MER Article Eyewitness: Iraq Joost Hiltermann, an editor of this magazine, traveled through Iraq from March 23 to April 10, 1991, as Middle East field coordinator of the Boston-based organization Physicians for Human Rights. The delegation, whose mission was to study the impact of the Gulf war and civil conflict on the health o Joost Hiltermann • 4 min read
MER Article Editor's Bookshelf Feminist analysis has added an important dimension to the peace movement’s understanding of the issues in the Gulf war. Several commentators have noted the gendered character of the metaphors and symbols that the Bush administration has employed in representing the Iraqi occupation of Kuwait and the US response, and Joel Beinin • 4 min read
MER Article Document: Report of the UN Mission to Assess Humanitarian Needs in Iraq Conditions in Iraq in the aftermath of the US military assault have been difficult to ascertain. The most authoritative report to date is that of the UN mission led by Undersecretary-General Martti Ahtisaari, which spent March 10-17 in Iraq. The mission, which included representatives of the UN Chil (Author not identified) • 10 min read
MER Article Iraqi Contractors: Clients, Loyal Supporters or Interlopers The contracting sector has consistently been the preserve of Iraq’s private sector and has provided an important source of state patronage. The Iraqi Union of Contractors, founded in 1988, was the only independent corporate association in the country. In contrast to labor, professional, student and business associations, it was Kiren Aziz Chaudhry • 2 min read
MER Article On the Way to Market Iraq’s debt and deteriorating economy have been regularly cited as causes for the invasion of Kuwait in August 1990, but they almost always take second place to explanations that stress Baghdad’s regional ambitions. In fact, the economic crisis that deepened through the early months of 1990 was the Kiren Aziz Chaudhry • 25 min read
MER Article From the Editors The disorder of George Bush’s “new world” did not take long to reveal itself: On the muddy mountainsides along Iraq’s borders with Iran and Turkey, hundreds of thousands of Kurds seek refuge from the depredations of Iraq’s army, while the rest of Iraq’s battered society confronts The Editors • 3 min read
MER Article Report from Baghdad Saddam Hussein’s presence is ubiquitous in Baghdad, where he is shown to be all things to all people. Throughout the city there are portraits of him dressed as Bedouin, Kurd, soldier and civilian. In some places he is wearing a white Bahama suit; in others he is in brown Paul Lalor • 7 min read
MER Article Calculating "Collateral Damage" Early reports of casualties in Iraq provided only a scattershot picture of damage to residential areas and loss of civilian life, not a clear sense of scope or scale. Only on February 11, after four weeks of intense bombing, did Iraqi officials acknowledge that civilian deaths were in the range of 5 Joost Hiltermann • 4 min read
MER Article Al Miskin The first “instant book” on the Gulf crisis has already reached stores across the United States. In his October 22 column in The Nation, Alexander Cockburn related how Judith Miller of the New York Times sought unsuccessfully to induce Samir al-Khalil, the pseudonymous author of Republic of Fear, to Al Miskin • 4 min read
MER Article Human Rights Briefing Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait has highlighted both the brutality of the regime in Baghdad and the double standards of the US and its allies. Western countries that armed and equipped Baghdad as the Baath terrorized Iraq’s population through murder, torture and mass killings of civilians now profess shock Ömer Karasapan • 4 min read
MER Article Washington Watch House Foreign Affairs Committee chair Lee Hamilton (D-IN) offered the first criticism by a Washington insider of the Bush administration’s handling of the Gulf crisis when, on September 18, 1990, he blamed Assistant Secretary of State for Near East and South Asian Affairs John Kelly for not sending Fred Halliday • 4 min read
MER Article Iraq's Military Power: The German Connection Even before the current confrontation in the Gulf, Iraq was an extremely militarized country, preoccupied with internal and external “security threats. ” When I traveled to Iraq in early 1990, I was struck by the extent of militarization in parts of the country. The whole of Iraqi Kurdistan was cove Jochen Hippler • 14 min read
