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War
![[من تخطيطات كريم رسن، العراق]](/content_images/3/sm_risan1.jpg "[من تخطيطات كريم رسن، العراق]")
Iraq: Ten Years Later
![[Crop from cover of Spring 2013 issue of Middle East Report]](/content_images/3/sm_10yearslater.jpg "[Crop from cover of Spring 2013 issue of Middle East Report]")
“The Iraq war is largely about oil,” wrote Alan Greenspan in his memoir The Age of Turbulence(2007). “I’m saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows.” It may indeed be self-evident that the United States invaded Iraq in 2003, as the former Federal Reserve chairman says, because of oil. But what does this proposition mean? The answer is not so obvious. Part of the plan may have been that regime change in Iraq would open the country’s oilfields to exploitation by Western energy conglomerates. The ensuing insurgency and civil war forced Big Oil to wait for years before cutting deals, but today such “super-majors” as BP, Chevron, ...
Keep Reading »Caught Shopping While Iranian: Diasporic Solidarity and the Globalization of Collective Punishment
![[Image by Valeriy Osipov via Flickr]](/content_images/3/sm_6491392227_acb482d99b.jpg "[Image by Valeriy Osipov via Flickr]")
In recent years, the Iranian New Year, Norooz, has become a fairly predictable time for US presidents to gesture towards “dialogue” and mutual respect between the United States and the Iranian people, while criticizing the repressive policies and nuclear aspirations of the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI). George W. Bush spoke often of the Iranian people’s right to live in a “free society,” and ended his presidency with an opulent haft sin display in the dining room of the White House. More recently, Barack Obama has taken to YouTube to deliver his missives to the Iranian people, and to frame his sanctions regime as an exercise in supporting human rights. At a time when ...
Keep Reading »Iraqi Tragedy; More than 10 Years in the Making: An Interview with Jadaliyya's Editor Sinan Antoon
19 March marked the tenth anniversary of the US-led invasion of Iraq. Ten years after the invasion and occupation of Iraq, what has changed for the country and its people? To understand the legacy of the war and occupation of Iraq, Vomena's Shahram Aghamir spoke Iraqi poet, novelist and scholar, Professor Sinan Antoon.
Keep Reading »The Forgotten Protagonists: The Invasion and the Historian
![[Iraqis waiting in line for food handouts in northwestern town of Biaj, 1 October 2009. Image from Fotopedia/DVIDSHUB.]](/content_images/3/sm_OLDMAN.jpg "[Iraqis waiting in line for food handouts in northwestern town of Biaj, 1 October 2009. Image from Fotopedia/DVIDSHUB.]")
During the past week Americans, Europeans, and Middle Easterners were reminded of Iraq. A stream of photos, articles, essays, and analyses has tried to make sense of the situation in Iraq during the last decade. One group, however, does not need to be reminded of the gravity of the situation—the many Iraqis, men and women alike, whose lives have been irreversibly changed during the last decades. In this piece, I want to reflect on the kinds of themes historians have been writing about in the present, and those we ought to write about in the future. In the last ten years, we seemed to have learned much more about Iraqi history; probably more than any of us has ever ...
Keep Reading »Capital Flight and the Consequences of the War Economy
![[Syrians in old Damascus, an area which used to be teeming with foreign tourists at this time of the year. May 2011. Photo by Muzaffar Salman/AP Photo.]](/content_images/3/sm_AP110526025520.jpg "[Syrians in old Damascus, an area which used to be teeming with foreign tourists at this time of the year. May 2011. Photo by Muzaffar Salman/AP Photo.]")
As the Syrian conflict enters its second year, it is obvious that the war economy is becoming structurally entrenched and can no longer be considered merely a temporary episode. This entrenchment demands immediate analysis in order to help us understand the long-term consequences of the conflict. These include the ability of the country to engage in a meaningful reconstruction process, the new relationships between the current elite and the post-conflict authority, and, most importantly, the possibilities for refugee repatriation as well as the alleviation of the long-term socio-economic ramifications of protracted conflict. ...
