Biden says that it is the going gets tough, the Americans will get going. Also, France ratchets up efforts to get arms/training/reconstruction contracts in Iraq, and a young diarist in Baghdad has chronicled growing up in conflict.
From Baghdad
Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. told Iraqi leaders on Friday that he and President Obama were committed to helping them resolve their political differences, but not if sectarian violence returned, “because one, the American people would have no interest in doing that, and as he put it, neither would he or the president.” He added that there "wasn't any appetite to put Humpty Dumpty back together again if, by the action of people in Iraq, it fell apart." (-not sure how that translated on Iraqi news).
Nada Bakri of the Washington Post has the most indicators of how the meetings are going, and of Iraqi reaction, including resentment over the ongoing US “surprise visits” which seem strange and disrespectful to many Iraqis.
Even the interaction of officials seems to have changed. Early Friday, Biden's aides huddled with advisers to Ayad al-Samarraie, the speaker of Iraq's parliament, trying to figure out a time the two men...
New Legislation A "Feast of Ad Hoc Ethno-religious Cake-sharing," Analyst Says
As the Iraqi Parliament passes the long-debated provincial elections law, Reidar Visser of the Norwegian Institute for International Affairs posts the following commentary on his website.
The law on the Iraqi provincial elections was passed by the Iraqi parliament on 22 July. The adopted text largely reflects earlier drafts that have been circulating...
President Obama’s goodwill address to Muslims of the world from Cairo University was an obvious big story, but it did not dominate coverage as much as one might have thought. All channels included it, played excerpts and had political analysts giving generally positive, but decidedly mixed analysis. A few examples are, “We (Arabs) should go for what Obama is offering. We are weak and in no position to argue," while another said, "Obama hasn't brought anything new to...
“We are With the Government to Help, With Our Lives and Our Sons”
BAGHDAD – On Sunday, local Mosul Radio aired pleas by Sahwa leaders, addressed to the Iraqi government. They asked for Iraq's leadership to understand that they were acting in the interest of the nation’s security. Leaders from several areas of northern Iraq “implored the government not to disassemble the Sahwa in the hot are...
Association of Muslim Scholars in Iraq issues statement
The statement's accompanying photo, not claimed to be of the actual incident
On November 12th in Mosul, an Iraqi soldier opened fire on U.S. troops in Mosul, killing two and wounding six more, while they waited outside a meeting between a U.S. lieutenant and an Iraqi Captain. The shooter, identified as Barzan Muhammed, from the 6th Brigade of the Iraqi...
"What most of the TV and print reporters weren't really aware of was that Chalabi's people used U.S. taxpayer funding to pay all that PR and propaganda," Roston says. In fact, Chalabi and his team were so good at spin, they were even rewarded for it. Says Roston, "After the...
Shihab Muhammad al-Haiti Disappeared in Baghdad Saturday
Baghdad, Oct 30, (VOI) – An Iraqi journalist working for the weekly Baghdad al-Yawm newspaper who was reportedly kidnapped last Saturday was found dead in northern Baghdad, a statement by the Journalistic Freedoms Observatory (JFO) said.
"Last Saturday Iraqi security forces found the body of Shihab Muhammad al-Haiti, a journalist, in northern...
An In-Depth Profile of the NYT's Dogged Baghdad Bureau
Ashley Gilbertson.
New York Times correspondent Dexter Filkins calls in a story during the second battle of Fallujah, November 2004.
The December issue of Vanity Fair features an in-depth profile of the New York Times Baghdad bureau, now available online. VF's Seth Mnoonkin interviewed well-known members of...
To the Fallen Follows Hip Hop CD With New Ones Performed by Active Duty and Vets
The only record label solely devoted to promoting the music of military artists added two more titles to its shelf today, releasing compilation albums of rock and country.
To the Fallen Records was founded last year by OIF veteran Capt. Sean Gilfillan and his friend Sydney DeMello to establish a musical outlet for active duty and veteran servicemembers. Named after the tattoo Gilfillan had put on his back to commemorate the friends of his killed in Iraq, the label plans to donate a portion of the proceeds to charities that assist wounded troops.
DeMello writes on their website about the particular...
Vows New Types of Attacks Against US Forces, Lambasts Karzai and Obama
In an exclusive interview with AfPax Insider, one of the Taliban's top commanders, Siraj Haqqani, dismisses a new $5m U.S. Government bounty for information leading to his capture or killing, says the Taliban are plotting new types of attacks against U.S. and coalition forces in Afghanistan, and brands Afghan President Karzai a U.S. puppet with whom...
Richard Betts Urges Fiscal Discipline for Military Spending
"Powerful armed forces are necessary for U.S. national security, but they should be tailored to counter the threats and vulnerabilities the country actually faces, not to satisfy hubristic ambitions of remaking the world," writes Richard K. Betts, Director of the Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies at Columbia University, in the latest issue of Foreign Affairs.
The budget request for DOD operations in FY 2008 is $505 billion, with the supplemental $142 billion requested for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, that adds up to a defense budget of $647 billion--almost...
Twenty Interviews and Five Conversations with "High Value Detainee # 1" in 2004
After Freedom of Information Act requests were made by the independent NGO, The National Security Archive, transcripts of 20 formal interviews and at least 5 "casual conversations" the FBI held with Saddam Hussein are made available, held after his capture by U.S. troops in December 2003. Interesting stuff.
