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[Amped Status] Amped Status » Blog Archive » Iraq Battlefield Report: 3/26 - 4/6: Leila Fadel, Baghdad Bureau Chief of McClatchy Newspapers speaks to Paul Jay about the recent escalation in violence in Iraq’s capital. She says the former fighters termed the “Sons of Iraq”

[AlterNet.org: PEEK] The Iraq 'Surge': Still a Failure (Updated) | War on Iraq | AlterNet: "The U.S. military was sealing off neighborhoods that were no longer really active ribbons of violence, largely because the Shiites were victorious in killing large numbers of Sunnis or driving them out of the city all together," Agnew said. "The large portion of the refugees from Iraq who went during this period to Jordan and Syria are from these neighborhoods."

[GlobalSecurity.org] Iraq: Is Baghdad Attack Beginning Of Civil War?: In that attack, witnesses said the gunmen were wearing police commando uniforms and several Iraqi officials indicated that the abductions were the work of Shi'ite militiamen who had infiltrated the Interior Ministry.

[Foreign Policy In Focus] Foreign Policy In Focus | Managing the Iranian Challenge: Ahmadinejad will continue to be empowered and will play the "American threat" to the hilt to defeat the more cautious Khatami in Iran's upcoming presidential election; both the Iranian "neocon" war generation (led by Ahmadinejad) and the .

[News & Additions - The War Profiteers] The War Profiteers - Lie Detector Leads to US Marine Being Charged ...: In one of the most extraordinary murder cases involving a US soldier to have come out of the Iraq war, Sergeant Ryan Weemer was submitted to a polygraph test and asked about the most serious crime that he had ever committed, as part of his vetting for the new post. He recalled a shooting in Fallujah in November 2004, when US forces stormed the insurgent-held Iraqi city.

Informed Comment: Cole, feel that we must not abandon a broken Iraq to a disastrous civil war, but we are just not in a position to prevent that and the only people who perhaps can prevent that will not be willing to become involved until we are clearly well on our way out. It seems to me that this is a risk we need to take, not just as an excuse to bug out, because it is the only real way to get the Iraqis to make the changes needed to avoid civil war.

[The Blackwater Killings] The War Profiteers - Iraq Bars Blackwater, Tarnished by Civilian ...: Blackwater radio logs made available to The Associated Press by a defense attorney in the case last month raised questions about prosecutors' claims that the guards' shooting was unprovoked. The log transcripts describe a hectic eight minutes in which the guards repeatedly reported incoming gunfire from insurgents and Iraqi police.

[Confederate Yankee] Confederate Yankee: A Little Competence Would Be Nice: The bulk of al Qaeda and its supporters have fled Ramadi, have no bases and control no large swathes of territory, and take to the streets openly at the great risk of being shot by either local citizens, Iraqi Police, Iraqi Army soldiers, American Army soldiers, or Marines. Just a tip to the Washington Post: if they don't control the ground, you can't call it a stronghold.

[Cafe Talk Aggregator] Af-Pak, where Barack will need all his baracka | David Seaton's Blog: PresidentObama's strategy of offering Pakistan a partnership to defeat theinsurgency here calls for a virtual remaking of this nation'sinstitutions and even of the national psyche, an ambitious agenda thatPakistan's politicians and people appear unprepared to take up.Officially, Pakistan's government welcomed Mr. Obama's strategy, withits hefty infusions of American money, hailing it as a "positivechange." But as the Obama administration tries to bring Pakistanis toits side, large parts of the public, the political class and themilitary have brushed off the plan, rebuffing the idea that the threatfrom Al Qaeda and the Taliban, which Washington calls a common enemy,is so urgent.(...) Some analysts here and in Washington are alreadyputting forward apocalyptic timetables for the country.

[SWJ Blog] 4 April 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.

[Inner Workings] Inner Workings » Blog Archive » Resisting the Temptation to Buy Gold: As a Buddhist, I am sure that you will unequivocably condemn Iranian calls to murder millions of Israelis with nuclear weapons. Because Iran does support the terror groups Hamas and Hezballah and because they are threatening to wipe another state off the face of the earth (against international law!)

[Therearenosunglasses's Weblog] State Dept. Cancels Blackwater Contract « Therearenosunglasses’s ...: It was a 2003 plan that proposed using Iraqi tribes as militias to support and help suppress a spreading anti-American insurgency and aid in securing vital U.S. supply lines that were often under attack by jihadis, these sources said. The plan was snubbed by the U.S. military, the insurgency flared in intensity, and the suppressing of it was turned over to Blackwater.

[Amped Status] Amped Status » Blog Archive » Baitullah Mehsud: US Military’s #1 Enemy: War, children, its just a shot away. Its just a shot away”¦ In the week following President Obama’s major announcement of plans to transfer military priorities from Iraq to Afghanistan and Pakistan, David DeGraw wrote a new blog .

[Brad Warthen's Blog] Brad Warthen's Blog: Want to talk about the war in Iraq?: So for me, the whole matter of war in iraq is a fascinating one to talk about later, when there's something new to discuss. But if you have something new to say at this point -- if you find this date on the calendar sufficiently meaningful to inspire you -- go for it.

[Baghdad Bureau] Visual Diary: Former Insurgents - Baghdad Bureau Blog - NYTimes.com: General Patreus is now botching the successful surge by turning the payments to the former insurgents over to the Iraqi goverment, who is not not following through with the money. Many are now returning to the insurgent ranks and there has been clashes between American forces and Sons of Iraq who feel betrayed by their government.

[MARC] How the West lost its way in the East - Windows Live: One of the main achievements of the surge in Iraq was that it gave the US public the impression that a victory had been won which in turn allowed the Americans to agree to withdraw their forces. President Bush was able to sign a Status of Forces Agreement with the Iraqi government at the end of last year which included a timetable for a US pull-out which Washington had furiously rejected in the past.

Reflected tags on Technorati: Blog, Tag Page For: Operation Iraqi Freedom, Iraq Reviews