Current Analysis Some Initial Thoughts on the Chilcot Report We asked a few MERIP friends and Iraq scholars for their reflections on what they have read so far of the report now regarded as the official assessment of British involvement in the Iraq war. (Author not identified) • 10 min read
Current Analysis The Next Round of an Unwinnable War Beckons Once again, a U.S. president vows to eliminate an extremist militia in the Middle East to make the region, and Americans, safe. And that means it’s time again for a reality check. Having failed in its bid to destroy the Taliban and al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, the United States is still trying to disma Amanda Ufheil-Somers • 2 min read
Current Analysis Not Much Better Than Bush President Barack Obama got it right [http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/19/politics/obama-iraq-transcript/index.html] when he declared: "There's no military solution inside of Iraq, certainly not one that is led by the United States." But his Iraq track record doesn’t mark much of an improvement over the m Amanda Ufheil-Somers • 2 min read
Current Analysis Petraeus’ Real Failure On the sidelines of the catastrophic failure of the Iraqi army to hold back the militias of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (or ISIS, as it is usually known), and the fall of Mosul to that group, a debate is taking place in the United States about whether this turn of events is yet another Laleh Khalili • 5 min read
Current Analysis Modernizing Memorial Day Whoever made the decision to open the National September 11 Memorial Museum just a few days before Memorial Day was both bold and intuitive. The theme of remembrance unites both events, but the 9/11 memorial is a departure because it is dedicated to those so often forgotten in the recollection of na Amanda Ufheil-Somers • 2 min read
Current Analysis Death and Taxes Last year 27 cents [http://static.natprior.org/images/charts/2015/taxes-desk.png] of every income tax dollar in the United States went to the military. Even so, that proportion has not generated enough revenue to pay for the military’s operations over the last 13 years, which, in a historic departur Amanda Ufheil-Somers • 2 min read
colla_022414 Current Analysis Looking for the Three of Diamonds A few years ago, I began work on a crime novel set in Iraq [http://www.bitterlemonpress.com/new-books/american-crime-fiction/baghdad-central.asp]. I borrowed the name of a real-life person, Muhsin Khadr al-Khafaji, as a writing prompt. Taking this man’s name seemed like nothing since my character wa Elliott Colla • 5 min read
MER Article Iraqi Christians: A Primer Media coverage in the West can overstate the degree to which Christians are “disappearing” from the Middle East. But one place where such characterizations have merit is Iraq. In the years since the 2003 invasion led by the United States, at least half of Iraq’s Christians have fled the country to e Amanda Ufheil-Somers • 5 min read
MER Article Rewiring a State The Coalition Provisional Authority, the US-British body that briefly ruled in Baghdad from May 2003 to June 2004, had grand ambitions for Iraq. The idea was to transform the country completely from what was basically a command economy (notwithstanding liberalization measures in the 1990s) into an o Nida Alahmad • 15 min read
MER Article Iraq: What Remains American soldiers are gone from Iraq, along with much of Washington’s influence. The Obama administration, which came to office opposed to the entire enterprise but then tried, and failed, to extend the troop presence, professes still to play a leading part in what goes on. In reality, it looks more Joost Hiltermann • 13 min read
MER Article From the Editors (Spring 2013) “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 chairm (Author not identified) • 9 min read
ufheilsomers_101712 Current Analysis Tie a Pink Ribbon Obligatory displays of Komen pink for Breast Cancer Awareness Month continue their spread beyond women’s accessories and yogurt containers into the masculine redoubts of the NFL and even the US military. While NFL players and coaches will spend the month sporting pink accessories, sailors in the Sou Amanda Ufheil-Somers • 2 min read