US Demands About Iranian Influence In Iraq Causing Disarray Amongst Ruling Shiite Parties

  

Iraq’s Shiite elites and Hashd are worried about their political future. They are afraid that the United States not only wants the pro-Iran Resistance disbanded but their militias and financial power as well.

Review Saleem Al-Khalil, The Race Toward Najaf, Abdul Majid Al-Khoie Amidst Americans, Sistani, and Khamenei, Saleem Al-Khalil, 2024

  

Saleem Al-Khalil’s The Race Toward Najaf is about Sayid Abdul Majid al-Khoie’s murder in Najaf in 2003 shortly after the U.S. invasion by Muqtada al-Sadr. It then goes over what might’ve happened if Khoei had lived. The coverage of his death is quite good. The second part however which attempts to blame Iran for everything has huge holes in it.

Iran War Day 36 Iraq's Oil Industry Continues To Be Threatened Financial Crisis By May

The U.S. or Israel bombed the Shalamcheh border crossing between Basra and Iran on the Iranian side. An Iraqi civilian was killed as a result along with five others being wounded.

Review Roger Petersen, Death, Dominance, and State-Building, The US in Iraq and the Future of American Military Intervention, Oxford University Press, 2024

  

Death, Dominance, and State-Building, The US in Iraq and the Future of American Military Intervention is a very detailed argument by MIT Professor Roger Petersen that America’s counterinsurgency and nation building strategies failed in Iraq. His point is that the U.S. was able to temporarily bring down violence during the Surge but failed to maintain the peace nor build a functioning Iraqi state.

Review Ghaith Abdul-Ahad, Alford, Kael, Anderson, Thorne, Leistner, Rita, Unembedded, Four Independent Photojournalists on the War in Iraq, Chelsea Green Publishing Company, 2005

 

Abdul-Ahad, Ghaith, Alford, Kael, Anderson, Thorne, Leistner, Rita, Unembedded, Four Independent Photojournalists on the War in Iraq, Chelsea Green Publishing Company, 2005

 

Unembedded, Four Independent Photojournalists on the War in Iraq is a beautiful picture book about the first couple years of the U.S. occupation of Iraq. It’s printed on a large format with pictures filling the pages so you can see every detail. It features everyday Iraqis rather than Coalition forces. Unfortunately the commentary has some major flaws.

Sadr Says Sticking To Boycotting Iraq’s November Parliamentary Election

 

Moqtada al-Sadr has doubled down on his boycott of the November parliamentary elections. He originally announced he would not participate back in March. He repeated his commitment to this move at the end of September. This is a major blow to voter turnout as Sadr has the only mass movement in the country.

Sadr Won’t Participate In Iraq’s Upcoming Elections

After much speculation Moqtada al-Sadr announced that he would not take part in this year’s parliamentary elections. This is good news for the ruling Coordination Framework because it doesn’t have to worry about its biggest rival. On the other hand it will be a hit for the country’s political system as it will likely result in the lowest voter turnout since 2003.

U.S. Army in The Iraq War Volume 2 Chapter 14 From New Dawn To Zero August 2010-December 2011

The 14^th chapter in the U.S. Army’s second volume on the Iraq war covers the American withdrawal from the country in 2011. Iraq was still facing major problems with its security forces, militias, the insurgency and the struggle for political power. The Obama administration thought it could keep a stay behind force in the nation to help with stability but failed to do so.

Review Lisa Blaydes, State Of Repression, Iraq Under Saddam Hussein, Princeton University Press, 2018

Blaydes, Lisa, State Of Repression, Iraq Under Saddam Hussein, Princeton University Press, 2018

 

Lisa Blaydes’ State Of Repression, Iraq Under Saddam Hussein takes new approaches to analyzing the rule of the Baath Party and Saddam Hussein. Like recent books it argues that the Baath and Saddam ruled through a combination of carrots and sticks. What the author focuses upon is how those two approaches formed political identities in the country. She argues that those parts of Iraqi society that were easily penetrated by the state faced more nuanced acts of repression while those that were more difficult suffered collective punishment which led to new political communities being formed.

Sadr Upset With Followers Announces Another Withdrawal

On December 11 Moqtada al-Sadr announced that he was withdrawing from the public. This was after some of his militiamen tore down posters of Hassan Nasrallah, Abu Muhandis and General Qasim Soleimani in Baghdad and got arrested as a result. Sadr claimed his followers were not following his instructions.

