Iraq And Its Future

03-13-2006, 12:46 AM

Attacks Kill 39 in Baghdad Shiite Slum QUOTEBAGHDAD, Iraq - A suicide bomber and a car bomb ripped apart a market Sunday in a Shiite slum in Baghdad, killing at least 39 people and wounding more than 100.................

03-14-2006, 09:03 PM

Iraqis Find 85 Bodies in 24-Hour Period QUOTEBAGHDAD, Iraq - Police in the past 24 hours have found the bodies of at least 85 people killed by execution-style shootings -- a gruesome wave of apparent sectarian reprisal slayings, officials said Tuesday. The dead included at least 27 bodies stacked in a mass grave in an eastern Shiite neighborhood of Baghdad. The bloodshed -- the second wave of mass killings in Iraq since bombers destroyed an important Shiite shrine last month -- followed weekend attacks in a teeming Shiite slum in which 58 people died and more than 200 were wounded.

03-14-2006, 09:05 PM

Reprisal Killings Leave 68 Dead Throughout Baghdad QUOTEBAGHDAD, Iraq, March 14 â The police reported finding 68 bodies today scattered around the city, as the wave of reprisal killings for Sunday's attack on Shiite civilians appeared to gain steam.

Inside the Command The victims, all male, were shot or strangled after being bound and blindfolded. Many of the bodies were found in Sadr City, the Shiite-controlled area where Sunday's bombings took place, although 15 bodies were found in a minibus on a road west of Baghdad, according to the Iraqi Interior Ministry.
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**acharya** · 03-14-2006, 10:21 PM

The roots of neoconservatism lie in a remarkable group of largely Jewish intellectuals who attended City College of New York (C.C.N.Y.) in the mid- to late 1930's and early 1940's, a group that included Irving Kristol, Daniel Bell, Irving Howe, Nathan Glazer and, a bit later, Daniel Patrick Moynihan. The story of this group has been told in a number of places, most notably in a documentary film by Joseph Dorman called "Arguing the World." The most important inheritance from the C.C.N.Y. group was an idealistic belief in social progress and the universality of rights, coupled with intense anti-Communism.

It is not an accident that many in the C.C.N.Y. group started out as Trotskyites. Leon Trotsky was, of course, himself a Communist, but his supporters came to understand better than most people the utter cynicism and brutality of the Stalinist regime. The anti-Communist left, in contrast to the traditional American right, sympathized with the social and economic aims of Communism, but in the course of the 1930's and 1940's came to realize that "real existing socialism" had become a monstrosity of unintended consequences that completely undermined the idealistic goals it espoused. While not all of the C.C.N.Y. thinkers became neoconservatives, the danger of good intentions carried to extremes was a theme that would underlie the life work of many members of this group.


If there was a single overarching theme to the domestic social policy critiques issued by those who wrote for the neoconservative journal The Public Interest, founded by Irving Kristol, Nathan Glazer and Daniel Bell in 1965, it was the limits of social engineering. Writers like Glazer, Moynihan and, later, Glenn Loury argued that ambitious efforts to seek social justice often left societies worse off than before because they either required massive state intervention that disrupted pre-existing social relations (for example, forced busing) or else produced unanticipated consequences (like an increase in single-parent families as a result of welfare).

04-08-2006, 07:08 AM

Three blasts kill 74 at Baghdad mosqueQUOTEBAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Three suicide bombers -- two of whom were disguised as Shiite women -- struck a Baghdad mosque affiliated with a major Shiite political party Friday, killing at least 74 people, according to the Iraqi Health Ministry.

Another 140 people were wounded, authorities said.
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Bharatvarsh · 06-07-2006, 11:15 PM

QUOTEPack up or die, street vendors told
By Aqeel Hussein in Baghdad and Colin Freeman
(Filed: 04/06/2006)

As the purveyors of nothing spicier than the odd dash of hot chilli sauce, Baghdad's falafel vendors had never imagined their snacks might be deemed a threat to public morality.

Now, though, their simple offerings of chickpeas fried in breadcrumbs have gone the same way as alcohol, pop music and foreign films - labelled theologically impure by the country's growing number of Islamic zealots.

In a bizarre example of Iraq's creeping "Talibanisation", militants visited falafel vendors a fortnight ago, telling them to pack up their stalls by today or be killed.

The ultimatum seemed so odd that, at first, most laughed it off - until two of them were shot dead as they plied their trade.

