Iraq - Still, In Fact, Going On

craner

Beast of Burden
I wrote about ISIS and al-Baghdadi, as well as the various Shi'ite militias fighting in Syria, a year ago in my essay Carnival of Death. There is plenty of material in this with direct relevance to Iraq and Syria today and associated links you may find useful in my footnotes.
 

craner

Beast of Burden
See, in particular, point 2 'Al-Qaeda in Syria' and point 5 'Iraqi Exports' and point 8 'Kurdish Fringes' and think about how they are all linking up in Iraq right now.
 

droid

Well-known member
ISIS are doing it wrong. The correct way to massacre Iraqi soldiers in trenches is to bury them alive and crush them with bulldozers.
 

droid

Well-known member

droid

Well-known member
"You cant be too careful in the East" said Metin, twirling his moustache. "As they say in Ankara: Kurdistan is like a cucumber. Today in your hand; tomorrow up your arse."
 

droid

Well-known member
Reading a fairly straight laced history of the Gulf war (the original) and surprised to find amongst some very sober commentary a clear cut account of the assassination attempt on Shlomo Argov (which, as we all know was the completely ridiculous justification for the launch of Israel's 82 war against Lebanon), which places the blame directly at the feet of Baghdad.

Of course, its common knowledge that two of the Abu Nidal assassins were members of the Mukhabarat, but this was the first time Ive seen this particular assertion stated so baldly. Iraq's aims were to weaken a regional enemy (Syria), divert the attention of global and local powers from their offer of a ceasefire after the ill-planned invasion of Iran had gone sour, and distract Iran by drawing them into a second conflict.

Remarkably successful on all accounts it seems. If true it must be one of the most effective bits of espionage/terror in modern history.
 

droid

Well-known member
Bulloch also wrote the excellent 'No Friends but the Mountains: The Tragic History of the Kurds', which was one of the first books I read about the region.
 

craner

Beast of Burden
Ah, thanks. I've seen copies of the Faber-published Saddam's War in second hand bookshops before -- is it the same book? Haven't read it, anyway.
 

droid

Well-known member
Always a pleasure.

"You cant be too careful in the East" said Metin, twirling his moustache. "As they say in Ankara: Kurdistan is like a cucumber. Today in your hand; tomorrow up your arse."

You might like the source of this as well. William Dalrymple's 'From the Holy Mountain':
 

craner

Beast of Burden
Gary Sick, Dick Armey, these guys with their names have been around a while.

Book: yes please. Message me.
 

Sectionfive

bandwagon house
Looking at this ISIS crowd and don't know if the mainstreaming of Vice or luka's Neo-Con strategies thread is worrying me more.
 

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
Just seen some photos a friend took of a pro-ISIS stall on Oxford Street today. Jesus H. Christ. :-/
 

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
Just seen some photos a friend took of a pro-ISIS stall on Oxford Street today. Jesus H. Christ. :-/

Can you imagine a group of people bigging up the IDF in a public place in London in the same way? They'd need hospital treatment within two minutes.
 
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