Iraq's Shi'a community is in the ascendency after decades of Baathist suppression, and whether this bodes well or bodes ill for the future remains to be seen. Is there really as much animosity between the two Islamic sects as we have been led to believe? Is civil war...

Jo Wilding took a second trip into Fallujah Saturday. Here's how it went: Sergeant Tratner of the First Armoured Division is irritated. “Git back or you’ll git killed,” are his opening words. Lee says we’re press and he looks with disdain at the car. “In this piece of...

An interesting comparison of Najaf to Waco by Dr. Jean Rosenfeld via David Neiwert. I have printed the entire letter here because my old eyes sometimes have difficulty reading against dark backgrounds and I suspect I am not the only one with this disability. David...

I was reading today in the news about a fugitive Chinese bank official accused of embezzling $485 million from his bank having been turned over by the US to Chinese officials. This brought to mind a somewhat similar criminal case, that of Ahmad Chalabi who, not only...

From an Army wife, Extension is Absurd: My husband has been in the Army for 17 years, and I’ve been proud of that because we’ve done a lot of good things in many ways. We never regretted any place that Army life has taken us because we knew our job and our place in...

We're continuously hearing about the low reserves and high price of crude oil. We continuously hear about the high cost of war. Next time you slide up to the pump and stiffle a gasp at the price of a gallon of gas while peeling megabucks out of your wallet to fill up,...

Afghanistan is about to get its first taste of true western-style democracy since the overthrow of the Taliban government. Holding a presidential election? No, that can wait. Drawing up a constitution? No, that can wait. Ah, but paying taxes? Now that's at the top of...

Jo Wilding travels into Fallujah: Trucks, oil tankers, tanks are burning on the highway east to Falluja. A stream of boys and men goes to and from a lorry that’s not burnt, stripping it bare. We turn onto the back roads through Abu Ghraib, Nuha and Ahrar singing in...

A painful visual mosaic of our "War President," courtesy of Joe at American Leftist who explains: Given this image's inflammatory nature, I posted it with a great deal of trepidation. I had a hard time deciding if it was the right thing to do and I am still not sure....

A sampling of responses to the present situation in Iraq from Arab newspapers ... read here