Keep Reading »في ذكرى مأساة حلبجة
تشكل مأساة حلبجة ( 16 آذار من عام 1988) حلقة في سلسلة المآسي الكبرى التي مرت في مسيرة البشرية وتاريخ صراعها مع أنظمة الحكم الفاشية والنازية التي تستند للعسكرتارية والقمع السافر للحقوق والحريات، هذه الجريمة التي راح ضحيتها عدد كبير من سكان مدينة حلبجة الوادعة وساحرة الجمال ستبقى آثارها حتى أماد بعيدة جداً، ارتكبت وسط صمت وتستر المجتمع الدولي ودوله العظمى. ومع استذكار هذه الجريمة فإننا نستذكر كل جرائم الإبادة التي حدثت أو ستحدث لاحقاً في أماكن أخرى من العالم، فالجنس البشري لا يتعظ من أخطاء وجرائم الماضي ويمتلك القدرة على الفتك والتدمير وممارسة الإبادة الجماعية. مأساة حلبجة لحظة غائرة وعميقة في ذاكرة الإنسانية وشاهد على فجيعة الإنسان المقموع ومستلب الإرادة . ومثلما يتم ...
Keep Reading »O.I.L. Media Roundup (February 26)
[This is a roundup of news articles and other materials circulating on Occupation, Intervention, and Law and reflects a wide variety of opinions. It does not reflect the views of the O.I.L. Page Editors or of Jadaliyya. You may send your own recommendations for inclusion in each biweekly roundup to OIL@jadaliyya.com by Monday night of every other week] News "In Syria, New Influx of Weapons to Rebels Tilts the Battle Against Assad", Liz Sly, Karen DeYoung Sly and DeYoung of The Washington Post report on the Free Syrian Army's procurement of weaponry donated from outside Syria, as opposed to purchased on the black market. The donation is highly ...
Keep Reading »Misery Beyond the War Zone: Life for Syrian Refugees and Displaced Populations in Lebanon
![[Image by Michael Goldfarb via doctorswithoutborders.org]](/content_images/3/sm_dwb021713web.jpg "[Image by Michael Goldfarb via doctorswithoutborders.org]")
[The following report was issued by Doctors Without Borders (MSF) on 6 February 2013.] Misery Beyond the War Zone: Life for Syrian Refugees and Displaced Populations in Lebanon Executive Summary The ongoing crisis in Syria is forcing ever more Syrians to flee their homeland in search of safety. The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) reported in late January that more than 165,000 refugees had officially been registered in Lebanon alone, and that almost 77,000 more were in the process of being registered. An estimated 50,000 additional refugees are believed to be in the country but have not attempted to register formally as ...
Keep Reading »New Texts Out Now: Dina Rizk Khoury, Iraq in Wartime: Soldiering, Martyrdom, and Remembrance
Dina Rizk Khoury, Iraq in Wartime: Soldiering, Martyrdom, and Remembrance. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2013. Jadaliyya (J): What made you write this book? Dina Rizk Khoury (DRK): The 2003 US invasion of Iraq was the chief impetus for writing this book. I had been about halfway through writing a book on the politics of reform and rebellion in Ottoman Baghdad when the build-up for the 2003 invasion began. Ottoman Baghdad receded very quickly from my focus. I was frustrated as a historian and as an opponent of the war with the way that Iraq was reduced to a set of symbols and catch phrases—Saddam Hussain, the sanctions, WMD, Ba’th oppression, ...
Keep Reading »O.I.L. Media Roundup (February 12)
![[Senator Jay Rockefeller questions John Brennan during the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence’s nomination hearing for Brennan. Image from SenRockefeller Flickr.]](/content_images/3/sm_8454778096_c80b1c5e32_c.jpg "[Senator Jay Rockefeller questions John Brennan during the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence’s nomination hearing for Brennan. Image from SenRockefeller Flickr.]")
