Iraq

  • Iraq: Sadrists mobilise against occupation

    “We talked about Iraq, how Iraq is changing for the better, how people are beginning to realize the blessings of a free and peaceful society” — such statements from US President George Bush started looking increasingly surreal for even the most fervent supporters of the Iraq invasion long before the war had seen out its first anniversary.

  • All the wrong conclusions

    Stop-Loss
    Directed by Kimberly Peirce
    Written by Kimberly Peirce & Mark Richard
    With Ryan Phillippe, Channing Tatum & Abbie Cornish
    In cinemas August 18

  • Iraq: Hundreds die in US assault on Sadr City

    “Deaths and injuries are soaring in Sadr City as US troops increase their military and economic pressure” on the Iraqi capital’s huge Shiite slum district, the English-language website of Baghdad Azzaman daily reported on May 5.

  • Iraq: Rice praises bloody assault on anti-occupation forces

    In an unannounced visit to Baghdad on April 20, US Secretary Condoleezza Rice praised Nuri al Maliki, Iraq’s Shiite prime minister, for “ordering” a military offensive last month in the Iraqi seaport city of Basra against anti-occupation Shiite cleric Moqtada al Sadr’s Mahdi Army militia.

  • Iraq: US officials blame Iran for Basra defeat

    “Clashes with Shiite militiamen flared in two cities Wednesday as a US drone fired two missiles in Basra and US-backed Iraqi troops battled in Baghdad’s sprawling Sadr City slum”, Associated Press reported on April 16.

  • Iraq: US-Maliki assault on Basra backfires

    “The intense fighting in southern Iraq is entering its fourth day, bringing pressure on the Iraqi government to lead the country out of its plunge back into the prolonged sectarian violence of the past. The ceasefire announced by Iraq’s biggest sectarian militia last August, appears to be in tatters as Prime Minister Nuri al Maliki struggles to contain the country’s Shiite warlords.”

  • Iraq: Five years on, Bush still promises 'victory'

    Within days of Washington’s war on Iraq entering its sixth year, the White House confirmed news reports that the US troop death toll had passed the 4000 mark. Associated Press reported on March 23 that “the grim milestone” came after “a roadside bomb killed four US soldiers in Baghdad”.

  • Iraq: Another Bush lie finished off

    “Five years after US troops invaded Iraq, there are many tears — though not everyone is crying”, Associated Press reported on March 5 “It’s the war that more than a million US soldiers have fought, leaving nearly 4000 dead and more than 29,000 wounded in action. The one in which thousands of contractors rushed in to serve and to make a buck …”

  • Afghanistan: US spy chief admits war going badly

    While the Western corporate media was swooning over the tour of army duty in war-torn Afghanistan by Prince Harry, the third in line to the British crown, scant coverage was given to US national intelligence director Vice-Admiral Mike McConnell’s admission that the situation facing the US and its NATO allies in Afghanistan is “deteriorating”, despite a doubling of their occupation forces since 2004.

  • Iraq: No more blood for oil

    US chief of staff operations director General Carter Ham told a February 25 press briefing that the Pentagon plans to keep its occupation force in Iraq at 140,000 troops after the end of the 30,000-strong US troop “surge” in July.

  • Iraq: Washington backs Turkish invasion

    “Turkish fighter jets, helicopters and hundreds of commandos streamed across the border into northern Iraq Wednesday despite Iraqi and American calls to swiftly end an operation to root out Kurdish insurgents”, Associated Press reported on February 27.

  • Iraq: Four million face hunger

    “Four million Iraqis cannot guarantee they’re going to have food on their table tomorrow”, the United Nations humanitarian coordinator for Iraq, David Shearer, told Reuters news agency on February 12, adding that “humanitarian needs in Iraq have risen sharply over the last two years”.