"They came telling us, 'You have 14 days to end this job' and I asked them what was the problem," said Abu Zeinab, 32, who was packing up his stall for good yesterday in the suburb of al Dora, a hardline Sunni neighbourhood.

"I said I was just feeding the people, but they said there were no falafels in Mohammed the prophet's time, so we shouldn't have them either.

"I felt like telling them there were no Kalashnikovs in Mohammed's time either, but I wanted to keep my life."

Why Baghdad's falafel vendors should be blacklisted while their colleagues are allowed to continue selling kebabs or Western-style pizzas and burgers remains a mystery.

Some suspect it is because a taste for falafels is one of the few things that unites Jewish and Arab communities in Israel.

It is, however, just one of many Islamic edicts to hit Baghdad in recent weeks, prohibiting everything from the growing of goatee beards to the sale of mayonnaise - because it is allegedly made in Israel.

Even the Arab addiction to cigarettes is being challenged, with insurgents declaring smoking bans in at least one Sunni district.

News of the latest strictures surfaced 10 days ago, when the coach of Iraq's tennis team and two players were shot dead for wearing shorts.

The killings, in Sunni-dominated west Baghdad, took place days after militants had distributed leaflets banning the wearing of shorts or T-shirts with English writing on them. They also forbade women to drive or travel on public transport with men - a rule that bus drivers have begun to enforce.

Another group of traders to have felt the Islamists' unexpected wrath is Baghdad's ice merchants, who sell large chunks of ice for storing food and chilling drinks. In a city facing constant power cuts and summer temperatures of up to 50C (122F), the service they provide is little short of essential.

Yet in recent weeks, they too have fallen foul of the claim that their product was not a feature of life during Mohammed's time.

Akram al Zidawi, 19, an ice seller from al Dora, thought the threats were too ludicrous to be true - until it was too late. "Two weeks ago he came back home saying that he had been threatened by the terrorists," said his brother Gassan, 32.

"My mother begged him to quit the job, but he laughed, he thought it was impossible they would kill him. But they came back two days later and shot him dead, along with three other ice sellers nearby."

Meanwhile, barbers have been inundated with young men anxious to shave off their goatee beards. Last month, Mustapha Jawad, 17, was allegedly killed for wearing one, which Islamists deemed a Jewish facial hairstyle.

"After Mustapha's death I received 20 to 30 young men every day, all wanting me to shave off their goatee," said a barber, Sinan al Rubai. "Maybe one day the mujahedeen will insist on shaving all the head - then I will be rich."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml.../04/ixnews.html

06-08-2006, 12:57 AM

The IRAQ BODY COUNT Database
These reported numbers are low.
Reported Minimum - 38254
Reported Maximum - 42646

06-08-2006, 04:32 PM

Al-Qaeda's Zarqawi killed by US aircraft

06-08-2006, 07:40 PM

QUOTEAl-Qaeda's Zarqawi killed by US aircraft 
Great news!!

07-01-2006, 09:45 PM

Art of Living lessons for Iraqis <img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/specool.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='specool.gif' />
QUOTEWe want to bring back the smile on the face of the average Iraqi," said Mawahib Al-Shaibani, an Art of Living instructor who was previously a merchant banker with Merrill Lynch in Geneva and the Wall Street in New York City.

"This team is influential and includes politicians, engineers, doctors, lawyers and even a kick-boxing coach who wants to come back with a team of youths," UAE-born Al-Shaibani, who is an alumna of the University of Pennsylvania, said.

"Our belief is that in this fight against terrorism, even if one pocket is left out, the world will continue to be a dangerous place," she added.

The visit of the Iraqi team to the Art of Living Foundation - which says it has over 20 million followers in 146 countries - coincides with another by a group of Israelis.
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"If we spread the art of living in Iraq - which we are ourselves learning from experts here - I am sure we can bring a sea change in the lives of our fellow citizens, which they desperately require," Al-Musawy said.

Their training programme also includes the Sudarshan Kriya, patented by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and highlighted by a rhythmic breathing process to eliminate toxins, restore energy, enhance concentration and inflict wellness in individuals.

07-20-2006, 03:16 AM

Iran FM cancels India trip QUOTENEW DELHI (AFP) -Â Â Â Â Iran's foreign minister, who was due in India for a two-day visit, has cancelled his trip because of the situation in the Middle East.

07-22-2006, 11:46 PM

U.S. moving more troops into Baghdad QUOTEThe United States was moving to bolster U.S. troop strength in Baghdad to cope with escalating violence between Sunnis and Shiites.

