BAQUBA — The Awakening Councils in Diyala province are stepping up their protests against the government in Baghdad. The Awakening Councils, or the Sahwa as they are called, are a mostly Sunni Muslim force set up by the U.S. to draw in resistance fighters into their ranks, and then to help U.S. forces fight other
US-Backed Groups Challenge Government
BAQUBA — U.S. backed Sunni militants have challenged the U.S.-backed Iraqi government in Baghdad, and demanded political power after two women were killed by government forces. Tensions rose earlier this month when men dressed in Iraqi security personnel uniforms kidnapped two women. Their naked bodies were found later.
The Road to Learning Can Be Dangerous
BAQUBA — University professors now enjoy increased pay, but in the face of threats and isolation, there is little they are able to do in the world of academics. All that has got better is the pay packages. Under the regime of former dictator Saddam Hussein — and primarily because of the U.S.-backed and UN-enforced
Jeremy Scahill interviews Dahr Jamail for The Nation
Dahr Jamail: Beyond the Green Zone by JEREMY SCAHILL [posted online on February 8, 2008] EDITOR’S NOTE: Dahr Jamail has spent more time reporting from Iraq than almost any other US journalist. His new book, Beyond the Green Zone: Dispatches from an Unembedded Journalist in Occupied Iraq, is a chronicle of his experiences there. He
More Bombing Creates New Enemies
BAGHDAD — Now that the smoke has cleared and the rubble settled, residents of a group of bombed Iraqi villages see the raid as really a U.S. loss. Many Iraqis view the attack Jan. 10 by bombers and F-16 jets on a cluster of villages in the Latifiya district south of Baghdad as overkill.
Beyond the Green Zone #3 Alternet Best Progessive Books / #1 Staff Pick at Powell’s Books
Alternet Best Progressive Books of 2007 Book experts, AlterNet staff and readers weighed in. Here are the groundbreakers that stood out from the crowd. By Don Hazen, AlterNet 1. The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein 2. Blackwater by Jeremy Scahill 3. Beyond the Green Zone: Dispatches from an Unembedded Journalist in Occupied Iraq by Dahr
Violence Draws Veil Over Women
BAQUBA — Conditions are particularly difficult for women in Baquba, despite the relative lull in violence. The city, about 40 km northeast of Baghdad, is capital of Diyala province, amongst the most troubled regions of Iraq in recent months. As in all conflict areas, women, along with children and the elderly, have suffered most. A
‘US the Biggest Producer of Terror’
BAQUBA — Broken promises have brought a dramatic increase in anti-U.S. sentiment across the capital city of Iraq’s Diyala province. Many people in Baquba, capital of Diyala 40 km northeast of Baghdad, had supported U.S. forces when they ousted former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. But failed reconstruction projects and muddled policies mean the U.S. has
Under Curfew, This Is No Life
BAQUBA — Continuing curfew has brought normal life to a standstill in Baquba, capital of the restive Diyala province north of Baghdad. Through nearly three decades of rule under Saddam Hussein, Iraqis witnessed only two curfews; for the census in the 1970s and 1980s. Under the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq, curfews are commonplace, enforced whenever
Police and Army Getting Sidelined
BAQUBA — New military operations in Diyala province north of Baghdad have exacerbated a growing conflict between U.S.-backed Sunni fighters on the one hand and Iraqi army and police forces on the other. The U.S. military commenced a large military operation Jan. 8 in the volatile Diyala province. Seven U.S. battalions led an offensive to