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The Unz Review •�An Alternative Media Selection$
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Iraq Stuck Between Israel and Iran As Tensions Rise
•�October 21, 2024
•�1,900 Words •�10 Comments • Reply
Iraq’s leaders have a lot on their minds, stuck between Israel and Iran as the two countries veer closer to open conflict. Washington generally has a permissive attitude to whatever Israel wants to do, so if the attackers cross Iraq the assumption will be that the Americans approved, or did not disapprove, of the attack... Read More
'Karbala Is the Path to al-Aqsa': An Iraq Diary
•�August 29, 2024
•�1,100 Words •�7 Comments • Reply
BAGHDAD and KARBALA – Arriving in Baghdad today comes as an electric shock to any visitor who remembers recent, somber Iraqi history. There are virtually no checkpoints, apart from sensitive government areas. None of those ghastly cement blocks from the time of the American occupation, forcing a slow slalom every few minutes. No sense of... Read More
Can the US and Iraq Move Beyond Military Ties?
Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' Al Sudani is in Washington next week with both sides hoping to expand they’re economic...
•�April 12, 2024
•�1,000 Words •�20 Comments • Reply
Twenty-one years ago, the U.S. and its allies invaded Iraq in the erroneous belief that the country possessed weapons of mass destruction and was allied with al-Qaida, the terror group responsible for the 9/11 attacks. The U.S. created an occupation authority, but failed to restore order and helped spawn the insurgency that bedeviled it by... Read More
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The World’s Gyre
•�February 12, 2024
•�1,500 Words •�167 Comments • Reply
Biden may see himself needing some ‘grand victory’, as much as does Netanyahu. The U.S. is edging closer to war with Iraq’s Popular Mobilisation Forces, a state security agency composed of armed groups, some of which are close to Iran, but which for the main are Iraqi nationalists. The U.S. carried out a drone strike... Read More
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The United States and Europe Are Hell Bent on Sparking World War III
•�February 7, 2024
•�1,200 Words •�290 Comments • Reply
The U.S. and Europe — the Brits in particular — are out of control and flouting international law as they carry out military strikes in Yemen, Syria and Iraq. The West claims it is an act of self-defense, but instead of killing or arresting specific individuals responsible for attacks, are engaged in collective punishment. I... Read More
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Biden Bombs Syria and Iraq in Revenge, Says More Bombs Coming Soon
•�February 3, 2024
•�2,200 Words •�234 Comments • Reply
“At the times and places of our choosing” is one of the gayest of all the US government slogans. Honestly, it’s really gay that the military engages in this constant sloganeering in the first place. It’s so obviously a result of focus-group testing. At some point, PR goes too far, and when you’re doing focus... Read More
The Whole Region Wants the US Out!
Press TV interview broadcast live just hours before Biden's attack on Iraq and Syria
•�February 3, 2024
•�1,200 Words •�17 Comments • Reply
Joining us on this edition of the News Review we have writer and political columnist Saeed al-Shehabi who's joining us from the British capital London and also joining us from Saidia, Morocco, we have editor of Veterans Today, Mr. Kevin Barrett. Gentlemen, welcome to the program. Let's jump right in, Mr. Shahabi, and give us... Read More
Neocon Freak-Out as Biden Contemplates Iraq/Syria Withdrawal
•�January 24, 2024
•�700 Words •�7 Comments • Reply
Neocon heads like the Middle East Institute’s Charles Lister’s are exploding with the news today that the Biden Administration may be considering withdrawing from its illegal occupations in both Syria and Iraq. First on Syria. As Lister opines today in Foreign Policy: …four sources within the Defense and State departments said the White House is... Read More
After 20 Years, It’s Time for America to Leave Iraq
•�January 11, 2024
•�900 Words •�12 Comments • Reply
On Jan. 4, 2024, the U.S. assassinated Mushtaq Jawad Kazim al-Jawari, a commander in an Iran-linked Iraqi militia. The Pentagon press release called the militia a “terrorist group” and claimed the strike was in “self-defense.” But it neglected to mention the militia was also part of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), an Iraqi government body... Read More
It Is Time for the Carlito-Kleinfeld Rule: White Message to Jews Must be, "We're Even" — No More Favoritism for Jews Who...
