1841 posts tagged with iraq.
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A revolutionary's revolution
Jailed Kurdish militant leader calls for end to conflict with Turkey [ungated] - "Turkey's jailed militant leader Abdullah Ocalan called on his Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) to disarm and disband on Thursday, a move that could end its 40-year conflict with Ankara and have far-reaching political and security consequences for the region." [more inside]
Authors Take Sides ...
Casy Calver's Authors Take Sides on the Spanish War: A Dossier is an annotated edition of the eponymous 1937 pamphlet [previously], containing "many influential writers' opinions on one of the most significant conflicts of the twentieth century." Calver includes related unpublished documents plus background on contributors like C.L.R. James, Marcus Garvey, Sylvia Townsend Warner, Victor Gollancz, Sylvia Pankhurst, Cecil Day-Lewis, Arthur Koestler, Rebecca West, W.H. Auden, Olaf Stapledon, Elinor Mordaunt, Vera Brittain, and other writers--Eliot, Machen, Wells, etc. In Time last year, Sarah Watling profiled the initiative's leader, Nancy Cunard: "Sometimes Writers Have to Take Sides." See also Writers Take Sides: Letters about the war in Spain from 418 American authors (1938) and books on Vietnam, the Falklands, and Iraq.
'This Is What the US Military Was Doing in Iraq'
Photos of 2005 Haditha Massacre Finally Published - "On Tuesday, The New Yorker published 10 of the massacre photos—part of a collaboration with the "In the Dark" podcast that joined the magazine last year.' // The podcast's reporting team had filed its public records request four years ago, then sued the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, and Central Command over their failure to hand over the images. "In the Dark" host Madeleine Baran also traveled with a colleague to Iraq's remote Anbar Province to meet relatives of some of the 24 Iraqi civilians—who ranged in age from 1 to 76—slaughtered by U.S. troops." [more inside]
“Every day, there were fewer and fewer kings.”
The Achilles Trap doubles as a surprisingly sympathetic study of a man who, as his powers slipped away, spent the last decade of his life jerry-rigging monuments of his own magnificence. Coll draws much of his material from extensive interviews with retired American intelligence officers and former members of Saddam’s bureaucracy, as well as from a previously unavailable archive of audio tapes from Saddam’s own state offices. What emerges is a portrait of Saddam as an eccentric in the mold of G.K. Chesterton—if Chesterton were bloodthirsty, paranoid, and power-mad—a man driven ultimately by deep reverence for the sense that hides beneath nonsense. from Saddam’s Secret Weapon, a review of The Achilles Trap by Steve Coll [The American Conservative]
A farewell kiss from the Iraqi people
As the Great Game Goes 'Round: Middle East Rapprochement & Realignment
Qatar and UAE in process of restoring diplomatic ties [ungated] - "The restoration of ties comes amid a broader regional push for reconciliation with Iran and Saudi Arabia agreeing last month to re-establish relations after years of hostility, which threatened instability in the Gulf and stoked the war in Yemen." [more inside]
A Satirist in the Abbasid Era
Satire is among the most powerful tools for bringing the powerful back down to earth, and al-Jahiz from ninth-century Iraq was a master of the craft. Beyond his powerful connections, his financial independence may also have helped make him one of the few writers who could speak freely, not only about the maladies of their age but also its various classes and subclasses.
Fudhalat al-Khiwan fi Tayyibat al-Taam wal-Alwan
Palestinian writer Mahmoud Habboush on how Medieval Arabic Culinary Literature Offers Lessons for the Present. [New Lines Magazine] Aside from the excitement of knowing what people ate centuries ago, these books are priceless because they reveal the social life of the upper strata of Arab and Muslim medieval societies. Medical treatises, for example, abound, containing information about ingredients — their benefits and side effects — as well as some dishes by name, but rarely do they provide nonmedicinal recipes. Literary sources — also easy to find — shed a little more insight into the cuisine of the past, sometimes delivering the recipe in prose or as a poem, but that is the extent of it. They don’t reveal the full richness of medieval haute cuisine. [more inside]
Iraq, twenty years later
Mehdi Hasan addresses how Bush hasn't paid for that atrocity, and how it connects to Trumps victory and Putin's invasion. Hasan says the impetus behind the war was very much GWB, and GWB's is rehabilitated and shouldn't be.
