[Previous] Exultet: Obama and the war in Iraq...

 [Next] The Dignified Rant: But it Was Such a Good War!...

Some related posts from Technorati and Google.

[Dahr Jamail's Mideast Dispatches » Dahr Jamail - Independent Reporting from Iraq and the Middle East] Iraq War - The Dirty War: The resulting brigade was a Green Beret’s dream come true: a deadly, elite, covert unit, fully fitted with American equipment, that would operate for years under US command and be unaccountable to Iraqi ministries and the normal political process. The ISOF is at least 4,564 operatives strong, making it approximately the size of the US Army’s own Special Forces in Iraq.

[Bulatlat] The Dirty War - Bulatlat: The resulting brigade was a Green Beret’s dream come true: a deadly, elite, covert unit, fully fitted with American equipment, that would operate for years under US command and be unaccountable to Iraqi ministries and the normal political process. The ISOF is at least 4,564 operatives strong, making it approximately the size of the US Army’s own Special Forces in Iraq.

[Truthout - All Articles] t r u t h o u t | The Dirty War: Rather, "the Americans pressured the Iraqi government to create a new minister-level office called the Counter-Terrorism Bureau," Bauer writes, "Established by a directive from Iraq's prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, the CTB answers directly to him and commands the ISOF independently of the police and army.

[NewsDaily: Top Headlines] NewsDaily: Biden urges Iraqis to heal divisions: "The prime minister stressed that the Iraqi government is committed to activate the national reconciliation project," it said. "But the dissolved Baath party is not connected with national reconciliation and it is prohibited, because it's responsible for the destruction Iraq has gone through."

[Neno Gang ( DinarTrade )] Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Kamal Al-Maliki, Critical of Consensus ...: Al-Maliki's preference for a presidential system would require an amendment to the constitution which establishes a parliamentary government in Iraq, meaning that the government is selected by a majority of the members of parliament and is accountable to it. A constitutional amendment is not an easy matter in Iraq under the currently constitution, which requires that any amendment must await two rounds of parliamentary elections.

[TVNZ News] Iraq parliament Sunni leader killed at mosque in Bagdad | WORLD News: Recently picked as leader of the Accordance Front, Harith al-Ubaidiwas seen as a moderate able to make peace  among the bloc'sgroups and also with Shiites, Kurds and others who have struggledfor power since the 2003 US invasion.

[Neno Gang ( DinarTrade )] Iraq's preparations for the signing of a security agreement with ...: Member of the Committee on Defense and Security in Iraq's parliament Ammar Tamah, he explained in a statement to Al «time» yesterday, that «the end of July (July) will cover the legal end of the British forces in Iraq, according to the protocol signed between Baghdad and London early this year, which requires the convening of a security agreement between Iraq and Britain, to avoid any embarrassment or may have implications on the survival of the British presence in Iraq without a legal cover. The Iraqi government wishes to the Convention is not just a security agreement, but the political and economic partnership.

[AlterNet.org] It's Official: Total Defeat for U.S. in Iraq | World | AlterNet: Yesterday, top US military commander in Iraq General Ray Odierno said that, though the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) explicitly requires all US forces to be out of Iraqi cities by June 30, he expects troops will remain in the cities past that date. The Sadr bloc’s Liwaa Sumeissim said this underscored their belief that the US doesn’t feel bound by the pact, and that he expects the US to use any pretext to keep forces in Iraq beyond that 2011 deadline as well.

[N. Virginia, Richmond, VA and DC Metro Chapter] SNAP ANALYSIS - What does Sunni leader's murder mean for Iraq ...: Harith al-Ubaidi was recently chosen as head of the Accordance Front, a Sunni bloc that has tried to defend the interests of Iraq’s once ruling Sunnis against the majority Shi’ite Muslims who became dominant after Saddam Hussein’s fall.

[SWJ Blog] 29 June SWJ Roundup (SWJ Blog): Metz concludes that the United States has a long-standing, continuing problem “developing sound assumptions when the opponent operates within a different psychological and cultural framework.” He sees a pattern of misjudgments about Saddam and Iraq based on Western cultural and historical bias and a pervasive faith in the superiority of America’s worldview and institutions. This myopia contributed to America being caught off guard by Saddam’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990, then underestimating his longevity, and finally miscalculating the likelihood of a stable and democratic Iraq after he was toppled.

[Small Wars Council] 29 June SWJ Roundup - Small Wars Council: Metz concludes that the United States has a long-standing, continuing problem “developing sound assumptions when the opponent operates within a different psychological and cultural framework.” He sees a pattern of misjudgments about Saddam and Iraq based on Western cultural and historical bias and a pervasive faith in the superiority of America’s worldview and institutions. This myopia contributed to America being caught off guard by Saddam’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990, then underestimating his longevity, and finally miscalculating the likelihood of a stable and democratic Iraq after he was toppled.

[blogs.telegraph.co.uk blog listings.] Telegraph Blogs » News » Barack Obama's folly: believing he can ...: If it was not a profoundly balkanized world and one that was monolitically anti-American, American soldiers would not have volunteered to risk their lives to save Muslims in Kosovo, Kuwait, Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia. We have bled for Muslims.

[Syria Comment] Syria Comment » Archives » Steps Syria has Taken to Win US Favor: The Christians wanted us to start a war with the Shi'ites so that they could look on from the sidelines, and even some of the Sunnis wanted there to be a confrontation between the Shi'ites and ourselves. Syria voiced opposition to the occupation causing a breakdown in political and economic relations and Syrian exports to Iraq were valued at just US $641 million in 2007, compared to US $2 billion immediately prior to the invasion.

[AlterNet.org] Bringing Ireland to Baghdad: How the Resistance Will Eventually ...: A much better anomoly would be to compare the freedom fighters in Iraq with the French Resistance during the second world war. The French then were in exactly the same situation as the Iraqis are now, occupied by a foreign force who have no regard for the lives of the people whose country they occupy.

[SWJ Blog] 9 June SWJ Roundup (SWJ Blog): Metz concludes that the United States has a long-standing, continuing problem “developing sound assumptions when the opponent operates within a different psychological and cultural framework.” He sees a pattern of misjudgments about Saddam and Iraq based on Western cultural and historical bias and a pervasive faith in the superiority of America’s worldview and institutions. This myopia contributed to America being caught off guard by Saddam’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990, then underestimating his longevity, and finally miscalculating the likelihood of a stable and democratic Iraq after he was toppled.

[Global News Blog] Global News Blog » Blog Archive » Is the war in Iraq over? | Blogs |: The main Sunni Arab bloc has returned to the government after a year-long boycott and last week Maliki hosted Obama in Baghdad before jetting off to meet German and Italian leaders as well as Pope Benedict. The Bush administration has longed for this sort of .

Reflected tags on Technorati: Blog, War Iraq, Iraq Reviews