Yes, I am bullish on Iraq turning into a reasonable success. I am confident the turn of the tide with Iraqis aligning against al-Qaeda is going to make the difference. The levels of violence are dropping where al-Qaeda has been pushed out of the region, and the Muslim street is starting to oppose the random […]

The latest ‘tip’ from fed up Iraqis, who have determined to fight al-Qaeda instead of provide them support and sanctuary within their midsts, has netted a large number of al-Qaeda members attending what must have been a serious gathering given the numbers: raqi Security Forces and 8th Iraqi Army Scouts, with U.S. Special Forces as […]

Want to know how desperately some left tilting people will go to deny Iraq is turning around? They will go so far as to call General Petraeus a betrayer of America: AFTER being hailed as King David, the potential saviour of Iraq, the US commander General David Petraeus is facing a backlash in advance of […]

Things must be going really bad for the Shiia Mahdi Militias in Iraq because Iran apparently has sent a good sized force into Iraq: merican forces are tracking about 50 members of an elite Iranian force who have crossed the border into southern Iraq to train Shiite militia fighters, a top U.S. general said Sunday. […]

A few days ago Der Spiegel published the story of Donkey Island near Ramadi, Anbar Province, Iraq (my post on the story is here). As I said before, the Battle for Donkey Island was a microscosm of the Iraq war right now and could be one of history’s ironic moments. It is ironic because Donkey […]

al-Qaeda has been chased from large population centers in Anbar and Diyala Provinces (as well as others around Baghdad) to the point where they are now dispersed into small, temporary enclaves. Much of this has been due to the fact the local Iraqis are turning en masse against al-Qaeda. Many are tipping authorities off to […]

As most things in life tend to be, things have to hit bottom before conditions finally force people to act. The pressure cooker that was Iraq, which came from distrust and anger after years of pain and suffering, torture and death under Saddam Hussein, had to blow off after the liberation. Ged by lies and […]

Gen Petraeus is developing a troop draw down plan which can be implemented in stages and as conditions warrant: The top American commander in Iraq said Wednesday that he was preparing recommendations on troop reductions before he returns to Washington next month for a report to Congress. He predicted the U.S. footprint in Iraq would […]

The Iraq war is having a profoundly negative effect on al-Qaeda in the eyes of the Muslim world. In no small part this is due to the endless brutality and mayhem al-Qaeda is inflicting on Muslims in Iraq, as today’s headlines clearly illustrate: Four truck bombs exploded in two Iraqi villages in a Kurdish-speaking area […]

Please Check Updates Below It will be one of those historically ironic moments if the Battle of Donkey Island outside Ramadi was one of the places where Iraq tipped from unending quagmire to hard fought success. It will be ironic because it might be the day the Donkey Party in America was forever tainted with […]