US fired depleted uranium at civilian areas in 2003 Iraq war, report finds The Guardian Dutch peace group Pax says findings show US was in breach of official advice meant to prevent suffering in conflicts Rob Edwards US forces fired depleted uranium (DU) weapons at civilian areas and troops in Iraq in breach of official […]
The Initiative of Iraqi Intellectuals for the Unity of Iraq
In June 17th 2014, we are a group of Iraqi intellectuals (academics, artists, authors, journalists, and civil activists) from all Iraqi provinces including Kurdistan region, agree to launch a comprehensive national initiative to save Iraq, stop the political and security deterioration, and get our homeland out of the crucial crisis that threatens its unity. […]
The Iraqi Alliance for Education (IAE) appeals to: Iraqi Government, KRG government, United Nation and the international community, Iraqi and international NGOs to protect displaced students and teaching staff in north and west Iraq. Following is the text of the appeal: Subject /an Appeal Iraq –June 23rd 2014 The Iraqi Alliance for […]
OWFI Statement: On the Occupation of Mosul and the Cities of Western Iraq
Statement published on June 23, 2014, by the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq. The Iraqi society is suffering unprecedented crisis that threatens the future of peaceful co-existence of citizens, and augments genocides and civil conflicts based on the sectarian identities that were established on the Iraqi population, and were strengthened throughout more than a […]
BY DEXTER FILKINS The New Yorker president Obama won the White House in part by promising to end the war in Iraq, and since then he placed his faith in Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to help him do so. It was Maliki who would hold together the state that the Americans had helped build. Obama had […]
Challengers Emerge to Replace Divisive Maliki
By ALISSA J. RUBIN and ROD NORDLAND The New York Times BAGHDAD — Iraqi officials said Thursday that political leaders had started intensive jockeying to replace Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki and create a government that would span the country’s deepening sectarian and ethnic divisions, spurred by what they called encouraging meetings with American officials […]
Iraq’s problems are not timeless. The U.S. is responsible.
Boston Review Eight years ago, Nir Rosen made a startling prediction in the pages of Boston Review: Sunnis will be cleansed from Baghdad. And the Shias will go to war against Sunnis. The Kurds, having waited for this opportunity, will secede. Today, with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) taking over cities in […]
Inside Baghdad After Isis Attack: Guns, Rumours and Rising Prices
Niqash | Kholoud Ramzi | In Baghdad, embassies are shutting down, the Internet has been turned off, there’s a checkpoint on every corner and there are more weapons carried openly on the streets than ever. Food prices are rising, militias roam the streets and all anybody can talk about is whether the extremists will attack. […]
Militants lay siege to Iraq’s largest oil refinery
By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA, Associated Press BAGHDAD (AP) — Islamic militants laid siege to Iraq’s largest oil refinery Wednesday, threatening a facility key to the country’s domestic supplies as part of their ongoing lightning offensive, a top security official said. The attack comes militants have seized wide swaths of territory in Iraq — and as the specter […]
Interview by the Iraqi Civil Society Solidarity Initiative (ICSSI), with an Iraqi human rights defender (“QC”) from Mosul – the 18th of June 2014 What is the situation now in the city of Mosul? QC: In terms of the security situation, there is no fighting or bombing. The roads are open, but there is a […]
With Mosul, areas of Salahuddin and Kirkuk out of Iraqi government control, the situation for civilians there and in Iraq as a whole is increasingly dangerous. Moment by moment, the media/news agencies are busy gathering news of what has happened and continues to happen in northern Iraq, and with each report, anxiety grows. The Iraqi […]
IN EXTREMISTS’ IRAQ RISE, AMERICA’S LEGACY
BY DEXTER FILKINS Newyorker First Falluja, then Mosul, and now the oil-refinery town of Bayji. The rapid advance of Al Qaeda-inspired militants across the Sunni heartland of northern and western Iraq has been stunning and relentless—and utterly predictable. Here’s a forecast: the bad news is just beginning. The capture of Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, by […]