Archive: iraq

24th August 2014
By: Brian Whitaker
It is already very clear that combating ISIS and the "Islamic State" will be no easy task. It is not simply a matter of defeating an evil and particularly brutal fighting force, because the "Islamic State" is where a multiplicity of the Middle East's most deep-seated problems have come home to… Read more
8th August 2014
By: Mustafa Habib
The article below is re-posted from the Niqash website by Mustafa Habib, Baghdad  Just a few days before the deadline for Iraq to form its new government, around 70 civil society activists met in Baghdad. They announced an initiative – the first of its kind – that will oppose the… Read more
11th July 2014
By: Anonymous Iraqi
In the article below, a local journalist explains why streets in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul are so quiet, what’s worrying his family and friends there the most, and how he himself managed to get out of Mosul and into Iraqi Kurdistan. The article is re-posted here from the Niqash … Read more
25th July 2013
By: Brian Whitaker
August is still a week away but July has already become the bloodiest month in Iraq so far this year. Yesterday brought at least14 more deaths to add to the toll, including nine officers killed when insurgents attacked a police station near Mosul. Meanwhile, the mass breakout from Abu Ghraib and… Read more
29th May 2013
By: Brian Whitaker
  The boundaries of today's Arab states are mostly the historical result of foreign rivalries. The lines that external powers drew on the maps often took little cognisance of ethnic or tribal identities and, ever since independence, Arabs have been grappling with the consequences. Over the years… Read more
14th April 2013
By: Brian Whitaker
To mark the tenth anniversary of the Iraq war, I am re-posting diary entries that I wrote at the time for the Guardian's website...      American tanks and troops entered the main square of Tikrit early this morning. As Tikrit is Saddam Hussein's birthplace there were predictions that his… Read more
13th April 2013
By: Brian Whitaker
To mark the tenth anniversary of the Iraq war, I am re-posting diary entries that I wrote at the time for the Guardian's website...      An Iraqi general who was in charge of liaison with United Nations weapons inspectors before the war gave himself up to American forces in Baghdad yesterday… Read more
12th April 2013
By: Brian Whitaker
To mark the tenth anniversary of the Iraq war, I am re-posting diary entries that I wrote at the time for the Guardian's website...      On one of the bleakest days since the invasion began, US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld yesterday shrugged off turmoil and looting in Iraq as signs of the… Read more
11th April 2013
By: Brian Whitakerww
To mark the tenth anniversary of the Iraq war, I am re-posting diary entries that I wrote at the time for the Guardian's website...    Following 24 hours of victory celebrations in Baghdad, there are fears today that the war, far from ending, could simply be moving into a far more intractable… Read more
10th April 2013
By: Brian Whitaker
To mark the tenth anniversary of the Iraq war, I am re-posting diary entries that I wrote at the time for the Guardian's website...    Someone produced a sledgehammer, and Iraqis took it in turns to hack at the base of the giant statue of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad.   They were making reasonable… Read more