Unvanquished
On Iraq’s art under two decades of occupation. An often overlooked aspect of this story is how these artists had worked to develop a sense of appreciation among local audiences, who were being introduced to a new definition of art spread by a heterogeneous global modernism, the paradigms of which were distinct from those of preexisting traditions. They also inaugurated educational programs, galleries and art museums, publications, and other modalities of displaying, disseminating, and convening around artistic production. These efforts had a tremendous impact not only in Iraq but throughout the region. One of the catastrophic repercussions of the invasion was that it undermined decades of that labor.
Victims never forget
John le Carré was probably always a critic of American hegemony. But as he grew older he was less subtle [more inside]
The Music Plays Again in Mosul
The Human Toll of America’s Air Wars
Airstrikes allowed America to wage war with minimal risk to its troops. But for civilians on the ground, they brought terror and tragedy. [NYT investigation] [more inside]
The Iraq war turns 18
Plaid and Bob Jaroc - crumax rins An extra on the "Greedy Baby" dvd, also featuring "Super Barrio', the video for crumax runs is a time lapse of CNN from March 19 to April 17th, 2003, covering the initial invasion of Iraq.
A time capsule of a pivotal time in US modern history.
‘Like a Warm Hug From an Angel'
For a handful of cultures across the globe, the Arab world among them, these distinct blankets deliver not only an impossibly warm, soft hug but a great sense of belonging. [slNYT] Subhi Taha wanted to give a special thanks last week to what he called the “one and only reason” he didn’t suffer frostbite during the destructive and deadly winter storm that recently left millions without heat in Texas, where he lives. “That thing is this blanket,” Taha said on TikTok, pointing behind him to an ornate hunter green and rose pink bedspread printed with large flowers.
Six Days, over ten years later
First announced in 2009, but pulled by then-publisher Konami after public backlash, controversial tactical shooter Six Days in Fallujah has resurfaced with a new development studio, publisher and trailer. [more inside]
Unsurprisingly, Great Babylon had lots of dirty laundry
Professionals of the male-only occupation of washerman/fuller (Akkadian ašlāku, Sumerogram maybe 𒈐𒌓?) in the Neo-Babylonian Empire—some of whom were slaves and some free—signed formal contracts to do their clients' laundry for a period of time. (←if this link takes you to a French-language web site, you need to click the TÉLÉCHARGER, ‘download’ button to view the English-language PDF) [more inside]
Inside the Iraqi Kleptocracy
The coronavirus pandemic has now pushed Iraq to the brink of an existential crisis. The global collapse of demand for oil has brought prices to historic lows, delivering a terrible shock to a country whose economy depends almost entirely on oil revenue. But it could also offer the new Iraqi prime minister, Mustafa al-Kadhimi, an extraordinary opportunity to face his country’s most intractable problem. Corruption can now be framed as a life-or-death issue: Iraq must choose between feeding its people and enriching its kleptocrats. Kadhimi has promised to take up this challenge. He is not likely to succeed unless the United States seizes this chance to undo some of the damage it has done in Iraq, and to make common cause with the protesters who are hoping to re-establish their country on a new footing.
The Iran Cables
In an unprecedented leak from one of the world’s most secretive regimes, an anonymous source provided 700 pages of Iranian intelligence reports to The Intercept, saying they wanted to “let the world know what Iran is doing in my country Iraq.” A detailed account of Iranian intelligence at work in Iraq, fighting ISIS, and more. [more inside]
The Failed Promise Of Aid, The End Of Austerity?
QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — President Lenín Moreno and leaders of Ecuador's indigenous peoples struck a deal late Sunday to cancel a disputed austerity package and end nearly two weeks of protests that have paralyzed the economy and left seven dead. (Us News and World Report) Analysis: The empire strikes back in Ecuador, and what it means for Scotland (Common Space) Baghdad (AFP) - Iraq's deadliest wave of protests since the 2003 ouster of dictator Saddam Hussein has made the country vulnerable to a battle for influence between its two main competing allies, the United States and Iran, analysts say. (Yahoo) Crises in Iraq and Haiti Expose the Failure of Militarized Neoliberalism: American installed governments face opposition around the word (Common Dreams) Journalist's killing fuels ire of Haiti protesters (Euronews) “After an earthquake struck in 2010, the US pledged to help rebuild the Caribbean country. A decade later, nothing better symbolises the failure of these efforts than the story of a new port that was promised, but never built“ The Failure Of US Aid (Guardian)
Brett Kavanaugh, in Florida, with the Hand Recount
“Post 9/11 thread for people to post the wildest shit they remember from 01 to 06 I'll start:
People thought Osama had an entire mountain hollowed out that he was using as his base and that's why AQ was hard to find and that somehow a group of like 30 dudes arranged this.” (Twitter) Thread of reminders of the various scandals, current connections, and WTFery of the first G. W. Bush administration.
Lessons From a Decade Reporting on Women During the Iraq War
When I speak before Western audiences about my years covering the war in Iraq as a journalist for McClatchy Newspapers, someone inevitably asks, “What was it like to be a woman over there?” [more inside]
Archaeologists uncover palace of the Mittani Empire
German-Kurdish research team came upon a surprising discovery as ruins emerge from the waters of the Tigris River. [more inside]
The boy in the photo
In the summer of 2018, BBC cameraman Andy Alcroft was waiting to film an interview at Exeter St David’s railway station, when he was approached by one of Amar’s friends. “You should do a report about him - Amar. The boy who came over from Iraq. Remember him? He’s got an amazing story,” he said. Andy took some contact details and we went to meet Amar in the Devon village where he still lives. We thought we might end up doing some kind of “catch-up” feature. “Whatever happened to the orphan Amar?” - that kind of thing. But when Amar revealed he had been receiving unexpected social media messages from a stranger, the story took an unexpected turn.
Reading Vonnegut in Iraq and Becoming Unstuck in Time.
It’s April 11, 2019, as I write this and Vonnegut has been dead for 12 years, though a Tralfamadorian would take issue with that characterization. One of his legacies is a famous passage in “Slaughterhouse-Five.” It’s about planes flying in reverse, where shrapnel flies out of people, back into the bombs and the planes take off backward from their runways, and so on, until everyone is just a baby again. Vonnegut is saying it would be nice if the wisdom learned from a war could be used to reverse engineer the entire thing and keep it from happening at all. That is a nice thought.Reading ‘Slaughterhouse-Five’ in Baghdad: What Vonnegut taught me about what comes after war, by Alex Horton (WaPo)
so it goes
I am now 38. I live in a rented house in Pittsboro, N.C., with my wife, my two daughters and my dog. I try to be kind. I try not to hurt people. And though I have just told you all the things I know with certainty about that day in September in Tal Afar, Iraq, when I was 24, I’m still not sure what it means. I don’t know if my being there in that place and at that time makes me a bad person, but on most days I think it means I do not get to claim to be a good one. Kevin Powers writes for the New York Times on the moral clarity of Slaughterhouse-five fifty years after its publication.
“s/he shook my rack/bookshelf”
What does ‘I love you’ mean? It depends on where you say it and what language you speak. Translators, scholars, and dating coaches from various countries discuss expressions of love. -- Alice Robb for the Washington Post.
This won’t just affect Mosul, or Nineveh, or Iraq
Iraq’s Post-ISIS Campaign of Revenge
The corruption and cruelty of the state’s response to suspected jihadis and their families seem likely to lead to the resurgence of the terror group. By Ben Taub (CW: violence, rape, mutilation)
The global history of stuffed triangular pastry
Long promised, here we will take a walk through the humble samosa's global journey of belonging to everyone, everywhere. FPPs are too brief to list every culture who believes it to be their very own, so I'll simply fill this up with links to stories and recipes for you dive deep into yourself.
