011. (We have yet to look what happens in the parliament.) It seems like a decent agreement. I've read the Arabic version - although one should keep in mind that nothing is set in rock - there are loopholes, especially in the event
21 Nov 2008, 3:28 am | click here for more
Two American soldiers charged for murder in Iraq
London, Nov.21 (ANI): Two U.S. soldiers have been charged by the military with conspiracy to commit premeditated murder relating to the shooting deaths of four Iraqi prisoners in Baghdad in early 2007. According to a statement released Thursday by the U.S. Army Joint Multinational Command office in Germany, Staff Sergeant Jess Cunningham, 27, and Sergeant [...]
21 Nov 2008, 2:10 am | click here for more
Gmail Themes: NYC vs. MANHATTAN vs. STATEN ISLAND vs. BOSTON vs. UGANDA vs. SYDNEY vs. IRAQ
Google slowly and surely rolled out new thematic designs for Gmail yesterday, and though I'm not sure at this time, I think it is a new universal setting at this time. (Gmail's Phantasea theme at right) I geeked out with Google themes last night, and discovered that if you pick certain themes, you are asked for your Country and City location, with text appearing on a mouse over explaining that the themes will change depending on your location. What's more, I have since learned that the theme
21 Nov 2008, 1:56 am | click here for more
I Hate The War
Jessie is a pal, Yeah I know hes been a good pal of mine But lately somethings changed It ain't difficult to define Jessies got himself a girl And I want to make her mine . . . Some of you will already recognize the Rick Springfield written and performed number one hit "Jessie's Girl." It pertains to this entry. We're talking about the treaty masquerading as the Status Of Forces Agreement that the White home wishes to put in place with their client state regime in Baghdad. It is a treaty
21 Nov 2008, 12:35 am | click here for more
US Military Needs Search Warrants...Now Iraq's Police Force
In the Status of Forces Agreement I just posted to this blog, there is a section that states American Military forces cannot search a home without a search warrant issued by the Iraqi's, and cannot DETAIN anyone, including terrorists. Lending credence to the SOFA agreement I posted as being an accurate reflection of what George Bush has agreed too, seems that the Washington Times has just reported that US Troops need to have an Iraqi issued search warrant to search a home or business in Iraq beg
21 Nov 2008, 12:04 am | click here for more
Wounded Warrior Diary Wrapup
The American Forces Press Service has recently arrive up with a four part series of articles called the Wounded Warrior Diaries. Written by Navy Lt. Jennifer Cragg, the articles explore the lives of four different people in the military and how being wounded in action has changed their life. Although they deal with unhappy issues and incidents, these are stories of brave and committed people who are dedicated to their country and are proud to have served. Some have even continued service in the mil
20 Nov 2008, 9:03 pm | click here for more
The Army at crossroad: High tech or no high tech?
Nearly everything is in a damn crisis these days. Prepare yourself for crisis overkill because the Army isn’t far behind: Krepinevich’s report [pdf] is titled “An Army at the Crossroads.” But a more appropriate title would have been an “Army in Crisis.” In the report he writes: “[The Army] risks a catastrophic leadership failure of a nice not seen since the tardy stages of the Vietnam War, a failure that took the Army over a decade to repair.” His central message is alarming: the quality of t
20 Nov 2008, 8:49 pm | click here for more
US forces kill al Qaeda in Iraq's leader in eastern Anbar
Al Qaeda in Iraq leader Hajji Hammadi, killed by US forces on Nov. 11, 2008. US forces killed another senior al Qaeda in Iraq leader during counterterrorism raids in Iraq. Hajji Hammadi, an al Qaeda leader in eastern Anbar province, is the fourth senior al Qaeda leader killed in Iraq and neighboring Syria over the past six weeks. Hammadi was killed by the hunter-killer teams of Task Force 88 on Nov. 11. The special operations forces killed Hammadi and an associate after a firefigh
20 Nov 2008, 8:41 pm | click here for more
Heavy Metal In Baghdad
Heavy Metal In Baghdad November 21st, 2008 Back in the summer of 2005, Vice Magazine co-founder, Suroosh Alvi, along with regular Vice contributer, co-founder of VBS.TV along with Spike Jonze and budding filmmaker, Eddy Moretti headed off to Lebanon to pick up a once weekly flight from Beirut to Baghdad in search of Iraqi heavy metal band (yes, we said ‘Iraqi heavy metal band’), Acrassicauda, who the pair had ran a story on in the magazine a year earlier. A car bomb meant that flights were
20 Nov 2008, 7:39 pm | click here for more
This Is Change? 20 Hawks, Clintonites and Neocons to Watch for in Obama's White House
By Jeremy Scahill, AlterNet. Posted November 20, 2008. A who's who guide to the people poised to shape Obama's foreign policy. U.S. policy is not about one individual, and no matter how much faith people place in President-elect Barack Obama, the policies he enacts will be fruit of a tree with many roots. Among them: his personal politics and views, the disastrous realities his administration will inherit, and, of course, unpredictable future crises. But the best immediate indicator of wha
20 Nov 2008, 7:07 pm | click here for more
THE WORLD today!