[This is a roundup of news articles and other materials circulating on Occupation, Intervention, and Law and reflects a wide variety of opinions. It does not reflect the views of the O.I.L. Page Editors or of Jadaliyya. You may send your own recommendations for inclusion in each biweekly roundup to OIL@jadaliyya.com by Monday night of every other week] News "Pro-Palestine Speakers at Brooklyn College Attract Protests Outside", Vivian Yee The New York Times reports on a lecture by Judith Butler and Omar Barghouti at Brooklyn College on the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions Movement, concurrent protests outside the lecture, and the larger controversy surrounding ...
Keep Reading »New Texts Out Now: Natalya Vince, Saintly Grandmothers: Youth Reception and Reinterpretation of the National Past in Contemporary Algeria
Natalya Vince, “Saintly Grandmothers: Youth Reception and Reinterpretation of the National Past in Contemporary Algeria.” The Journal of North African Studies, 18:1 (2013). Jadaliyya (J): What made you write this article? Natalya Vince (NV): The Algerian War of Independence (1954-62), or at least a selective and glorified version of the war, has played a key role in both the formation of Algerian national identity and the legitimization of political elites. For the past fifty years, museums, monuments, school textbooks, national holidays, and political speeches have constantly reminded Algerians that independence was won through the sacrifice of “one and a half million ...
Keep Reading »O.I.L. Monthly Edition (March 2013)
[This is a monthly archive of pieces written by Jadaliyya contributors and editors on the Occupations, Interventions,and Law (O.I.L.) Page. It also includes material published on other platforms that editors deemed pertinent to post as they provide diverse depictions of O.I.L.-related topics. The pieces reflect the level of critical analysis and diversity that Jadaliyya strives for, but the views are solely the ones of their authors. If you are interested in contributing to Jadaliyya, send us your ...
Keep Reading »Announcing The New Issue of Middle East Report Spring 2013
IRAQ TEN YEARS LATER With few exceptions, the rush of reflections on the decennial marker of the US-led invasion of Iraq ignored the fact that the war happened mostly for Iraqis. Already devastated by 20 years of war, sanctions and dictatorship, Iraq suffered another decade of foreign occupation, civil strife and mass displacement. The spring 2013 issue of Middle East Report takes a hard look at “Iraq Ten Years Later,” including the question of why the Bush administration ...
Keep Reading »Media Mea Culpas and The Iraq War: Co-Editor Sinan Antoon and Others on AJE (Video)
Looking back over the ten years since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, what was the role of the US media in the war on Iraq and how has it portrayed that role since? The following segment from Al Jazeera's "Listening Post" features a number of commentators and analysts, including Jadaliyya Co-Editor Sinan Antoon. Central to the discussion therein is a questioning of how much of mainstream US media's conduct was a mistake, which of those mistakes has it owned up to, and how much of its conduct was in ...
Keep Reading »The Most Important Thing: Syrian Refugees
[Photos by Brian Sokol/UNHCR, text by UNHCR.] What would you bring with you if you had to flee your home and escape to another country? More than 1 million Syrians have been forced to ponder this question before making the dangerous flight to neighboring Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq or other countries in the region. This is the second part of a UNHCR project that asks refugees from different parts of the world, “What is the most important thing you brought from home?” The first installment focused on ...
Keep Reading »The Lens of a Youth Photography Collective: Documenting Life and War in Syria
[If you are unable to see the photo slide show above, please click here.] As much as the war in Syria is one of weapons, it is also a war of images. Photographs and videos circulated online have altered assumptions, confirmed biases, and framed narratives at every stage of ongoing developments. In the past year, a number of Facebook pages have emerged as part of the “Lens of a Youth” network of photography collectives, covering nearly all the different cities and towns in Syria. Each individual ...