US Army In The Iraq War Volume 2 Chapter 8 Crescendo: Maliki Against The Sadrists

 

Chapter 8 of the second volume of the U.S. Army’s history of the Iraq War focuses upon the 2008 Charge of Knights campaign launched by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki against his political rival Moqtada al-Sadr and his Mahdi Army militia. Maliki ordered the offensive impulsively without providing the support necessary for it to be successful. The Iraqi Forces almost collapsed as a result until the Coalition stepped in with aid.

Review Iraq’s Shia Warlords And Their Militias: Political And Security Challenges And Options

Cigar, Norman, Iraq’s Shia Warlords And Their Militias: Political And Security Challenges And Options, Strategic Studies Institute, 2015

 

Norman Cigar’s Iraq’s Shia Warlords And Their Militias: Political And Security Challenges And Options is a very short book about the emergence of the Hashd al-Shaabi in Iraq after the 2014 fall of Mosul. The author’s thesis is that the Hashd were here to stay in the country as a military, political and religious force although it was also deeply divided into rival factions.

US Army In The Iraq War Volume 2 Ch 6 “The Darkness Has Become Pitch Black”

Chapter 6 of the U.S. Army’s second volume on the Iraq War is about the ups and downs during the heart of the Surge in the mid to late-2007. Continued U.S. operations were degrading the insurgency leading to a dramatic drop in violence. Part of that success was due to the continued expansion of the Sunni Sahwa which the government rejected. On the other hand PM Maliki’s administration remained plagued by problems while still relying upon militias. In the middle of all that the Iraqi ruling parties continued their machinations against each other.

US Army In The Iraq War Volume 2 Ch 5 “The Surge Of Operations”

Chapter 5 of the second volume of the U.S. army’s history of the Iraq War focuses upon the summer of 2007. The Americans expanded their operations from Baghdad into neighboring Diyala while there were still differences over the new strategy. Part of that effort to turn tribes and insurgents against the Islamic State of Iraq ran into continued opposition from Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. On the other hand, Iranian backed militias were fighting each other for control of southern Iraq.

US Army In The Iraq War Volume 2 Ch 3 “The New Way Forward, February 2007-April 2007”

The third chapter of the U.S. army’s history of the Iraq War covers the start of the Surge in February 2007. There were two main issues. First, there were still differences over the new strategy. Second, the Americans looked to the Iraqi government to be a partner but it was an actor in the civil war trying to establish Shiite supremacy over Baghdad.

US Army In The Iraq War Volume 2 Ch 2 “The Eve Of The Surge, December 2006-February 2007”

Chapter 2 of the U.S. Army’s second volume on the Iraq War covers the period after President Bush decided to surge troops into Iraq but before it was actually implemented. It showed more dysfunction within the U.S. government, while inside Iraq the warring factions were preparing for a final confrontation.

Review The Making of Foreign Policy in Iraq, Political Factions and the Ruling Elite

Gulmohamad, Zana, The Making of Foreign Policy in Iraq, Political Factions and the Ruling Elite, London, New York, Oxford, New Delhi, Sydney: I.B. Tauris, 2021

 

Zana Gulmohamad set out to try to explain the complicated story of how Iraq formulates its foreign policy in The Making of Foreign Policy in Iraq, Political Factions and the Ruling Elite. His thesis was that Iraq’s foreign affairs are shaped by each ethnosectarian group, political party, and leading officials in Iraq under the influence and interference of foreign nations. That leads to a contradictory stance as each actor follows its own path to the detriment of the country.

Security In Iraq February 15-21, 2024

For the second week in a row there were no reported attacks by either the Islamic State or pro-Iran groups in Iraq.

Coordination Framework Takes Over Maysan Govt From Sadr

Maysan in the south was one of the major contested provinces after December’s election. That was because it had been run by Sadr’s followers for years and the Coordination Framework wanted to put that to an end. The list was finally successful.

Review The 2008 Battle of Sadr City

Johnson, David, Markel, M. Wade, Shannon, Brian, The 2008 Battle of Sadr City, Santa Monica, Arlington, Pittsburgh: RAND Corporation, 2011

 

The 2008 Battle of Sadr City by David Johnson, M. Wade Markel and Brian Shannon is a disappointing read. It was published by the RAND Corporation as a review of the fighting in Baghdad to stop the Mahdi Army militia from firing rockets and mortars at the Green Zone which is the seat of the Iraqi government and where the U.S. embassy is. Instead of going through the fighting it turned out to just be an exposition on weapons and assets the U.S. military used.