•�October 23, 2022
•�9,400 Words •�14 Comments • Reply
Note: CARLITO'S WAY is the closest thing to a Passion Play in the Gangster genre. If ever a gangster movie was made for the Easter Season, this is it. No wonder it was voted by the French film journal Cahier du Cinema as the best film of the 1990s. Though France has long been secular,... Read More
Murdered anti-ISIS commanders Qassem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al Muhandes
Two Years On, the Soleimani Spirit Gathers Clout
•�January 3, 2022
•�1,600 Words •�119 Comments • Reply
Two years ago, the 2020s started with a murder. Baghdad airport, January 3, 00:52 AM. The assassination of Major General Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), alongside Abu Mahdi al-Muhandes, deputy commander of Iraq’s Hashd al-Shaabi forces, by laser-guided AGM-114 Hellfire missiles launched from two American MQ-9... Read More
Muqtada the Conqueror Gains Ground in Iraqi Poll
•�October 12, 2021
•�1,300 Words •�35 Comments • Reply
It would be tempting to picture the Iraqi parliamentary elections last Sunday as a geopolitical game-changer. Well, it’s complicated – in more ways than one. Let’s start with the abstention rate. Of the 22 million eligible voters able to choose 329 members of Parliament from 3,227 candidates and 167 parties, only 41% chose to cast... Read More
"Breaking the Code of Silence"
Eddie Gallagher and the changing story of a death in Iraq
•�August 29, 2021
•�800 Words •�4 Comments • Reply
The core explanation, as usual, went missing. The soldiers broke their code of silence, but the media kept its secrets. On Sunday, Aug 29, 2021, the CBS network on its special Sunday edition aired a gripping and tragic segment, bearing images seldom seen on US tv screens. The clip was tersely summed up in this... Read More
Iraq Needs an Independent Government, Not Training
•�August 5, 2021
•�700 Words •�4 Comments • Reply
Will US occupation troops really leave Iraq? That’s the question that Washington is so far unable to answer. The White House says the official date of the long goodbye is this month, August 2021. Donald Trump announced a pullout of US troops while still in office but his deadline was simply ignored by the new... Read More
Bomber Joe Biden Strikes Iraq and Syria: Retaliation Breeds More Incidents
•�July 15, 2021
•�1,400 Words •�142 Comments • Reply
Joe Biden is continuing down the path that began with George W. Bush, with military action used as a substitute for any real foreign policy. In less than six months in office President Joe Biden has already developed a national security policy that appears to lean strongly towards proactive use of military force in questionable... Read More
The Pope-Sistani Riddle
•�March 9, 2021
•�1,700 Words •�145 Comments • Reply
By any historical measure, it was a game-changer: the first meeting since the 7th century between a Roman Catholic Pope and a Shiite spiritual leader regarded as a “source of emulation.” It will take a long time to assess the full implications of the immensely intriguing 50-minute face-to-face conversation, with interpreters only, between Pope Francis... Read More
Trump Must Back Iraq Withdrawal Promise with Action
•�August 31, 2020
•�500 Words •�6 Comments • Reply
Earlier this month, while meeting with the Iraqi Prime Minister, President Trump reaffirmed his intent to remove all US troops from Iraq. “We were there and now we’re getting out. We’ll be leaving shortly,” the president told reporters at the time. Although President Obama should never have sent US troops back into Iraq in 2016,... Read More
Iraq Will be Hit Harder by the Oil Price Drop Than by Covid-19 or Isis
•�May 10, 2020
•�1,000 Words •�3 Comments • Reply
The shadowy figures of well-armed Isis gunmen can be seen making an attack in the plains of northern Iraq on an outpost held by paramilitary fighters loyal to the Iraqi government. Some four of the latter are killed by a roadside bomb. Isis specialises in publicising its successful military actions online to show that it... Read More
A Million Iraqis Asked Us to Leave. We Should Listen.
•�January 27, 2020
•�500 Words •�18 Comments • Reply
You wouldn’t know it from US mainstream media reporting, but on Friday an estimated million Iraqis took to the streets to protest the continued US military presence in their country. What little mainstream media coverage the protest received all reported the number of protesters as far less than actually turned out. The Beltway elites are... Read More
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A New Definition of Warfare
Sanctions can be more deadly than bullets
•�January 21, 2020
•�1,600 Words •�141 Comments • Reply
Supporters of Donald Trump often make the point that he has not started any new wars. One might observe that it has not been for lack of trying, as his cruise missile attacks on Syria based on fabricated evidence and his recent assassination of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani have been indisputably acts of war. Trump... Read More
Pompeo to Iraq: If You Kick Us Out, We Will Bury You
•�January 20, 2020
•�1,700 Words •�15 Comments • Reply
The Trump administration is threatening to destroy Iraq's economy by withholding a critical source of money that is controlled by the Federal Reserve. The threat is a response to the Iraqi parliament's unanimous decision to end Washington's 17 year-long military occupation. The Iraqi people and their representatives in parliament are incensed by the recent assassination... Read More
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How a Hidden Parliamentary Session Revealed Trump’s True Motives in Iraq
•�January 17, 2020
•�4,600 Words •�157 Comments • Reply
The U.S. is adamant that its assassination of Qassem Soleimani and refusal to leave Iraq is about protecting Americans, but a little known Iraqi parliamentary session reveals how China increasingly strong ties to Baghdad may be shaping America’s new Mideast strategy. Since the U.S. killed Iranian General Qassem Soleimani and Iraqi militia leader Abu Mahdi... Read More
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Trump and Congress Double Down on Demonizing Iran
Will the national security nightmare ever end?
