Weekly Commentary -- The Battle of Basra
by Rahul Mahajan, Empire Notes

It seems as if the fighting in Basra – and in Nasiriyyah and in numerous neighborhoods of Baghdad – is winding down, after claiming over 350 lives. It remains to be seen whether this violence will impact the much-quotes “success of the surge,” the dominant storyline in the U.S. media even though it was outdated even before the latest round of clashes.

The past week should remind us that one of the main elements of the “success of the surge” was actually Moqtada al-Sadr’s decision to order his Jaish al-Mehdi to stand down; no doubt, this was partly out of fear of the U.S. military and its heightened presence in Baghdad, but it was a responsible action nonetheless. Unfortunately, Sadr’s reward for his restraint was to be targeted in an attempt to rout his forces out of some of their strongholds in Basra.

IRAQ: Five Years, And Counting
By Dahr Jamail

WASHINGTON, Mar 18 (IPS) - Devastation on the ground and largely held Iraqi opinion contradicts claims by U.S. officials that the situation in Iraq has improved towards the fifth anniversary of the invasion Mar. 20.

U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney, during a surprise visit to Iraq on Monday declared the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq a "successful endeavour".

According to the group Just Foreign Policy, more than a million Iraqis have died as a result of the invasion and occupation, now entering its sixth year. A survey by British polling agency ORB estimates the number of dead at more than 1.2 million.

Ottawa Citizen
March 26, 2003
Pg. A4
The 'coalition of the willing: ' 3 of 45 have sent combat troops to war;
many of the others will expect payback
Ian MacLeod

Canada's role in the war against terrorism in Afghanistan is indirectly providing more support to the U.S.-led war in Iraq than most of the nations in the coalition fighting Saddam Hussein's regime, U.S. ambassador to Canada Paul Cellucci said yesterday.

Showtimes:

May 22 - 7pm
May 25 - 7pm

Brunswick Theatre
296 Brunswick Avenue (2nd Floor), Toronto Ontario

Toronto Premiere
With filmmaker David Martinez in person

A one hour documentary, not about soldiers, not about governments, but about Iraqi civilians and a handful of independent journalists in a country turned into hell. A cinema cerite narrative of daily life, disintegration, and the humor that ordinary people adapt when living in a war zone. Includes rare footage from inside besieged Fallujah, April 2004, and a Choubi music soundtrack provided by Sublime Frequencies. Unlike any Iraq movie you have seen.

by Paul Craig Roberts

Is the surge an orchestrated distraction from the real war plan?

A good case can be made that it is. The US Congress and media are
focused on President Bush's proposal for an increase of 20,000 US
troops in Iraq, while Israel and its American neoconservative allies
prepare an assault on Iran.

Commentators have expressed puzzlement over President Bush's
appointment of a US Navy admiral as commander in charge of the ground

By Dahr Jamail
Tuesday 25 July 2006

"Habibi, to live in Baghdad now is to live in a big prison," he told me
recently, "You stay in your home, and that's it. You only go out when
you must. So many are being killed daily, and you only hope that your
day to die is not today."

While reporting from Damascus for nearly two weeks, I've worked with my
interpreter from Baghdad who came out to meet me, Abu Talat.

The business of war in Vancouver
The WestEnder: http://www.westender.com/
By Sean Condon
Mar 23 2006
In the dusty and narrow streets of Baghdad, a U.S. Stryker combat vehicle carefully navigates itself through a volatile neighbourhood. Suddenly, a volley of gunfire from Iraqi insurgents descends upon the armoured tank. A sniper armed with a missile launcher seems to appear out of nowhere and fires a direct hit. "We're under attack," screams a U.S. soldier.
The Stryker is forced to retreat, and darts through the tight Baghdad back alleys until the coast is clear. A second U.S. soldier confirms that there is serious tire damage and goes to make an assessment.
It's at this point that a voice welcomes a computer user to the "Stryker battle damage assessment and repair virtual mobile training team," and a three-dimensional image of a bullet-torn tire appears onscreen. Fortunately, this street fight didn’t take place in Iraq, but in the Kitsilano head office of NGRAIN, a Vancouver-based high-tech software firm that has created a virtual training program with which U.S. soldiers in Iraq can practice their tire-repair skills.

Six Nations native protesters lock arms at a mass rally yesterday to stop housing construction on land they say still belongs to them.

No showdown with police at native rally to stop builders

By Paul Legall
The Hamilton Spectator
CALEDONIA (Mar 23, 2006)

More than a hundred native women including powerful clan mothers locked arms in a
human chain to block a police arresting party that never happened.

U.S. Strategy in Iraq
By Rahul Mahajan

Bush's new "National Strategy for Victory in Iraq" is, indeed, a sorry mess of bullet points. Bush's rhetorical strategy on the war most closely resembles that of the old-fashioned American tourist in a foreign land who says "Where is the bathroom?" and then, when nobody understands, repeats it LOUDER: "You know, BATHROOM?"

And yet, notwithstanding the derision of liberals, there is a U.S. strategy in Iraq that has already had some success and may well have more.

Even though Bush has said it repeatedly, it's still true: the strategy is to create an Iraqi security force that will fight the counterinsurgency so the United States won't have to.

Good background on West Asian conflict, Iraq, and Kurdish self-determination struggles.
***
"Greater Kurdistan" Ambitions Could Spark Regional War

by Sarkis Pogossian
Special to WORLD WAR 4 REPORT, Nov. 1, 2005

It is now the Sunni insurgency in central and western Iraq that is drawing blood and media attention in Iraq, but the situation in the northern region of Iraqi Kurdistan, at present the most peaceful part of the country, is waiting to explode—and holds far greater potential to internationalize the conflict. The Kurdish people, numbering some 20 million, were left off the map when the victorious allies carved new states out of the ruins of the Turkish Ottoman Empire after World War I. They are now divided mostly between Iraq and Turkey, with smaller populations in Iran and Syria. The emergence of a highly autonomous Kurdistan in northern Iraq has re-ignited ambitions for a "Greater Kurdistan" which would unite Kurdish lands across the borders of these four nation-states.