The Iranian Weapons Myth

One consistent meme that has popped up during the War in Iraq is the idea that the government of Iran is actually arming Shi'ite militias so that they can fight American soliders. As it turns out, though, there's not a lot of evidence for this proposition.Last April, top George W. Bush administration officials, desperate to exploit any possible crack ...

Removing Combat Brigades from Iraq

Barack Obama has been President Elect for just two days and already we're reducing the number of combat brigades in Iraq: Gen. David H. Petraeus has decided to reduce the number of U.S. combat brigades in Iraq from 15 to 14 about six weeks earlier than planned, as a result of dramatically lower violence there, Pentagon officials said yesterday. "The hope is ...

Biden’s Son Headed to Iraq

We've known for some time that CPT Beau Biden, son of VP nominee Joe, is headed off to Iraq. Dad sent them off with a farewell address today: Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden told his son and other Delaware National Guard troops on Friday that his heart was "full of love and pride" as they prepared to leave ...

Al Qaeda is Dead, Long Live Al Qaeda

Juan Cole had an interesting post on yesterday's seventh anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in which he made a bold declaration: "The original al-Qaeda is defeated."   No, he's not saying there aren't Muslim terrorists calling themselves "al Qaeda" ready and able to kill us. I mean the original al-Qaeda. Al-Qaeda as a historical, concrete movement centered on Usama Bin Laden and ...

Asking the Hard Questions

Remembering the attacks on September 11, 2001 and taking note of the increasing tendency of the presidential campaign and campaign reporting to descend into meaningless trivia, Philip Bobbitt and John Danforth, IMO two of the most reasonable guys on the political scene today, address twelve questions to Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama in an op-ed in the New York ...

Iraqis Getting Fat: I Blame Bush

There's an obesity epidemic in Iraq that's been fueled by the war, Tina Susman reports for the LAT. For most of the last five years, sectarian violence has drastically altered Iraqis' lifestyles. Most retreated to the safety of their homes and became increasingly sedentary, rarely venturing out of their neighborhoods. To go out was to risk being kidnapped, killed by a ...

A New Strongman for Iraq?

There's been an interesting conversation going on, prompted by this guest post by Gregory Gause, professor of political science at University of Vermont and director of its Middle East Studies Program. In his post Dr. Gause notes that in recent months Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has taken a number of steps which, considered together, appear to be a ...

The Anbar Handover

Yesterday formal responsibility for security in Iraq's western Anbar province was turned over to Iraqi forces: Baghdad - The US military handed over control of Anbar Province Monday, marking a significant milestone in the Iraq war. Anbar was the deadliest Iraqi province for US troops, with nearly 1 in every 3 Americans killed there. It was once the symbol of Sunni resistance, ...

Maliki Cracks Down on the Sons of Iraq

Writing for the L.A. Times, Shawn Brimley and Colin Kahl have a disturbing report about the ongoing crackdown of Iraq's Sunni population by the Maliki government.Much of Iraq's dramatic security progress can be traced to a series of decisions made by Sunni tribal leaders in late 2006 to turn against Al Qaeda in Iraq and cooperate with American forces in ...

U.S. and Iraq Agree to Withdrawal Timetable (Updated)

The Wall Street Journal reports that the Bush Administration and the Iraqi government have agreed on a timetable for troop withdrawal.U.S. and Iraqi negotiators reached agreement on a security deal that calls for American military forces to leave Iraq's cities by next summer as a prelude to a full withdrawal from the country, according to senior American officials. The draft agreement ...

Mahdi Army Transforming into Salvation Army?

The Mahdi Army might soon be the Iraqi equivalent of the Salvation Army, Gina Chon reports for the Wall Street Journal. Anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr -- long a thorn in the side of the U.S. military and Iraqi government -- intends to disarm his once-dominant Mahdi Army militia and remake it as a social-services organization. The transformation would represent a significant turnabout ...

Sunni Awakening Leader Killed

The leader of a US-allied Sunni group was killed yesterday, along with six of his men: Unknown gunmen attacked the convoy of Sheik Ibrahim al-Karbouli in Youssifiyah on Monday, said the group member who spoke on condition of anonymity out of fears for his own security. The sheik was a senior leader of the so-called awakening council in the town, which ...

Did the Surge Work? Who Can Say?

Ezra Klein and his summer intern have compiled ten expert responses to the question "How Important Was the Surge?" Not surprisingly, those from Center for American Progress answered "Not all that important" whereas Michael O'Hanlon and others who supported the Surge to begin with though it was "undoubtedly very important." Or, as Marc Danziger puts it, There's a fairly wide ...

At Least 53 Dead in Suicide Bombing Attacks in Iraq

Via the BBC: Iraq suicide blasts cause carnageSuicide bombers have killed at least 53 people and wounded about 240 in attacks on crowds in the Iraqi capital Baghdad and the northern city of Kirkuk. Three blasts in Baghdad killed at least 28 Shia Muslim pilgrims heading for the city's Kadhimiya shrine. [...] In Kirkuk, a suicide bomber targeted a crowd of Kurdish ...

McCain Mocks ‘Audacity of Hopelessness’ in Iraq

John McCain said today that the Middle East would be in far worse shape had we succumbed to Barack Obama's "audacity of hopelessness." Republican presidential candidate John McCain, ridiculing Barack Obama for "the audacity of hopelessness" in his policies on Iraq, said Friday that the entire Middle East could have plunged into war had U.S. troops been withdrawn as his rival ...