Keep Reading »ترجمة الحرب: التغيير وغياب الفاعل
تمر هذه الأيام الذكرى العاشرة للغزو الأمريكي للعراق واحتلاله عام ٢٠٠٣، أو ما يحلو لبعض المثقفين العراقيين أن يسمّوه "التغيير." وهذه المفردة تستحق الوقوف عندها؛ دلالاتها والخطاب السياسي الذي تعكسه وتعيد انتاجه، بغض النظر عن نوايا من يستخدمها. فليس اختيار هذه المفردة، بالذات، محض اختصار، فـ"الحرب" أو "الغزو" تفيان بالغرض. فما الذي تضيفه هذه المفردة التي قد تبدو بريئة للوهلة الأولى، لكنها ليست كذلك البتة؟ وربما علينا أن نحوّر السؤال المطروح، لنقول: ما الذي تضببه أو تمحوه؟ وما ...
Keep Reading »Almost Two Years of Bloodshed in Syria: What End is There in Sight?
With the second anniversary of the Syrian uprising fast approaching, there seems to be no end in the near future to the nightmare the country is currently going through. What are the myths and realities of the Syrian uprising, as well as the roots and the trajectories? Professor Beshara Doumani of Brown University spoke about these issues with Syrian-born activist and sociologist Yasser Munif. VOMENA also received an update on the current Boycott Divestment Sanctions (BDS) efforts at Stanford ...
Keep Reading »The Disappearing Frontiers of US Homeland Security: Mapping the Transit of Security across the US and Israel
In the wake of the 1995 Israeli bombing of the UN refugee camp at Qana in Lebanon, a videotape of the massacre was distributed across global media. The African American poet June Jordan, who had participated in US-based Palestine solidarity movements and would visit Lebanon in 1996, thought that the video would be a turning point in global opinion of Israel. Writing in the Progressive magazine, Jordan linked the Qana bombing to military and police violence she had witnessed in urban Black communities in ...
Keep Reading »The Feb 15 Call for Global Protests for Democracy, Solidarity and Justice
[The following statement was issued by an international group of activists and scholars on 15 February 2013.] Ten years ago, millions of people around the world said "no" to war on February 15, 2003. Now, we say "yes" to peace; "yes" to demilitarizing, to having decent lives, including economic lives, determined by democratic principles. The invasion of Iraq still began after the 2003 protests, but the violence wreaked by Bush was still more limited than the U.S. ...
Keep Reading »If You Are From the North, You Are Guilty: On the Alienation and Abandonment of Internally Displaced Northern Malians
A displaced Timbuktian entered a store in Bamako. “As-salamu alaykum,” he said. The manager stiffened and eyed him suspiciously. “Why do you greet me with ‘As-salamu alaykum?’” he asked. “Because we are both Muslim,” the Timbuktian said in the heavily-accented Bambara typical of the Songhay of northern Mali. “No, we are in Bamako. Here we do not say ‘As-salamu alaykum.’ And why don’t you speak Bambara?” “I do speak some Bambara,” the Timbuktian replied. “But I am from the north, where we don’t speak ...
Keep Reading »Tires over Tyre: US Ambassador Ruins Ruins
Touring Tyre on foot can be tiring, to be sure. But whether US Ambassador to Lebanon Maura Connelly was too tired or too busy to get out of her car to survey these marvelous vestiges of antiquity, nothing excuses her regrettable decision to drive a convoy of vehicles over this ancient site, damaging a stone wall in the process. Ambassador Connelly’s convoy passed near the golden Roman Triumphal Arch through a narrow dirt path that is not designed for cars. Unfortunately, one of the cars in her convoy ...
Keep Reading »The Very Risky Bet of Hollande in Mali: The Probable Long-Term Disaster
On 11 January, France's President François Hollande sent in troops to Mali, a few immediately but then 3500, a sizeable number. The stated objective was to fight against the various Islamic fundamentalists who had taken control of northern Mali. It was what the French would call a gageure - a word that derives from gage in the sense of a bet. It basically means undertaking something very difficult to achieve. I think one might best translate it as a "risky bet" and in this case, I would say it ...
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There is another reason for officialized amnesia: the need to rebuild the Lebanon economic, social, and political system on the same bases as before the war: sectarian sharing of power and an unbridled free trade economy based on finance and trade.click | email | tweet
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