•�January 14, 2020
•�1,600 Words •�259 Comments • Reply
If one seriously seeks to understand how delusional policymakers in Washington are it is only necessary to examine the responses by the president and Congress to the assassination of Iranian Major General Qassem Soleimani. The first response came in the form of a Donald Trump largely incoherent nine-minute self-applauding speech explaining what he had done... Read More
US to Iraq: ‘Vote All You Want, We’re Not Leaving!’
•�January 13, 2020
•�600 Words •�6 Comments • Reply
President Trump’s decision earlier this month to assassinate Iran’s top military general on Iraqi soil – over the objection of the Iraqi government – has damaged the US relationship with its “ally” Iraq and set the region on the brink of war. Iran’s measured response – a few missiles fired on an Iraqi base after... Read More
How the US Runs Iraq
•�January 11, 2020
•�700 Words •�12 Comments • Reply
What ever happened to Iraq? Is it not an independent country with a democratic government thanks to the 2003 US invasion? So says Washington. The murder of senior Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani suddenly shone a strobe light on ‘independent’ Iraq, and what we saw was not pretty. Welcome to the new Imperialism 101. Iraq’s... Read More
Joe Biden Was Right—Partition Iraq! But That Was Back In 2006
•�January 10, 2020
•�900 Words •�32 Comments • Reply
See, earlier, by Steve Sailer: The Partition Possibility, November 30, 2003 Adapted from the latest Radio Derb, available exclusively at VDARE.com Big news of the week: the arm-wrestling bout with Iran. Again, as I said last week, there is no market here for Great Game strategizing. I'd like for us to tip over the chess-board... Read More
The West Is Still Buying Into Nonsense About Iran’s Regional Influence
•�January 10, 2020
•�1,000 Words •�15 Comments • Reply
I was in Iraq in April 1991 when government security forces crushed the Shia uprising against Saddam Hussein’s regime, killing tens of thousands and burying their bodies in pits. I had been expelled from Iraq to Jordan at the start of the rebellion in March and then, to my surprise, allowed to return, because Saddam... Read More
Iranians carried the coffins of top general Qassem Soleimani and his allies in Kerman, Iran,...
The Donald’s Assassination of General Soleimani—As Stupid As It Gets
•�January 7, 2020
•�3,100 Words •�251 Comments • Reply
During more than a half-century of Washington watching we have seen stupidity rise from one height to yet another. But nothing—just plain nothing—compares to the the blithering stupidity of the Donald’s Iran “policy”, culminating in the mindless assassination of its top military leader and hero of the so-called Islamic Revolution, Major General Qassem Soleimani. To... Read More
If Baghdad Wants Us Out, Let's Go!
•�January 7, 2020
•�900 Words •�88 Comments • Reply
Fifteen years after the U.S. invaded Iraq to turn Saddam Hussein's dictatorship into a beacon of democracy, Iraq's Parliament, amid shouts of "Death to America!" voted to expel all U.S. troops from the country. Though nonbinding, the expulsion vote came after mobs trashed the U.S. embassy in an assault that recalled Tehran 1979. What provoked... Read More
US Actions in Iraq Could Plunge the Country Into Crisis Once Again
•�January 6, 2020
•�1,000 Words •�5 Comments • Reply
The assassination of Qassem Soleimani has capsized Iraqi politics in the most dangerous of ways, making it possible that the country will be plunged once again into a state of permanent crisis and war from which it has escaped in the last two years. President Trump is threatening sanctions against Iraq if it expels the... Read More
Financial N-Option Will Settle Trump’s Oil War
•�January 6, 2020
•�1,300 Words •�18 Comments • Reply
The bombshell facts were delivered by caretaker Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi, during an extraordinary, historic parliamentary session in Baghdad on Sunday. Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani had flown into Baghdad on a normal carrier flight, carrying a diplomatic passport. He had been sent by Tehran to deliver, in person, a reply to a message from... Read More
The US Is Now at War, de-Facto and de-Jure, with BOTH Iraq and Iran
•�January 5, 2020
•�1,700 Words •�32 Comments • Reply
The blowback has begun First, let’s begin by a quick summary of what has taken place (note: this info is still coming in, so there might be corrections once the official sources make their official statements). Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdl Mahdi has now officially revealed that the US had asked him to mediate between... Read More
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Soleimani Murder: What Could Happen Next?
