Al Qaeda in Iraq "never closer to defeat": U.S. envoy

Here's some progress."The U.S. ambassador to Iraq praisedPrime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Saturday for cracking down onShi'ite militias and Sunni Arab militants and said al Qaeda inIraq had never been closer to defeat."You are not going to hear me say that al Qaeda...

Iraqi Marxist Insurgent Group Declared- Shades of Che Guevera

"Iraqi Marxist Insurgent Group Declared By ZEYAD KASIM 05/15/2007 03:22 AM ET An unknown left-wing group calling itself the Iraqi Armed Revolutionary Resistance distributed leaflets in the Mid-Euphrates area around Najaf, Hilla and Karbala calling for “resistance against...

Iraqi Shiites Protest Al-Jazeera

"BAGHDAD -- Hundreds of angry Shiites poured onto the streets of two cities south of the Iraqi capital Friday to protest what they considered insults by Al-Jazeera television against Iraq's most revered Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. The protesters were...

Iraq returns to its Persian heritage: Its newly ascendant Shiites no longer h...

"NAJAF, IRAQ — Persian script laces and flows across the walls of Najaf's seminaries. Shiite Muslim religious scholars in the ancient city's turquoise-tiled edifices bury their noses in Koranic texts illustrated with Persian calligraphy, in scenes that evoke Mesopotamia's...

The Baghdad gulag by Pepe Escobar

"DAMASCUS - There are three overlapping wars in Iraq: the Sunni Arab guerrilla struggle against the US; strands of Sunni Arab guerrillas against assorted Shi'ite militias/death squads; and al-Qaeda in Iraq against the puppet, US-backed Iraqi government in the Green Zone. Make...

Battle in Najaf: Is US-Iraqi Claim of Gunfight with Messianic Cult Cover-up f...

<a href="http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/02/01/1530252">Democracy Now! | Battle in Najaf: Is US-Iraqi Claim of Gunfight with Messianic Cult Cover-up for a Massacre?</a>: "There are new doubts about the US and Iraqi claim that the hundreds of people...

The danger of Bush's anti-Iran fatwa

"Jan. 30, 2007 | George W. Bush last week announced that American troops in Iraq were henceforth authorized to "kill or capture" any Iranian intelligence agents they discovered in Iraq. The announcement came on the heels of his pledge in the State of the Union address to...

Who Is the Enemy?

" January 30, 2007 Who Is the Enemy? by Jim Lobe Two incidents involving U.S. forces in predominantly Shia southern Iraq over the past week appear to demonstrate the growing complexities and dangers of the country's civil conflict. Sunday's day-long battle near Najaf, in...

Iraqi Ghost Dance

" Maliki's Shiite Iraqi Government orchestrated a deliberate slaughter of Muslim heretics this weekend in Iraq."

Iraqi cult leader killed in Najaf battle

"The leader of an Iraqi cult who claimed to be the Mahdi, a messiah-like figure in Islam, was killed in a battle on Sunday near Najaf with hundreds of his followers, Iraq's national security minister said on Monday. Women and children who joined 600-700 of his "Soldiers of...

Iraqi Papers Monday: Najaf Bloodshed

"The clashes in Najaf received prominent coverage in Iraqi papers on Monday. The nature and details of the incident have not yet been fully revealed, but information point to the occurrence of a heavy battle between hundreds of militants hiding in the groves around Najaf and...