Weary of War? Don't Collaborate.
Kathy Kelly, Voices for Creative Nonviolence (Apr 18, 2008)
Veteran Iraq campaigner Kathy Kelly denounces the current efforts by some in the US leadership to require the Iraqi government to foot the bill for US costs in Iraq, and challenges the argument that the American people are bound to continue to fund the war - rather than reparations, relief, and reconstruction - with their tax dollars.
The Enigmatic Second Battle of Basra
Reidar Visser, Historiae (Mar 29, 2008)
"On the surface, the story may look plausible enough," writes Reidar Visser, author of Basra: The Failed Gulf State. "A provincial
city rich in oil degenerates into mafia-style conditions affecting the
security of citizens as well as the national oil revenue; the central
government intervenes to clean up. Still, there are probably few spots on this planet where the search
for mono-causality is more futile than Basra."
Five Years On
Ali Marzook, Institute for War and Peace Reporting (Mar 20, 2008)
I returned to Baghdad late last year and initially felt
hopeful. I had lost neighbors and friends, but the violence was
lessening as security had improved. As I have further explored Baghdad, however, my first
impressions of hope have been dashed. The city center is surrounded by
cement walls now, resembling a jail. Violence may have waned, but people's lives continue to be plagued by fear and suspicion.
Iraqis on "Success" and "Progress" in Their Country
Dahr Jamail, Tomdispatch (Jan 31, 2008)
What do my friends and acquaintances back in Iraq (where I covered
the occupation for eight months during the years 2003-2005) think not
just about their lives and the fate of their country, but about our
attitudes toward them? What do they think about the "success" -- and
the silence -- in America?
Iraq's Challenges in 2008
Dahr Jamail, Inter Press Service (Jan 2, 2008)
The end of 2007 produced a telltale indication of what the New Year seems likely to bring to Iraq. "We the Iraqi members of parliament signing below demand a timetable
for withdrawal of the occupation forces (MNF) from our beloved Iraq,"
144 members of the 275-member parliament, a clear majority, wrote in a
declaration April 2007. Despite this the Bush administration, and the Iraqi government led by
U.S.-installed Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, pushed a resolution
through the UN Security Council to extend by another year the legal
cover for foreign troops to operate in Iraq.
Iraq Online
Salam Pax, Niqash (Dec 20, 2007)
A quick look at the virtual space Iraqi media occupies on the
Internet will reveal a remarkably accurate representation of the
country's various news outlets. The many television channels which
started broadcasting after the fall of the Baathist regime and the tens
of newspapers which have sprung up over the last number of years have
quickly claimed their own space on the World Wide Web, as have many
other "new media" websites - various forums, blogs and online news
providers. What makes this speedy development in Iraqi online presence
extraordinary is the fact that Internet usage and penetration in Iraq
is actually quite low.
Travelling Light
Kathy Kelly, Voices for Creative Nonviolence (Dec 11, 2007)
Writing from Amman, Jordan, Kathy Kelly describes receiving a curious and meaningful gift from a young friend who is an Iraqi refugee there, in the process calling readers to reconsider the meaning of material excess and the systems of war and oppression to which it is so often related.
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