After spending the day walking around Washington in ~100 degree heat in my shirt and tie, wishing for a sudden winter storm or maybe a man-sized freezer that I could crawl inside, I hopped on the Metro for the crowded, 30 minute, un-air conditioned ride home. On the trip I found this in my news … Continue reading Here comes the flood

Iraq Body Count casualties for July 16: 8 killed IBC casualties, month to date: 460 killed The Washington Post reports nine killed on Wednesday in two attacks, one near Baghdad and the other in Mosul. That would bring the above number up to 469 killed in July, if it proves accurate. The Mosul attack targeted … Continue reading The Daily Iraq: July 17, 2013

Just plain didn't do one of these yesterday, no excuses. It seems some news outlets are starting to take notice of what's happening here; the NYT covered the attacks I wrote about on Sunday, the AP (via ABCNews.com) is noticing the uptick in violence in just the week since Ramadan began, and USA Today reported … Continue reading The (Two Day) Daily Iraq, July 15-16, 2013

I kind of feel bad for the Sunday show hosts on those rare occasions when they book an actual world leader, be it the US President or a foreign leader.It has to be tough to interview these guys; I mean, the default for a Sunday show host is to babble pundit CW back at their … Continue reading A Wolf in Wolf’s Clothing

Today in "nonsensical headlines presented completely without irony," we have the New York Times: Egyptian Liberals Embrace the Military, Brooking No Dissent In the square where liberals and Islamists once chanted together for democracy, demonstrators now carry posters hailing as a national hero the general who ousted the country’s first elected president, Mohamed Morsi, of … Continue reading At some point you’re not “liberal” anymore

I've been writing a lot about Syria and Iraq, and when I do that I tend to lapse into talking about the "Sunni" and the "Shi'i" because the conflicts going on there have a strong sectarian component (or political components being characterized as sectarian, for the particularly cynical among us), but this kind of broad … Continue reading On Sunni and Shi’i, and living in peace

Egypt: Tensions over last week's overthrow of Mohamed Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood-led government reached a climax Monday, as Egyptian troops and police officers killed dozens and wounded hundreds of protesters in violent clashes around the headquarters of the Revolutionary Guard, where Morsi was/is believed to be held. The junta/government/whatever that is currently running Egypt … Continue reading This Week in Oppressive Government Violence: July 14, 2013

At least 40 more people dead on Sunday in attacks all over the country: A series of bombings across Iraq on Sunday left at least 40 people dead and dozens wounded, security officials said. In recent months Iraq has suffered a surge in attacks, the worst wave of violence in years. So far this month, … Continue reading The Daily Iraq: July 14, 2013

Some time back we learned that, in the state of Florida, you can grab a gun, chase down and threaten a teenager who's doing nothing to you or anybody else, then when said teenager tries to defend himself you can gun him down and somehow make a claim of "self-defense" that tortures the concept of … Continue reading Another great moment in post-racial America

More horrific violence today: Two bombs have exploded outside Sunni mosques in the Iraqi capital, killing at least 24 people and wounding 50 others, police and medics have said. The first attack late on Saturday, near the gate of the Khalid bin al-Walid mosque in the capital's southern Dora neighbourhood, occurred as people had gathered to pray … Continue reading The Daily Iraq: July 13, 2013