Mowaffak al-Rubaie

The rot gnawing away at Baghdad's innards Before the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, Al-Batawin's main thoroughfare Al-Sadun Street bustled with restaurants, hotels, upmarket stores and -- most famously -- medical centres. Today just a scattering of businesses still bother to open their doors, residential blocks stand empty, and those buildings that are occupied have few tenants willing to risk living above the first floor. by Bryan Pearson Sun May 4, 7:11 PM ET http://news.yahoo.com/s... Read Full Story

A snapshot of the opening scene in the U.S. invasion of Iraq provides an excellent insight into the immorality and horror of the entire operation, from start to whenever it finally finishes. According to an article in yesterday's New York Times, at the outset of the invasion the U.S. military dropped bombs on a palatial compound in which Saddam Hussein was hiding. The article states: "But instead of killing the Iraqi dictator, they had killed Mr. Kharbit's older brother, Malik al-Kharbit... Read Full Story

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- As the Iraq war entered its sixth year, the country's national security adviser urged Americans to be patient, contending that the war is "well worth fighting" because it has implications about "global terror." "This is global terrorism hitting everywhere, and they have chosen Iraq to be a battlefield. And we have to take them on," Mowaffak al-Rubaie said Sunday on CNN's "Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer." Iraq security adviser to Americans: Be patientStory Highlights... Read Full Story

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Markos referred to this WaPo article from a few days ago in a different context than what I'd like to highlight - namely, that Democratic Reps. Ellen Tauscher and Jim Moran, on a visit to Iraq, found themselves smeared by skewed bio sheets handed out to the troops, whose authors the military claims not to know. As unsettling as that incident is, what struck me even more was this vignette: But even such tight control could not always filter out the bizarre world inside the barricades. At... Read Full Story