The War In Iraq Outlasted The Weekly Standard
“From the Weekly Standard’s April 28, 2003, issue — that is, a month after the U.S. invasion of Iraq — this may simultaneously be the worst, funniest, and most terrifying writing ever published in the English language. For instance, its opening paragraph includes the phrase, “Now that the war in Iraq is over.” You must read it for yourself; it cannot be explained, only experienced.” The 10 Most Appalling Articles In The Weekly Standard’s Short and Dreadful Life.
Architects of War
It's the fall of 1990. You’re in architecture school. Your assignment is to collect blueprints from a foreign country on the verge of American invasion. Are you helping to preserve threatened buildings—or unwittingly supplying intelligence for more accurate U.S. missile strikes? Geoff Manaugh investigates. [SLDailyBeast]
THIS IS IRAQ
Radicalism In The Ranks
“On Monday, Task & Purpose reported that Army 2nd Lt. Spenser Rapone was slapped with an other-than-honorable discharge (and potentially $300,000 in West Point tuition repayments) after a photo went viral last September of him as a West Point cadet with the words “Communism Will Win” written in his cover.” Why Did The Military Keep A Neo-Nazi Marine But Boot That ‘Commie Cadet’? (Task And Purpose) The ‘Commie Cadet’, Spenser Rapone, in his own words “My actions overseas did not help or protect anybody. I felt like I was little more than a bully, surrounded by the most well-armed and technologically advanced military in history, in one of the poorest countries in the world.” (Interview with Rapone on the leftist veteran podcast What Hell Of A Way To Die) While The “Neo -Nazi Marine”, Vasillios Pistolis , at the Unite The Right Rally in Charolettville is likely to be pushed out, he’s only one of many veterans found to be active in or training with white nationalist or Neo-Nazi groups.
When Terrorists Run City Hall
We unearthed thousands of internal documents that help explain how the Islamic State stayed in power so long. "One of the keys to their success was their diversified revenue stream. The group drew its income from so many strands of the economy that airstrikes alone were not enough to cripple it...More surprisingly, the documents provide further evidence that the tax revenue the Islamic State earned far outstripped income from oil sales. It was daily commerce and agriculture — not petroleum — that powered the economy of the caliphate." (Warning: descriptions of assault and murder, also just freaky) [more inside]
"... but the price, we think the price is worth it"
This week marks the 15th anniversary of the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq. But the U.S. has been waging war against the Iraqi people over the past six decades.
eye in the storm
Mosul Eye is a blogger and historian who stayed in Mosul to chronicle the city under ISIS. Chronicler of Islamic State ‘killing machine’ goes public, Lori Hinnant and Maggie Michael [more inside]
One more battle and Mosul will be fully liberated, inshallah
We've changed kings since then, some of us twice. No one cares.....
…....no one remembers. The uncounted.
US Military officials say that the air war against ISIS is the most precise in history. [more inside]
Great empires are not maintained by timidity
A Huthi Missile, a Saudi Purge and a Lebanese Resignation Shake the Middle East.
