Cold Shoulders
Kathy Kelly, Electronic Iraq (Jul 10, 2008)
Kathy Kelly writes from Amman, Jordan, demonstrating through the story of one mother and her son -- who's still in Iraq -- how violence is entrapping Iraq's boys and young men. In the process, she shows the ways in which US efforts in the name of security send dangerous messages and force painful choices on the young people who are the future of their country.
Istiklal
Kathy Kelly, Electronic Iraq (Jul 4, 2008)
The city of Amman, Jordan, is
awash with numerous colorful signs that proclaim independence, "Istiklal." The word is found on posters and placards in
store windows. It names a major thoroughfare, a hospital, and a shopping
center. Appreciation for independence is
palpable, and this could be said for numerous cities and towns throughout the
region, including Iraq,
where past struggles for independence are commemorated by naming buildings and
streets "Istiklal." It reflects the love
of independence and the longing for it.
Iraqis in Baquba Weigh in on the U.S. Presidential Election
Ahmed Ali and Dahr Jamail, Inter Press Service (Jun 24, 2008)
Ali Ahmed, Dahr Jamial, and a handful of Iraqis in Baquba weigh in on the U.S. presidential election. "I'll believe the troops are gone from Iraq when they are no longer on
our streets and their warplanes no longer bomb our homes," a local
merchant told IPS. " All politicians are liars, even school children
know this."
The Oil Majors Take a Little Sip of the Ol' Patrimony
Tom Engelhardt, TomDispatch.com (Jun 22, 2008)
More than five years after the invasion of Iraq -- just in case you
were still waiting -- the oil giants finally hit the front page. Last Thursday, the New York Times led with this headline: "Deals with Iraq Are Set to Bring Oil Giants Back."
And who were these giants? ExxonMobil,
Shell, Total and BP.
What these firms got were mere "service contracts" -- as in servicing
Iraq's oil fields -- not the sort of "production sharing agreements"
that President Bush's representatives in Baghdad once dreamed of, and
that would have left them in charge of those fields. Still, it was
clearly a start.
Iraqi Refugees Facing a Desperate Situation
Report, Amnesty International (Jun 16, 2008)
Amnesty International has released a new report on the Iraqi refugee crisis. "Humanitarian agencies cannot cope with growing demands as more refugees
need help with the basics to survive," the organization writes. "The UNHCR had planned that by the
end of the year it would be food to around 300,000 people
in Syria alone. However, the agency recently announced that inadequate
funding means that, by August 2008, it will not be able to 'cover all
basic health needs of Iraqis, and many serious and chronically ill
Iraqis will not be able to receive their monthly medication.'"
Weary of War? Don't Collaborate.
Kathy Kelly, Voices for Creative Nonviolence (Apr 18, 2008)
Veteran Iraq campaigner Kathy Kelly denounces the current efforts by some in the US leadership to require the Iraqi government to foot the bill for US costs in Iraq, and challenges the argument that the American people are bound to continue to fund the war - rather than reparations, relief, and reconstruction - with their tax dollars.
The Enigmatic Second Battle of Basra
Reidar Visser, Historiae (Mar 29, 2008)
"On the surface, the story may look plausible enough," writes Reidar Visser, author of Basra: The Failed Gulf State. "A provincial
city rich in oil degenerates into mafia-style conditions affecting the
security of citizens as well as the national oil revenue; the central
government intervenes to clean up. Still, there are probably few spots on this planet where the search
for mono-causality is more futile than Basra."
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