Electronic Iraq : Opinion/Editorial

Weary of War? Don't Collaborate.

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 14:00:25 CST

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

Sat, 29 Mar 2008 07:52:25 CST

"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

Thu, 20 Mar 2008 10:13:04 CST

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

Thu, 31 Jan 2008 07:11:27 CST

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

Wed, 02 Jan 2008 06:35:32 CST

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

Thu, 20 Dec 2007 11:31:24 CST

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

Tue, 11 Dec 2007 13:44:19 CST

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.

Iraq Has Only Militants, No Civilians

Thu, 29 Nov 2007 07:30:59 CST

From the beginning of the American occupation in Iraq, air strikes and attacks by the U.S. military have only killed "militants," "criminals," "suspected insurgents," "IED emplacers," "anti-American fighters," "terrorists," "military age males," "armed men," "extremists," or "al-Qaeda." The pattern for reporting on such attacks has remained the same from the early years of the occupation to today.

Dahr Jamail: Outrage in a Time of Apathy

Thu, 15 Nov 2007 08:16:42 CST

Unlike most U.S. journalists who went to Iraq to cover a war, Dahr Jamail, who worked closely with eIraq, went to try to stop it. In his new book, "Beyond the Green Zone: Dispatches from an Unembedded Journalist in Occupied Iraq", Jamail writes of volunteering as a rescue ranger at Denali National Park in the U.S. state of Alaska while news of the invasion and occupation of Iraq played on the radio. He had to get out of Anchorage, and in November 2003, Jamail got on a plane to Amman, Jordan, and then, a few days later, shared a taxi across Iraq's Western desert to Baghdad.

Who's the Enemy?

Mon, 12 Nov 2007 07:07:11 CST

Who is the enemy? Who, exactly, are we fighting in Iraq? Why are we there? And what's our objective? Nearly five years into the war, the answers to basic questions like these ought to be obvious. In the Alice in Wonderland-like wilderness of mirrors that is Iraq, though, they're anything but.

Turkey Into Iraq? Easier Said Than Done

Mon, 15 Oct 2007 07:59:22 CST

Turkey appears to be taking final steps towards a military foray into the Iraqi quagmire. It is a move favored by the public and the military, but opposed by major powers -- and Iraq. Turkish troops and military hardware are amassed now along the Iraq border to the southeast.An entry is laden with pitfalls. And exit after that, more so. For the time being, Turks are not in listening mode.

Get to work!

Mon, 13 Aug 2007 08:57:38 CST

Activist Kathy Kelly tells the story of two women who saw their lives spin out of control after taking jobs with the U.S. military. 'Some argue we're not 100% responsible for this aftermath,' Kelly writes. 'Is it 90%? Are we 80%? 70%? What percent of Noor's blindness, of Nadra's status as the mark of death on any family who houses her - what percent of that can we be comfortable with?'

Thousands of Stories to Tell

Wed, 18 Jul 2007 09:57:51 CST

Having spent a fair amount of time in occupied Iraq, I now find living in the United States nothing short of a schizophrenic experience. Life in Iraq was traumatizing. It was impossible to be there and not be affected by apocalyptic levels of violence and suffering, unimaginable in this country. But here's the weird thing: One long, comfortable plane ride later and you're in Disneyland, or so it feels on returning to the United States.

"Accidents" of War: The Time Has Come for an Honest Discussion of Air Power

Tue, 10 Jul 2007 08:38:17 CST

'Bombs are already being dropped in Iraq in 2007 at almost twice the rate of the previous year, writes Tom Engelhardt. 'In Iraq, as all now know, the U.S. military has reached its on-the-ground limits. The next stage of the war in Iraq is, in a sense, already in sight.'

Everyday Apocalypse in Iraq

Wed, 20 Jun 2007 08:33:19 CST

'Hope for the coming of the promised one is all most Shiites have left,' writes Juan Cole, 'and the desecration of sacred sites associated with the Mahdi (analogous to the return of Christ for Christians) is especially likely to set off reprisal attacks against Sunnis. Since the guerrilla strategy in Iraq is to provoke a Sunni-Shiite civil war as a way of making the country ungovernable and forcing the Americans out, attacks on symbols of the Twelfth Imam are especially effective.'

Words in a Time of War

Tue, 05 Jun 2007 09:25:00 CST

'If we are an empire now, as Mr. Rove says, perhaps we should add, as he might not, that we are also a democracy, and therein lies the rub,' Mark Danner says in this commencement address. 'A democratic empire, as even the Athenians discovered, is an odd beast, like one of those mythological creatures born equally of lion and bird, or man and horse.'

The Colossus of Baghdad: Wonders of the Imperial World

Wed, 30 May 2007 09:20:00 CST

Of the seven wonders of the ancient Mediterranean world, only the Great Pyramid of Giza remains. We no longer know who built those fabled monuments to the grandiosity of kings, pharaohs, and gods; of more modern architectural wonders, we have a clearer idea. Our vast $592 million 'embassy' - 20-odd buildings on 104 acres in Baghdad's Green Zone - turns out to have a builder.

Is Imperial Liquidation Possible for America?

Fri, 18 May 2007 08:33:00 CST

'Had the government been working as the authors of the Constitution intended, the war could not have occurred,' writes Chalmers Johnson. 'Even now, the Democratic majority remains reluctant to use its power of the purse to cut off funding for the war, thereby ending the American occupation of Iraq and starting to curtail the ever-growing power of the military-industrial complex.'

...And Yet More Talk

Thu, 10 May 2007 08:47:00 CST

Two days of talks on Iraq last week produced an international agreement promising support for the Iraqi government in exchange for political and economic reforms to be implemented by Baghdad. But while the so-called International Compact on Iraq canceled some of the country's foreign debts, the initiative yielded few other tangible results, local commentators say.

A Small War Guaranteed to Damage a Superpower

Wed, 09 May 2007 08:53:00 CST

In Iraq, writes the intrepid Patrick Cockburn, 'Stability will not return until the occupation has ended. The Iraqi government, penned into the Green Zone, has become tainted in the eyes of Iraqis by reliance on a foreign power. Much of what has gone wrong has more to do with the US than Iraq. The weaknesses of its government and army have been exposed. Iraq has joined the list of small wars that inflict extraordinary damage on their occupiers.'