“The only thing these sand niggers understand is force and I’m about to introduce them to it.”
It was Margaret who took leukaemia medicines donated by readers of The Independent to the child cancer victims of Iraq back in 1998 after we discovered that hundreds of infants were dying in those areas where Western forces used depleted uranium munitions in the 1991 Gulf War. She was a proverbial tower of strength, and […]
The refugee statistics are so appalling that they have become almost mundane. Four million of Iraq’s 23 million people have fled their homes – until recently, at the rate of 60,000 a month – allegedly more than 1.2 million to Syria (a figure now challenged by at least one prominent NGO), 500,000 to Jordan, 200,000 […]
Last week the head of the CIA claimed it was winning the battle. Nonsense, argues Robert Fisk. The extremists in the Middle East are growing stronger.
Because al-Qa’ida is a way of thinking, not an army. It feeds on pain and fear and cruelty – our cruelty and oppression – and as long as we […]
Instead of learning from the French experience, the U.S. has naively looked to the Israeli experience as a training manual for counterinsurgency. The U.S. continues to be mesmerized by a mythical version of Israel that is based more on savvy marketing than demonstrated performance. Israel’s responses to unconventional war has never been well developed or […]
Robert Fisk: Blair’s lies and linguistic manipulations
My Dad used to call people like Blair a ‘twerp’. But I fear he is a vicious little man
Published: 19 May 2007
By great good fortune, I studied linguistics at Lancaster University. Indeed, I read the books of Noam Chomsky, many years before he became a good friend […]
This systematic censorship of Middle East reality continues even in schools
Published: 07 April 2007
Laila al-Arian was wearing her headscarf at her desk at Nation Books, one of my New York publishers. No, she told me, it would be difficult to telephone her father. At the medical facility of his North Carolina prison, he can only […]
Below you will find a list of today’s main events in Irak so far. Together with two stories from Al Zamam and several reports from the British newspaper The Independent. There is also a report from IRIN warning of the protential for massive bloodshed in Kirkuk. That this should come as “news” is astonishing - […]
Today’s posting starts with a summary of the main news from Irak this afternoon from Aswat Al Iraq (Voice of Iraq) translated and summarised from Arabic. Below the fold I’ve also included some English language coverage mostly from the UK. There’s a “must read” analysis from Salah Hemeid in Al-Ahram. There’s coverage on the plight […]
Robert Fisk: Conspiracy of silence in the Arab world
Where are the sheikhs when the Iraqi dead are fished out of the Tigris?
Published: 10 February 2007
Could Rifaat al-Assad’s day in court be growing closer? Yes, Rifaat - or Uncle Rifaat to President Bashar al-Assad of Syria - the man whose brother Hafez hurled […]
Early Sunday morning round-up of mostly UK coverage of Iraq together with some articles from English language Arabic media as well. British readers might be particularly interested in the articles from The Scotsman which continues it’s tradition of excellent reporting of issues relating to the welfare of British Service Personnel. If you have a friend […]