Volatility is rising across the Middle East as local, regional and international conflicts increasingly intertwine and amplify each other. Four Crisis Group analysts give a 360-degree view of the new risks of overlapping conflicts that involve Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Lebanon and Israel. [more inside]
Volatility is rising across the Middle East as local, regional and international conflicts increasingly intertwine and amplify each other. Four Crisis Group analysts give a 360-degree view of the new risks of overlapping conflicts that involve Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Lebanon and Israel. [more inside]
Let This Sin Be Upon My Neck: Yezidi Songs, Genocide, & Scripture
"The Yezidis kept their hymns secret for centuries, so scholars have barely analyzed them as music. ... the holiest of hymns is a qewl. The form is often cryptic: “Four lamps with one wick! / There are seven doorways for one Word. / Eleven are a deep ditch: / Seven are dark, four are luminous.” ... No one knows for sure why the qewls are sung and not just spoken. ... A memorizer, though, knows who taught him every piece in his repertoire. Each hymn is the product of a unique line of transmission, so the stanzas vary from region to region, generation to generation, person to person. ... One qewl, sung in Yezidi communities as far-flung as Germany and the Caucasus, has thirty known variations. It could be no other way in a game of telephone that has lasted centuries. ... A talented memorizer will intersperse sung stanzas with sections from prose narratives known as chiroks. Some chiroks serve mainly to illuminate the most enigmatic verses of a qewl, while others recount myths that are not in the hymns at all. They are just as important to the religion but even more flexible, with much room for individual flourishes and interpretations. Different versions can even contradict each other." (Lapham's Quarterly, longread) With this rich tradition of orality in danger from modernity, genocide, and diaspora, Yezidi leaders have decided to allow qewls to written down (beginning in the late 1970s) and are now in the process of forming, for the first time, a written canon. [more inside]
A unique Judaeo-Urdu manuscript
The Living and the Dead
In a film, on the news, you watch a war. While in a war, you mostly hear it. In October, Iraqi forces set out to retake Mosul, one of Iraq’s largest cities and ISIS’s biggest stronghold in the country. It would take them nine months and cost thousands of lives. [more inside]
Iraqi army declares victory in Mosul
Dressed in a military uniform, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi arrived in Mosul on Sunday to congratulate Iraq’s armed forces for wresting the city from the Islamic State. The victory marked the formal end of a bloody campaign that lasted nearly nine months, left much of Iraq’s second-largest city in ruins, killed thousands of people and displaced nearly a million more. [more inside]
The daily lives of young IS fighters
They died as fighters, but they died as fools. Pity should be reserved for the people they once lived among, who were abused and killed as the young men sacrificed all around them, for their caliphate.The secret lives of IS fighters. Trigger warning: some descriptions of killed people.
The Long, Lonely Road of Chelsea Manning
The New York Times has published a longform interview of Chelsea Manning "In January 2017, after being locked up at five different facilities, in conditions a United Nations expert called “cruel” and “inhumane,” Manning had received a surprise commutation by President Barack Obama. Four months later, she was free, trying to adjust to life in a world she helped shape."
It comes around to bite you in the ass.
US military admits failures to monitor over $1 billion worth of arms transfers.
It makes for especially sobering reading given the long history of leakage of US arms to multiple armed groups committing atrocities in Iraq, including the armed group calling itself the Islamic State. - Patrick Wilcken, ( Amnesty International’s Arms Control and Human Rights Researcher).
who has previously warned about arms transfers to Iraq carrying a real risk of ending up in the hands of militia groups with long histories of human rights violations. 2015 arms and equipment list (pdf).
It makes for especially sobering reading given the long history of leakage of US arms to multiple armed groups committing atrocities in Iraq, including the armed group calling itself the Islamic State. - Patrick Wilcken, ( Amnesty International’s Arms Control and Human Rights Researcher).
who has previously warned about arms transfers to Iraq carrying a real risk of ending up in the hands of militia groups with long histories of human rights violations. 2015 arms and equipment list (pdf).
Gripping pictures on the front - absorbing stories on the back!
Desert Storm Cards:
Although we Americans remain strongly split in our beliefs about whether or not our military belonged in Iraq after the Twin Towers fell, most of us felt it was the right thing to do to help Kuwait in it's battle against Saddam Hussein's invasion way back in 1991.[more inside]
Musings on Iraq
Musings on Iraq. Since 2008, journalist Joel Wing has kept a comprehensive, often day-by-day account on the politics and military actions surrounding the ongoing war in Iraq. His blog entries are at length, detailed, and thoroughly cited. [more inside]
This guy watches Daesh videos so you don't have to.
THE CRIMES OF SEAL TEAM 6
Officially known as the Naval Special Warfare Development Group, SEAL Team 6 is today the most celebrated of the U.S. military’s special mission units. But hidden behind the heroic narratives is a darker, more troubling story of “revenge ops,” unjustified killings, mutilations, and other atrocities — a pattern of criminal violence that emerged soon after the Afghan war began and was tolerated and covered up by the command’s leadership.