Geography Archives: Iraq

Click on the image for a larger view. An MRZine reader contributed the photographs.

Prime Minister, As British Muslims we urge you to do more to fight against all those who target civilians with violence, whenever and wherever that happens. It is our view that current British government policy risks putting civilians at increased risk both in the UK and abroad. To combat terror the government has focused extensively […]

Vietnam needs your help in the final stage of the process of normalization of relations between our two countries!  Legislation granting Vietnam permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) will be voted on very soon in the Congress. PNTR is the normal state of trade relations between the US and the vast majority of the world’s countries. […]

Israel’s continuing military offensives in Lebanon and Gaza are producing a  human catastrophe and have immense political consequences. First, the human cost, as of July 30: At least 561 dead in Lebanon, the vast majority civilians — with 60 killed (including 37 children) by Israeli air attacks on the village of Qana.  Over 1,000 wounded […]

A LOVE POEM24 July 2006 Some readers of my open letter to Amos Oz have been posing questions to me regarding how to deal with a group that calls for the destruction of Israel.  They tell me they are sick of Israel being described by the Left as inherently evil. I do not believe there […]

  For five weeks in the late spring of 2006, we toured the eastern half of the United States to promote two books — Letters From Young Activists: Today’s Rebels Speak Out (Nation Books, 2005) and Outlaws of America: The Weather Underground and the Politics of Solidarity (AK Press, 2006) — and to get at […]

Dear President Bush, As an American, I have always taken pride in the words “White House.”  Through decades of political strife, be it hurricanes, bra-burnings, race riots, or terrorist attack, the White House has stood as a beacon of hope, assuring us that somewhere inside is a white President, upholding American values.  Until today, Mr. […]

Is there any rational human being on the planet who doesn’t perceive Israel’s measures against Lebanon to be an irrational overreaction?  Seriously, if every pair of “kidnapped” soldiers in Iraq or Afghanistan warranted the “reaction” being meted out by Israel at this moment, I suspect the United States as a whole would be little more […]

To anyone who understands the real history of the Arab-Israeli conflict, and has read the many meticulously well-documented books on this topic by scholars and activists,1 the mainstream media coverage of Israel’s war on Lebanon and Gaza is woefully inadequate and decidedly biased.  Again and again, over the last two weeks, the media in the […]

The Roman historian Tacitus made the observation that the more corrupt the Roman Senate became, the more laws that it passed.  After 13 years observing the White House and United States Congress as the United Electrical Workers Union (UE) Washington Representative, I’ll update Tacitus.  The more corrupt Washington, D.C. becomes, the less and less it […]

The View of the Lebanese Communist Party on the Latest Developments Friday, 21 July 2006 The Situation on the Ground The Israeli enemy has continued making intensive air strikes at the districts and villages in the south, turning southern villages into isolated islands.  Meanwhile the intensity of the bombardment on other parts of the country […]

20 July 2006 What next? This is a fearsome open Israeli war against Lebanon.  It has nothing to do with the matter of two Israeli prisoners. This is a war prepared ahead of time that had to wait for the right moment to be launched.  It is a war that had to wait for the […]

  Part 1 Wednesday, 19 July, Afternoon (The local time is six hours behind Japan Time.) After many detours, I arrived at Beirut. Planning to cover Samawa, I left Japan a week ago (on the 12th), and I was making preparations in Amman, but I couldn’t arrange for an entry into and security in Iraq, […]

At a press conference today, journalist Akbar Ganji had just finished vilifying the “intolerant culture” of non-Europeans when he failed to intervene against Western censorship happening right before his eyes.  He is touring the United States to, in his words, raise awareness about government abuses in Iran, including his six-year imprisonment that ended last March.  […]

At a time when the Iraq war continues to be a defining issue on the American scene, it is ironic that the most powerful and uncompromising documentary on the subject remains almost entirely unknown and unseen in this country.  It took Japanese filmmaker Takeharu Watai a year and a half to film more than 123 […]

Since the commando assault on 25 June 2006 that led to the death of two Israeli soldiers and the abduction of Corporal Gilad Shalit, Israel has intensified the almost daily bombing of Gaza which it had started six months ago in response to the Qassam missiles launched towards the Israeli town of Sderot and the […]

Dear President Bush: You have been a weak president, despite your strutting and barking, when it comes to doing the right things for the American people within the Constitution and its rule of law.  This trait is now in bold relief over the Israeli government’s escalating war crimes pulverizing the defenseless people and country of […]

  Israel’s military offensives in Gaza and Lebanon have reenergized the neoconservatives, who see an opportunity to regain influence lost as a result of setbacks in Iraq.  While insisting on unconditional U.S. support for Israel, the neoconservatives are also pushing for possible U.S. attacks on Tehran’s nuclear facilities in retaliation for its support of Hezbollah. […]

  A significant sentence. On the Al Jazeera Web site, there was a report of Saudi Arabia’s condemnation of Hamas’ and  Hizbullah’s “adventurism.”  The Saudis claimed that “gains” made by Arab leaders were being put in danger.  The Al Jazeera report carried the pithy comment to the effect that the Saudi government did not say […]

  When Fabio Grosso placed his penalty kick into the back of the French goal, Italians around the globe erupted into a state of euphoria.  I was one of those Italians, hungrily following every kicked ball throughout Italy’s run to winning its fourth World Cup, which ranks second only to Brazil’s five.  For my brother […]