——————————————————————————— 1. Barack Obama wins Presidential Election and becomes the 44th President of the United States. 130 Million Americans, more than in any other election since 1960, voted for a change and pick Obama, obtaining a historic victory to become the first black President of the United States, congratulating and celebrating world leaders, expressing wish, expectations and confidence in a fresh approach to the world’s challenges. Obama won the popular vote with 52% to 46% of M
20 Nov 2008, 7:01 pm | click here for more
Baghdad School for the Blind receives gift from Perkins School for the Blind
The Perkins School for the Blind reports that 20 braille typewriters and a 72-volume braille dictionary have made their way across the world. David Morgan, general manager with the Watertown-based Perkins school, got the idea to send the donation after CNN did a feature on the Baghdad school. Here’s a CNN video about the Iraqi kids receiving Perkins’ gift: Embedded video from <a href=”http://www.cnn.com/video” mce_href=”http://www.cnn.com/video”>CNN Video<
20 Nov 2008, 6:14 pm | click here for more
Bild des Tages
DAILY ROUTINE U.S. airmen group together for a prayer, at Forward Operating Base Falcon, Iraq. The prayer is a tradition for the airmen, prior to heading out on their daily Police Transition Team missions in the Abu T’shir area of Baghdad where they partner with their Iraq police counterparts. The airmen are assigned to Detachment 3, 732nd Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron. U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Todd Franto, Nov. 4, 2008. (Bildquelle: U.S. Department of Defence.
20 Nov 2008, 6:01 pm | click here for more
Iraq snapshot
Thursday, November 20, 2008. Chaos and violence continue, the US military announces another death, Congress explores the treaty Wednesday and the press plays dumb on Thursday, and more. An important Congressional hearing took place yesterday. The same press that sold the illegal war worked overtime to ignore the hearing. Let's start with the new romantic drama/comedy hour, The Unnamed Source Whisperer. Yes, there's Nancy A. Youssef embarrassing the hell out of herself. Not McClatc
20 Nov 2008, 5:48 pm | click here for more
Defense Officials Highly Critical Of U.S.-Iraq Troop Accord
An official of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (L) and a U.S. soldier look at the Iran side through their telescopes from the Iraq side at the Iraq-Iran Muntheria Border, close the city of Khanaqin northeast of Baghdad November 17, 2008. U.S. and Iraqi forces say they are ratcheting up policing of Iraq's frontiers to stem the flow of militants and weapons, taking advantage of security gains across the country. Photo taken November 17, 2008. To match feature IRAQ/IRAN BORDER REUTERS/Erik
20 Nov 2008, 5:30 pm | click here for more
Maliki takes first swing at KRG oil deals
Plus: *Shell and Turkey sign Iraq gas co-op pact *Update on SOFA *Oil capital Basra wants autonomy from Baghdad *Iraq Press Roundup Iraq Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has blasted the Kurdistan Regional Government for what he calls “constitutional violations.” In a press conference he listed them – including developing foreign relations and utilizing Peshmerga forces against national Iraqi Security Forces. But the most telling of every is that Maliki, long in the oil debate shadows and lett
20 Nov 2008, 5:17 pm | click here for more
"The Audacity of Victory"
—Ace Important points made here: 1. There is no way to end a war but through victory or defeat. Defeat is embraced through various forms of nuanced language, such as "end it," "honorable withdrawal" and "redeploy." Victory requires no such trickery or vocabulary. Victory is victory. 2. No victory is ever assured, and not every idea or strategy is a good one. If such were the case, there would have been no need for an Iraq Study Group Report or The Surge® which ultimately defied it. But the
20 Nov 2008, 4:31 pm | click here for more
The Sofa Agreement Bush Does Not Want Us To See
Not sure how accurate it is, but here is a supposedly close to final version of the SOFA we have signed with Iraq that American Citizens have not been allowed to look, even though the agreement was published for the people of Iraq to review...talk about a WTF! OR more accurately, a FUCK YOU BUSH moment, but then we are used to those. My possess commentary and important parts of the documents are in red print. Agreement Between the United States of America and the Republic of Iraq On the Withdrawal
20 Nov 2008, 11:36 pm | click here for more
Attorney General Michael Michael Mukasey Collapses While Delivering Speech To Federalist Society
U.S. Attorney Genreal Michael Mukasey collapsed Thursday night while delivering a speech to the Federalist Society in Washington. Politico has more: Details about Mukasey’s condition were not immediately available. Audience members said they began praying, fearing a stroke. Mukasey is a former federal prosecutor from New York City who succeeded former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. At 10:30 p.m. Eastern, medical officials were still working on him on the stage, administration witnesses sa
20 Nov 2008, 10:46 pm | click here for more