Iraq

By Kian Sharifi ( RFE/RL ) – Iran’s so-called axis of resistance is a loose network of proxies, Tehran-backed militant groups, and an allied state actor. The network is a key element of Tehran’s strategy of deterrence against perceived threats from the United States, regional rivals, and primarily Israel. Active in the Palestinian Occupied Territories, […]

Counter-Terrorism

Bombing Muslims for Peace: Isn’t It Time to Put Our Toy Soldiers Away (Along with Our Illusions)?

William J. Astore

( Tomdispatch.com ) – Like many American boys of the baby-boomer generation, I played “war” with those old, olive-drab, plastic toy soldiers meant to evoke our great victory over the Nazis and “the Japs” during World War II. At age 10, I also kept a scrapbook of the 1973 Yom Kippur War between Israel and […]

Iraq

Washington Chooses Genocide over Diplomacy in the Middle East

Medea Benjamin and Nicholas J.S. Davies

( Code Pink ) – On February 7, 2024, a U.S. drone strike assassinated an Iraqi militia leader, Abu Baqir al-Saadi, in the heart of Baghdad. This was a further U.S. escalation in a major new front in the U.S.-Israeli war on the Middle East, centered on the Israeli genocide in Gaza, but already also […]

Featured

New York Times’ Friedman hits new Low with Animalization of Arabs and Iranians

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Calling people animals is a way to dehumanize them, and probably helps convince individuals that the other people around them approve of treating the animals badly. In ways that aren’t entirely clear, this way of speaking is certainly wrought up with violence and even genocide. Israel’s Defense Minister called the […]

Featured

Top 3 Things Biden could Do instead of intensively Bombing Iraq and Syria

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Biden administration launched 85 air strikes on Friday against small bases of the Party of God Brigades (Kata’ib Hizbullah), an Iraqi Shiite militia active in Iraq and Syria. The organization is likely the culprit in Sunday’s drone strike against the Tower 22 US base in the far north of […]

Featured

How Biden inherited the War with an Iraqi Shiite Militia from Bush, Trump and Netanyahu

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The “Party of God Brigades” (Kata’ib Hizbullah) of Iraq struck the Tower 22 US military base in the far north of Jordan on the border with Syria on Sunday, killing three US military personnel and wounding dozens more. The Shiite militia said that it was part of its continued attempt […]

Houthi

Biden Must Choose Between a Ceasefire in Gaza and a Regional War

Medea Benjamin and Nicholas J.S. Davies

( Code Pink ) – In the topsy-turvy world of corporate media reporting on U.S. foreign policy, we have been led to believe that U.S. air strikes on Yemen, Iraq and Syria are legitimate and responsible efforts to contain the expanding war over Israel’s genocide in Gaza, while the actions of the Houthi government in […]

Iraq

Afterlife of Occupation : Iraqi Academia and the Peripheries of Resurgence 20 Years After Bush’s Invasion

Juan Cole

University of Michigan | Hatcher Graduate Library Discussion | – A panel discussion exploring the landscape of anti-war advocacy within U.S. universities at the outset of the occupation, “Afterlife of Occupation : Iraqi Academia and the Peripheries of Resurgence” 14 November 2023, Hatcher Graduate Library A panel discussion exploring the landscape of anti-war advocacy within […]

al-Qaeda

Bin Laden’s Curse: Gaza, Iran and the Reemergence of ISIL

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The responsibility for the bombing in Kerman, Iran, on Wednesday that killed at least 84 people and wounded another 284, has been claimed by the ISIL (Daesh, ISIS) terrorist group. The worst terrorist bombing in Iran since the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK) blew up the Iranian leadership in 1981 struck at […]