Archives for December 2007

The USG Open Cource Center translates portions of the Friday Prayer sermon of Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, the leader of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI). Al-Hakim said he wanted to limit the Sunni Arab ‘Awakening Councils’ so that they did not become an independent force in their own right. He wants to see such […]

Reuters says that Iraq made a comeback as a campaign issue on Wednesday through Friday of this week. On Wednesday, Senator Hillary Clinton told a voter that she could get all US troops out of Iraq by early 2009. New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, who has called for an immediate and complete withdrawal of troops […]

A suicide bomber killed 13 in Kanaan, village near the provincial capital Baquba in Diyala Province. The bomber was targeting a patrol of the local Awakening Council (pro-US Sunni tribal levies). Reuters adds: “In another attack, a car bomb parked outside a liquor store in central Baghdad killed three people and wounded 20.” Leila Fadel […]

The USG Open Source center does a report on the security situation in Babil Province, just south of Baghdad. ‘OSC Report: Iraq — Babil Police Force Faces Uncertain Future After Chief’s Murder . . .Iraq — OSC ReportFriday, December 21, 2007 Iraq –Government Handling of Security in Babil Raises Questions About Independence of Police, Parties’ […]

The Turkish ambassador to the United States, Nabi Sensoy, said Wednesday that the US military provided real time intelligence to Turkey and was ‘very helpful’ in allowing Turkey to launch attacks on alleged Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) sites inside Iraq. He denied that the Turks had given the US military too little notice of its […]

So when we left off the story yesterday, US Secretary of State Condi Rice had just made a surprise visit to the northern oil city of Kirkuk, apparently to congratulate the provincial council for a move toward Kurdish-Arab reconciliation. But while Condi was doing that, the Turkish army invaded Iraq! And then the president of […]

Ann Scott Tyson and Robin Wright of WaPo confirm from Washington sources that the US provided to the Turkish government ‘real time intelligence’ on Kurdish Workers Party [PKK] guerrillas holed up in Iraq. That is what Turkish Chief of Staff Yasar Buyukanit had alleged in the wake of Turkish bombing of Iraqi territory. Since the […]