Iraq Body Count figures for August 5: 26 killed IBC total to-date for August, 2013: 106 civilians killed AFP reports 47 dead in a brutal day that saw several bombings (at least 8) in Baghdad, and one in Baqubah that killed 10. That would be the deadliest day in Iraq since exactly one week ago, on … Continue reading The Daily Iraq: 6 August 2013

Hassan Rouhani was officially sworn in as new Iranian President on Saturday, so I guess that's the end of the line for History's Greatest Monster, Mahmoud Ahmadinej-- Iran's supreme leader has appointed former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to the Expediency Council, the country's top political arbitration body headed by an avid critic of the outgoing president. … Continue reading Trying to head off the panic

Iraq Body Count figures for August 4: 17 killed IBC total to-date for August, 2013: 80 civilians killed At least nine killed Monday in several attacks, the most violent of which struck a bakery in a Shi'a neighborhood in Baghdad and killed four. In the rare bit of positive news, however, Iraqi security forces in Sulaman … Continue reading The Daily Iraq: 5 August 2013

Marcy Wheeler has some questions about the recent terror threat alert:There’s a part of me that thinks this might be credible and serious.After all, between Iraq, Pakistan, and Libya, up to 1,750 men have just escaped prison, and extremists claim responsibility for the first two prison breaks. That’s a lot of men running around who … Continue reading Be careful out there (kind of)

The large crowds of demonstrators haven't disappeared from Cairo's streets, but the nature of the demonstrations has changed considerably. Instead of millions clamoring for new elections, if not the outright removal of former President Morsi, the big crowds, described by the BBC as numbering "tens of thousands," are protesting Morsi's July 3rd (military-led) ouster. Smaller … Continue reading Threading the Needle in Egypt

Syria: The war continues, but the rebels seem to have blunted weeks of government momentum and may have returned things to a stalemate. The rebels seized a weapons cache north of Damascus, which could substantially improve their firepower. Fighting continued in Homs, neither side gaining ground, but it does seem that the rebels were able … Continue reading This Week in Oppressive Government Violence: August 4, 2013

Iraq Body Count figures for August 3: 29 killed IBC total to-date for August, 2013: 63 civilians killed There were at least 15 more deaths Sunday, including at least four killed in a drive-by shooting in Kirkuk and five killed in two separate bombings in Baghdad. A car bombing in Tikrit killed an appellate judge, Sajid … Continue reading The Daily Iraq: 4 August 2013

One of the great unsolved mysteries in American politics, and a running theme at this place, is the question of how the same foreign policy "experts" who got Iraq totally wrong are still considered foreign policy experts today. I say "foreign policy experts" rather than "pundits" because I get, for better or for worse, that … Continue reading Failing ever upward

Iraq Body Count figures for August 2: 19 killed IBC total to-date for August, 2013: 34 civilians killed At least 19 killed today, making this Ramadan the bloodiest Ramadan in Iraq since 2007, much as July was the bloodiest (Gregorian) month in Iraq since 2008. Gunmen targeted a convoy transporting one of the Iraqi army's top … Continue reading The Daily Iraq: 3 August 2013

Iraq Body Count figures for August 1: 15 killed IBC total to-date for August, 2013: 15 civilians killed IBC final total for July, 2013: 968 civilians killed Eight killed today in attacks in the north: five security forces in a shooting in Kirkuk and three in a bombing and a shooting in Mosul.