Iraq
Obama stages surprise visit amid renewed bloodshed in Iraq
By Bill Van Auken, April 8, 2009
President Obama staged an unannounced visit to Baghdad Tuesday afternoon as a series of car-bombings and renewed clashes between Sunni militias and Iraqi security forces contradicted claims of “succ...
Iraqi government turns on Sunni “Awakening” militias
By James Cogan, March 30, 2009
Amid the ongoing claims of victory in Iraq, American forces and the pro-US government have come into conflict with predominantly Sunni Arab militias that were bribed into ending their resistance to th...
Economic conditions worsen in Iraq
By James Cogan, March 23, 2009
After six years of occupation and repression, millions of Iraqis now face a further deterioration in their appalling living standards due to the collapse in world production and trade.
Iraq’s former foreign minister sentenced to 15 years jail
By James Cogan, March 16, 2009
Tariq Aziz, the former foreign minister and deputy prime minister of Saddam Hussein’s Baathist regime, was found guilty last week and sentenced to 15 years imprisonment on charges stemming from the ...
Iraqi journalist jailed for throwing shoes at Bush
By James Cogan, March 14, 2009
Muntadar al-Zaidi, the 29-year-old Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at former US President George Bush during a Baghdad press conference in December, was sentenced to three years imprisonment on T...
Amid continued US looting of cultural materials:
Iraqi museum reopens
By Sandy English, March 4, 2009
The National Museum of Iraq in Baghdad, which has been closed since it was looted and vandalized in the first days of the American invasion in 2003, reopened last week to pronounced controversy.
Obama announces plan to continue US military occupation of Iraq
By Joseph Kishore, February 28, 2009
President Obama formally announced his administration’s plans for the continued US military occupation of Iraq on Friday. The plan will maintain present troop levels for one year, with a substantial...
Iraqi elections underscore fragility of US occupation
By James Cogan, February 25, 2009
The January 31 Iraqi provincial elections strengthened the position of Prime Minister Maliki, but the outcome is not the product of popular enthusiasm for the election or Maliki’s party.
US occupation of Iraq: An ongoing criminal enterprise
February 18, 2009
Recent media reports exposing wholesale corruption in reconstruction efforts in Iraq are symptomatic of the criminal nature of the entire US intervention, which is continuing under the Obama administr...
Low turnout in Iraqi provincial elections
By James Cogan, February 5, 2009
The low turnout for the elections held in 14 of Iraq’s 18 provinces last Saturday underscored the enduring hostility of the Iraqi people toward the US occupation and their alienation from the politi...
Falling oil prices shatter Iraqi budget forecasts
By James Cogan, December 20, 2008
The fall in world oil prices is slashing the revenues of the US-backed regime in Iraq, with immense implications for the mass of the Iraqi people, who face no improvement in the nightmarish conditions...
Iraqi government seeks criminal prosecution of anti-Bush protestor
By James Cogan, December 17, 2008
Muntadhar al-Zaidi, the 29-year-old journalist who hurled his shoes at George Bush during a press conference on Sunday, was hauled before an investigating judge of the Central Criminal Court in Baghda...
