Category: Iraq

BAGHDAD — As sectarian tensions escalate politically, a new fissure is appearing within the already fragmented Iraqi government. Adnan Al Dulaimi, head of the Sunni political bloc the Accordance Front in the Iraqi Parliament, has been placed under house arrest by Iraqi and U.S. security forces in the Adil neighbourhood west of Baghdad.

RAMADI — A semblance of calm belies an undercurrent of violence, detentions and fear across Iraq’s volatile al-Anbar province. The province — which occupies one-third of Iraq’s geographic area — has been a bane to authorities since the beginning of the occupation.

DIWANIYAH — Detentions have become commonplace in Iraq, but now more than ever before people are being detained after being accused of membership in “militias supported by Iran.” “Hundreds of our men were detained and accused of being militiamen supported by Iran,” Mahmood Allawi, a 50-year-old lawyer from Diwaniyah, 160-kilomtres south of Baghdad, told IPS.

Acts matter. Here’s how Dahr Jamail, a young mountain guide and volunteer rescue ranger in Alaska (who did freelance writing in the “off-season”) describes his rash decision, back in 2003, to cover George W. Bush’s Iraq War in person: “I decided that the one thing I could do was go to Baghdad to report on

BAGHDAD — The executions of former regime officials are creating greater division, rather than reconciliation, among Iraqis. Special courts formed by the American occupation authorities in Iraq are issuing death sentences — like that carried out on former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, on 30 December 2006 — on what many Iraqis are interpreting as a

BAGHDAD — Increasing conflict and finger pointing between leading Shi’ite political blocs are heightening instability in war-torn Iraq. “It is said in the Arab world that if thieves were not seen while steeling, they would be seen while dividing the loot,” Wayil Hikmet, an Iraqi historian in Baghdad told IPS.

FALLUJAH — Three years after a devastating U.S.-led siege of the city, residents of Fallujah continue to struggle with a shattered economy, infrastructure, and lack of mobility. The city that was routed in November 2004 is still suffering the worst humanitarian conditions under a siege that continues. Although military actions are down to the minimum

BAQUBA — Facing violence, unemployment and poverty, the capital city of Iraq’s volatile Diyala province now finds itself confronting also corruption. This follows the failed promises of reform, reconstruction and rehabilitation at the beginning of the U.S. occupation of Iraq. Billions of dollars of U.S. and Iraqi funds were set aside for rebuilding Iraq, ruined