•�January 3, 2020
•�2,900 Words •�368 Comments • Reply
First, a quick recap of the situation We need to begin by quickly summarizing what just happened: General Soleimani was in Baghdad on an official visit to attend the funeral of the Iraqis murdered by the US on the 29th The US has now officially claimed responsibility for this murder The Iranian Supreme Leader, Ayatollah... Read More
Iraq’s Worst Fears Have Come True – a Proxy War Is on Its Doorstep
•�January 3, 2020
•�1,000 Words •�24 Comments • Reply
Iraqis have a well-honed instinct about approaching danger which stems from their grim experience during 40 years of crisis and war. Three months ago, I asked a friend in Baghdad how she and her friends viewed the future, adding Iraq seemed to me to be more peaceful than at any time since the US and... Read More
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EXTREMELY Dangerous Development in the Middle East
•�January 2, 2020
•�800 Words •�336 Comments • Reply
I just got home and saw the news that General Qasem Soleimani has been murdered along with another 5-8 people by what was initially reported as a MRL strike (Russian sources say it was a drone attack). This was bad enough. Then this: The Telegram channel of RIA News reports that the US has claimed... Read More
Feature photo | Graphic by Claudio Cabrera
The Israel Lobby’s Hidden Hand in the Theft of Iraqi and Syrian Oil
and •�December 10, 2019
•�4,100 Words •�71 Comments • Reply
The outsized role of U.S. Israel lobby operatives in abetting the theft of Syrian and Iraqi oil reveals how this powerful lobby also facilitates more covert aspects of U.S.-Israeli cooperation and the implementation of policies that favor Israel. Kirkuk, Iraq — “We want to bring our soldiers home. But we did leave soldiers because we’re... Read More
Is It Jaw-Jaw or War with Iran?
•�December 10, 2019
•�900 Words •�94 Comments • Reply
"Jaw-jaw is better than war-war," is attributed, wrongly, say some historians, to Winston Churchill. Still, the words lately came to mind. While last week ended with a hopeful U.S.-Iranian prisoner exchange that was hailed by President Donald Trump -- "Thank you to Iran for a very fair negotiation. See, we can make a deal together"... Read More
What Really Happened in Iran?
A fuel tax hike set the country ablaze and triggered a social backlash
•�December 6, 2019
•�1,100 Words •�5 Comments • Reply
On November 15, a wave of protests engulfed over 100 Iranian cities as the government resorted to an extremely unpopular measure: a fuel tax hike of as much as 300%, without a semblance of a PR campaign to explain the reasons. Iranians, after all, have reflexively condemned subsidy removals for years now – especially related... Read More
The Resignation of the Iraqi Prime Minister May Not Halt the Protests
•�November 29, 2019
•�1,100 Words •�11 Comments • Reply
Protesters in Iraq have won their first big success by forcing the resignation of the Iraqi prime minister, Adel Abdul-Mahdi, after the killing of 45 unarmed protesters by the Iraqi security forces in a single day. As the news spread, the crack of celebratory fireworks replaced that of gunshots in Baghdad's Tahrir Square, which has... Read More
Iraqi Demonstrators Torch Consulate and Death Toll Soars
•�November 28, 2019
•�900 Words •�10 Comments • Reply
Iran has condemned the burning of its consulate in the Shia holy city of Najaf as Iraqi security forces escalate violence against protesters, who increasingly see the Iranian authorities as responsible for the repression. Anti-government protests that started on 1 October now in large part resemble a general uprising by the Shia majority in southern... Read More
Iran May be the Only Winner in Iraq
Intelligence documents reveal how Tehran took advantage of US blundering
•�November 28, 2019
•�1,300 Words •�11 Comments • Reply
The American invasion of Iraq and the overthrow of that nation’s government in 2003 has rightly been described as the greatest foreign policy disaster in the history of the United States. Eight thousand one hundred and seventy five American soldiers, contractors and civilians have died in Iraq since 2003 as well as an estimated 300,000... Read More
Plundering Iraq
•�November 16, 2019
•�700 Words •�19 Comments • Reply
Victor Hugo said of the devastated Balkans in the 19th century: ‘The Turks have passed by here. All is in ruins or mourning.’ Welcome to modern Iraq. The British were always masters of efficient imperialism. In the 19th century, they managed to rule a quarter of the Earth’s surface with only a relatively small army... Read More
How Tehran-Backed Forces Are Taking Over in Iraq
•�November 11, 2019
•�1,100 Words •�60 Comments • Reply
Iraqi security and pro-Iranian paramilitary forces are shooting into crowds of protesters in a bid to drive them from the centre of Baghdad and end six weeks of demonstrations that have challenged the political system to an extent not seen since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003. Police retook three bridges across the Tigris... Read More
The Killing of ISIS Leader Baghdadi Does Not Solve All Problems.
