Current Analysis The Reawakened Specter of Iraqi Civil War April has already been a cruel month in Iraq. A spate of bombings aimed at Shi‘i civilians in Baghdad has raised fears that the grim sectarian logic that led the capital to civil war in 2005-2007 will reassert itself. On April 6, a string of six car bombs killed at least 37 people; the next day, sho Michael Wahid Hanna • 12 min read
MER Article Imagining the Next Occupation When Lt. Gen. William Caldwell pitched the US Army’s updated field manual on the March 10 Daily Show, Jon Stewart inquired: “If I read this, can I take over a country?” Caldwell, who served 13 months in Iraq and today runs the Combined Arms Center in Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas, demurred with a chuckle. Jason Brownlee • 11 min read
Current Analysis Waging Peace, Step by Step The war debate in Washington is bogged down. Partisan rancor is one reason why, and bipartisan desire for US hegemony in the oil-rich Persian Gulf is another. But many Americans are vexed by a nobler concern: that a “precipitous” US departure from Iraq would leave intensified civil war, ethnic-secta Chris Toensing • 3 min read
MER Article Jordan's Unwelcome "Guests" Ask any Jordanian in Amman about Iraqis in their country, and they will immediately tell you that Iraqis have driven up the prices of virtually everything in the capital. Apartments cost double what they did five years ago. The prices of food and gasoline have soared. Iraqis arrive with suitcases fu Stefanie Nanes • 10 min read
MER Article The Politics of Refugee Advocacy and Humanitarian Assistance Despite advance warnings of entrenched conflict and the displacement of tens of thousands of people, in 2003 the Bush administration embarked on a regime-changing war in Iraq with little consideration of the human costs. The Iraq war has created a flow of forced migrants, both within and across nati Kathryn Libal, Scott Harding • 12 min read
MER Article Refugees in Limbo Long lines of Iraqis form early in the morning at the compound of a Damascus non-profit agency that provides social services for Iraqi refugees. About 100 men, women and children patiently wait their turn to meet with the agency’s case workers. Some of the older women begin to tire and move slowly a Madona Mokbel • 16 min read
MER Article The War Economy of Iraq On May 26, 2003, L. Paul Bremer declared Iraq “open for business.” Four years on, business is booming, albeit not as the former head of the Coalition Provisional Authority intended. Iraqis find themselves at the center of a regional political economy transformed by war. Instability has generated sky Christopher Parker, Pete Moore • 30 min read
MER Article From the Editors (Summer 2007) Both political parties in Washington seem determined not to end the US occupation of Iraq until they are convinced the other party will get blamed for the consequences. It is charmless political theater and grotesque public policy. The occupation cannot end too soon. The Editors • 2 min read
MER Article From the Editor (Spring 2007) Twin specters hang over the Middle East of the American imagination -- the perceived rise in the geopolitical power of the region’s Shi‘i Muslims and the dark shadow cast by the sectarian reprisals that increasingly propel the Iraqi civil war. In the United States, pundits and Democratic presidential The Editors • 15 min read
Current Analysis Study Group Shows Why US Must Leave It is time for the United States to leave Iraq. Not because the consequences of withdrawal won’t be dire for Iraq, but because these consequences are occurring anyway, in slow motion. Civil war and chaos already envelop the country, both conditions are getting worse and the United States is powerle Chris Toensing • 2 min read
MER Article Ramadan in Wounded Baghdad In Ramadans past, teams of men drawn from neighborhoods across Baghdad faced off in nighttime matches of mihaibis (the ring game), an amusing pastime dating back to the Ottoman Empire. A ring, small enough to conceal in the palm of the hand, and unlike any other on the men’s fingers, was given to on Huda Ahmed • 4 min read
MER Article From the Editors (Summer 2006) Call it “unconventional,” “muted” or “low-grade,” but civil war in Iraq has begun. A Los Angeles Times investigation published on May 7 documented at least 3,800 violent deaths, many of them execution-style murders, in Baghdad alone during the first three months of 2006. The reason for each and every The Editors • 2 min read
