Category Archives: Iraq

Iraq is in the news thanks to Saddam, Bush, and Blair. Sadly, it looks as though it will continue to be in the news for all the wrong reasons. There is fierce debate about what the intelligence community said or did not say. There is much speculation about what Bush and Blair (and their lieutenants and advisors) knew and did not know. So-called independent commissions come and go. And the politicians and media are having a field day. Few in the USA and Britain are asking about how the Iraqis are faring since the war ‘ended’. In a few words, they are in a living hell. Worse, they do not expect things to change much in the coming years. Money is being squandered on dubious contracts, but there are hardly any public services left. The security situation is worse than it was during the war, and that is saying something.

Smoking Guns in the Wild West

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Against Expectations

There were high hopes that the proverbial ‘smoking gun’ would be found concealed somewhere in Iraq. This would have provided the fuse for the war that America (more precisely Bush and his cabal) and Britain (more precisely Blair and hardly anyone else) have wanted all along. That remains the hope of those itching for war and the rewards it would bring.

Most people could not have possibly dreamt that several guns would be found spluttering and smouldering in Washington, New York, and London. Others, with longer memories, would have found that highly consistent with past events. Continue reading →

Iraq: RIP?

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Time to face unpalatable facts

There was a time when Iraqis were able to look forward to a reasonably bright future, not perfect perhaps but one marked by steady progress. There were good grounds for this confidence. Iraq has a vast reservoir of natural wealth, not simply oil. Moreover, Iraq’s social capital is equally impressive; a well-educated and resourceful population. Continue reading →

Plight of Iraqi Academics

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Presentation given at the Madrid International Conference on the Assassinations of Iraqi Academics

23-24 April 2006

Please follow the link below:

1pia_ppp_605.pdf

Editor’s note: is anyone able to tell me who benefits from the killing of Iraqi academics? In the long term even Israel (often blamed for this activity) would not gain any advantage as there are many hundreds of thousands of highly qualified and experienced Iraqis living abroad. Some, at least, will go back if the situation were to improve. Killing a couple of hundred academics and forcing others to leave Iraq will hardly affect the future prospects of Iraq. Please let me know what you think.

Iraq’s Holocaust

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The Washington based Institute for Policy Studies published a report in June 2004 to chronicle the horrendous costs of the illegal 2003 war on Iraq. Dwelling on this latest episode, however, obscures the fact that the intentional and systematic ‘scourging of Iraq’, the title of a powerful book by Geoff Simons, began decades before. Iraqis cannot forgive or forget this process of wanton destruction in which their own leaders as well as external powers led by the USA were the main villains. Neither can they ignore the role played by the UN as willing tool and legitimising authority for the horrors heaped on their head. The current unrest is prompted by a great deal more than just resistance to occupation by foreign forces. Continue reading →

Bush’s Unpardonable Sin

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A multitude of sins

Bush and his cabal, and behind them Blair and his increasingly disgruntled bunch, committed many sins in their war on Iraq. The same happened in Afghanistan but the public impact was not as pronounced. First and foremost, was the miscalculation of the threat posed by the Saddam regime to world and regional peace. The now infamous British government dossier published in February 2003 was nothing short of a fiasco for Blair. There was persistent condemnation of the dossier well before the war had started; including disparaging remarks by the security services! Continue reading →