•�October 28, 2019
•�900 Words •�27 Comments • Reply
At the height of the al-Qaeda-led insurgency in Iraq in 2006-07, US commanders, whose troops were suffering serious casualties from roadside bombs, developed a strategy. They sought to identify, kill or capture the leaders of the cells planting the Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) in the belief that this would cripple the bombing campaign. Many such... Read More
Baghdadi Had No Real Answer to the Crumbling of His Caliphate
•�October 27, 2019
•�1,000 Words •�48 Comments • Reply
The death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of Isis and the self-declared caliph of Islamic State, will be a serious, though not terminal, blow to the ferocious jihadi movement he has headed since 2010. The place where he was finally located – in the Barisha area north of Idlib city in northwest Syria, close... Read More
The Final Outcome of the Multiple Syrian Wars Is Now in Sight
•�October 25, 2019
•�1,200 Words •�21 Comments • Reply
The sectarian and ethnic civil wars that have ravaged a large part of the Middle East over the past 40 years are coming to an end. Replacing them is a new type of conflict in which protests akin to popular uprisings rock kleptocratic elites that justify their power by claiming to be the defenders of... Read More
Is Trump At Last Ending Our 'Endless Wars'?
•�October 8, 2019
•�800 Words •�82 Comments • Reply
The backstage struggle between the Bush interventionists and the America-firsters who first backed Donald Trump for president just exploded into open warfare, which could sunder the Republican Party. At issue is Trump's decision to let the Turkish army enter Northern Syria, to create a corridor between Syrian Kurds and the Turkish Kurds of the PKK,... Read More
Death Toll in Iraq Soars as Pro-Iran Gunmen 'Shooting Protesters'
•�October 7, 2019
•�1,000 Words •�30 Comments • Reply
Iraqi paramilitary groups close to Iran are suspected of joining attacks on protesters in Baghdad and other cities, leading to heavy loss of life among demonstrators. Some 107 people have been killed and over 6,000 wounded in the last six days, though hospital doctors say the government is understating the true number of fatalities. “The... Read More
The Post-Saddam Hussein Settlement in Iraq Is on the Brink of Collapse
•�October 4, 2019
•�1,100 Words •�46 Comments • Reply
Iraq is poised at a turning point in its modern history as its people wait to see if the government curfew and close down of the internet will end the ongoing demonstrations. I am staying in the Baghdad Hotel, off Sadoon Street in central Baghdad, not far from Tahrir Square, the focus of most protest... Read More
Iraq on Brink of Mass Uprising as Internet Cut Off and Curfew Imposed
•�October 4, 2019
•�600 Words •�4 Comments • Reply
Iraq is on the edge of a mass popular uprising which the government is seeking to stifle through a strictly imposed open-ended curfew and an enforced internet blackout. Protests, met with a fierce response from the authorities, have gripped Baghdad and spread since Tuesday to southern Iraqi provinces. So far, 19 people have been reported... Read More
� Earlier Items �
"Iraq" Items Across Entire Archive
Topic Classics
Bragging Rights
Eight Exceptional(ly Dumb) American Achievements of the Twenty-First Century
•�1 Comment • Reply
The Transparent Cabal
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Warlord: The Rise of Muqtada al-Sadr
"All Hell is Breaking Loose with Muqtada" Warlord: the Rise of Muqtada al-Sadr
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Crunchy Calumny
Critics of the Iraq War weren't really "anti-Semites"
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The Unreported Iraq
Bloodbath Beyond the Green Zone
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Money for Nothing
Billions of dollars have disappeared, gone to bribe Iraqis and line contractors’ pockets.
•�2 Comments • Reply