09-03-2006, 02:54 PM

The situation in Iraq remains as bad as it was two years ago. Insurgency and sectarian violence continues non stop. Three Indian Pilgrims have been short dead near the holy city of Karbala.There is travel regulatory in place, despite which people still venture into Iraq.
The United States has failed to contain the situation and in the process the whole situation has become very complicated. The popularity of the US President has declined in the USA due to the continued loss of US lives in the Iraq conflict. The same is the situation in most of the EU countries where an increasing number of people are now questioning the decision of the coalition forces in invading Iraq. The inability to produce evidence that Iraq had WMD and Chemical Weapons is one of the main reasons for erosion of popular support against the Iraqi campaign. It is time for the coalition partners to review the situation and induct more forces into Iraq to overcome the terrorists and strengthen the new Iraqi government. This is now the only way left to ensure early return of peace in the region.

09-03-2006, 09:08 PM

India should consider sending forces to Iraq and Afghanistan.

09-03-2006, 10:08 PM

In the process, the Indian Government will get into the same type of problem as USA is facing.

09-03-2006, 11:09 PM

More foot on ground can help.
Iraqi trust Indians. Iraq is on verge of civil war. Ripple effect will suck other countries including India where Shia and sunni both are trying to dominate local Muslim politics.
Or India can provide soldiers in Afghanistan and spare US forces for Iraq. It will be double slap on Pakistan.
But current Indian government don't have *alls or vision to do anything.

Division of Iraq can solve problem and US should encourage partiton.

10-09-2006, 11:37 AM

Hundreds of Iraqi police poisoned, officials say
QUOTEBetween 600-700 policemen were affected to varying degrees, and 11 who had the heaviest amount of the food had died, al-Atwan told The Associated Press.

Some of the soldiers collapsed as soon as they stood up from the meal, others fell "one after the other" as they headed out to the yard in the base to line up in formation, al-Atwan said.
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The afflicted policemen belonged to the 4th Division of the National Police, nicknamed the "Karrar" Division, after a title of Imam Ali, the most revered Shiite saint.

10-09-2006, 10:58 PM

Secret Iraq Meeting Included Journalists
QUOTEIt was the kind of shadowy, secret Washington meeting that Bob Woodward is fond of describing in detail. In his new book, âState of Denial,â he writes that on Nov. 29, 2001, a dozen policy makers, Middle East experts and members of influential policy research organizations gathered in Virginia at the request of Paul D. Wolfowitz, then the deputy secretary of defense. Their objective was to produce a report for President Bush and his cabinet outlining a strategy for dealing with Afghanistan and the Middle East in the aftermath of 9/11.

What was more unusual, Mr. Woodward reveals, was the presence of journalists at the meeting. Fareed Zakaria, the editor of Newsweek International and a Newsweek columnist, and Robert D. Kaplan, now a national correspondent for The Atlantic Monthly, attended the meeting and, according to Mr. Kaplan, signed confidentiality agreements not to discuss what happened.

11-21-2006, 03:05 AM

<img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/argue.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='argue.gif' /> Saddam trial flawed: Human Rights Watch

Monday, November 20, 2006

Source: PTI
Image Source: AFP

Blog this story

New York: Terming the trial of ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein as flawed, a US-based human rights groups has accused the Iraqi government of influencing the judges.

Hussein was sentenced to death on November five after being convicted for crimes against humanity.

The trial by the Iraqi High Tribunal was marred by so many procedural and substantive flaws that imposition of death penalty was indefensible, the Human Rights Watch said, adding that the verdict was "unsound."

"The proceedings in the Dujail trial were fundamentally unfair," Nehal Bhuta of the International Justice programme at Human Rights Watch and author of the 97-page report released today said.

"The tribunal squandered an important opportunity to deliver credible justice to the people of Iraq."

"The Iraqi High Tribunal was undermined from the outset by Iraqi government actions that threatened the independence and perceived impartiality of the court. Members of Parliament and even ministers regularly denounced the tribunal as weak, leading to the resignation of the first presiding trial judge," it noted.

The shortcomings of the trial, for the killings of more than 100 people from the Iraqi town of Dujail, also call into question subsequent proceedings at the tribunal, the report said.

11-27-2006, 09:34 AM

Today Jordan's King gave very serious warning to world that three more countries are heading for civil war. He was pointing towards Lebanon, Palestine and Iraq.
I think Shia Sunni conflict will affect Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Pakistan.

Iraq is now in full fledge civil war, with or without Iran's involvement.

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