“Chemical Ali” Hassan al-Majid has been convicted of genocide and sentenced to death by hanging for his role in the 1988 “Anfal” counter-insurgency campaign in Iraqi Kurdistan, in which up to 180,000 Kurds were killed—some in poisonous gas attacks, some… Read more“Chemical Ali” to hang —another betrayal of historical memory?
A number of Sunni tribal leaders from the Anbar Salvation Council are among 12 people killed in a suicide bombing at the Mansour Hotel in central Baghdad June 25. Although the hotel is also home of the Chinese embassy and… Read moreIraq: insurgents target Sunni sheikhs
A suicide bomber in a truck filled with cooking gas and explosives detonated his payload in Baghdad’s Khalani Square June 19 just as worshippers were finishing midday prayers at the square’s large Shi’ite mosque, killing 87, injuring more than 200… Read moreThe real “surge” in Iraq: reprisal mosque bombings
Via PRWeb, the Press Release Newswire, June 15: Noam Chomsky Voices Support for the “Responsibility to Iraqi Refugees Act of 2007” House Resolution 2265 would allow more Iraqis into the United States, including religious minorities suffering from persecution. Mandaean Crisis… Read moreChomsky supports Iraq refugee bill
From Reporters Without Borders, June 18, via International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX): Reporters Without Borders has voiced deep outrage at the murder of Filaih Wadi Mijthab, editor of the daily “al-Sabah”, whom kidnappers snatched from his car on 13… Read moreIraq: another journalist assassinated
Former US ambassador to the United Nations Richard Holbrooke has an essay in the May/June issue of Foreign Affairs, “Defying Orders, Saving Lives: Heroic Diplomats of the Holocaust,” which draws an unsettlingly valid analogy to contemporary Iraq. Holbrooke outlines the… Read moreIraq’s refugee crisis: echoes of the Holocaust
Two minarets at Shia Islam’s revered Golden Mosque in the Iraqi city of Samarra were blown up June 13. The government has imposed a total curfew on the city until further notice. Shi’ite officials blamed al-Qaeda for the attack, but… Read moreIraq: Samarra’s Golden Mosque hit again —reprisals target Sunni mosques
The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) guerillas have declared a unilateral cease-fire, while still maintaining the right to “self-defense” against Turkish forces. “We are renewing our declaration to halt attacks against the Turkish army,” said PKK official Abdul Rahman Chaderchi, speaking… Read morePKK declares unilateral ceasefire
In the west and central regions of Iraq, heart of the supposed “Sunni insurgency”, US forces are equipping and training former Sunni insurgents to fight al-Qaeda-affiliated militants in a bid to turn local and tribal groups against the presence of… Read moreIraq: US arms Sunni militants
The headquarters of the Iraq Freedom Congress, a civil anti-occupation coalition, were raided by US troops June 7. The premises were damaged when the soldiers forced down the door, and five of the office’s guards were arrested and their weapons… Read moreUS forces raid Iraq Freedom Congress offices in Baghdad
The Associated Press reported June 6 that hundreds of Turkish soldiers crossed into northern Iraq in pursuit of PKK guerrillas. The reports were denied by Ankara. The following day, Reuters reported that Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said parliament’s approval… Read moreIs Turkey invading Iraq?
Iraqi legislators passed a resolution June 5 requiring the government to seek parliamentary approval before asking the UN to extend the mandate for US-led forces in Iraq. The Sadrist-drafted resolution passed by a vote of 85 to 59. The members… Read moreIraq: parliament demands approval to extend occupation
