https://znetwork.org/category/place/middle-east/iraq/ Independent Left News, Analysis, Vision and Strategy Sun, 28 Dec 2025 14:42:40 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://znetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/cropped-Z_logo_512-32x32.png https://znetwork.org/category/place/middle-east/iraq/ 32 32 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/will-the-iraqi-militias-truly-disarm/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/will-the-iraqi-militias-truly-disarm/#respond Sun, 28 Dec 2025 14:42:32 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1292843 For the first time, several well-known armed groups in Iraq have released statements supporting the idea of “the state’s monopoly on the use of force,” This idea calls for these groups to turn over their weapons to the government, dissolve their groups or merge with the military and security forces, and engage in political involvement. [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/will-the-iraqi-militias-truly-disarm/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/we-spoke-to-haditha-massacre-survivors-they-still-want-justice/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/we-spoke-to-haditha-massacre-survivors-they-still-want-justice/#respond Fri, 19 Dec 2025 14:02:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1292539 Khaled Salman Raseef remembers being jolted awake by a loud explosion near his home on the morning of November 19, 2005 — an event that marked its twentieth anniversary last month. In Haditha, a once-peaceful Iraqi city along the Euphrates River, such sounds had become routine. The close-knit neighborhoods had been transformed into a war [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/we-spoke-to-haditha-massacre-survivors-they-still-want-justice/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-iraqi-left-at-a-crossroads-renewal-unity-and-the-recovery-of-mass-action/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-iraqi-left-at-a-crossroads-renewal-unity-and-the-recovery-of-mass-action/#respond Thu, 18 Dec 2025 16:57:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1292499 1. The Iraqi Left Between Participation and Boycott in the 2025 Elections This article comes at a critical political and organizational moment for the Iraqi left. Recent setbacks can no longer be explained by external factors alone. What we are experiencing is a real test of our will and our ability to invent new tools [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-iraqi-left-at-a-crossroads-renewal-unity-and-the-recovery-of-mass-action/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-last-thing-iraq-needs-us-sanctions-threaten-a-nation-trying-to-heal/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-last-thing-iraq-needs-us-sanctions-threaten-a-nation-trying-to-heal/#respond Sat, 13 Dec 2025 14:37:39 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1292313 I arrived at the Taj Hotel in Baghdad’s Jadriyah neighborhood at 6 a.m., worn thin by the long flight from Los Angeles. After sleeping until mid-afternoon, I stepped out into the 90-degree heat on a simple mission: find falafel, fries, and a place to exchange money. A local bus picked me up and dropped me [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-last-thing-iraq-needs-us-sanctions-threaten-a-nation-trying-to-heal/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/iraqs-sovereignty-cannot-grow-while-u-s-power-only-changes-shape/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/iraqs-sovereignty-cannot-grow-while-u-s-power-only-changes-shape/#respond Tue, 09 Dec 2025 18:01:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1292187 In U.S. political talk, Iraq is often treated as a “finished chapter.” The invasion is history, the occupation is history, and even the war against ISIS is presented as something largely completed. Yet in 2025, Iraqis are still living with the consequences of decisions made in Washington, and U.S. power in their country is not [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/iraqs-sovereignty-cannot-grow-while-u-s-power-only-changes-shape/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/from-baghdad-to-caracas-a-washington-manual-on-sanctions-and-war/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/from-baghdad-to-caracas-a-washington-manual-on-sanctions-and-war/#respond Wed, 22 Oct 2025 18:25:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1290296 Over the last several weeks, Washington has escalated threats and hostilities against Venezuela, and US President Donald Trump openly confirmed that he authorized the CIA to carry out covert action against the country. These actions are concerning and represent a serious intensification of the war drive against the Caribbean country, and they also confirm what [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/from-baghdad-to-caracas-a-washington-manual-on-sanctions-and-war/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-iraqi-left-ahead-of-the-2025-elections-between-unity-and-renewal/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-iraqi-left-ahead-of-the-2025-elections-between-unity-and-renewal/#respond Sat, 11 Oct 2025 15:13:54 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1289801 In the context of the transformations taking place within the Iraqi and international left, it is essential to combine traditional forms of leftist struggle with new arenas in the digital space and within official institutions. Political participation in all its forms is one of the essential tools of struggle. The struggle is not limited to [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-iraqi-left-ahead-of-the-2025-elections-between-unity-and-renewal/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/now-it-can-be-told-after-all-the-harm-has-been-done/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/now-it-can-be-told-after-all-the-harm-has-been-done/#respond Thu, 26 Dec 2024 16:58:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1277595 This week, the New York Times reported that the U.S. government made war in Afghanistan while helping to “recruit, train and pay for lawless bands of militias that pillaged homes and laid waste to entire communities.” Those militias “tortured civilians, kidnapped for ransom, massacred dozens in vendetta killings and razed entire villages, sowing more than a decade [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/now-it-can-be-told-after-all-the-harm-has-been-done/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-u-s-has-dozens-of-secret-bases-across-the-middle-east-they-keep-getting-attacked/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-u-s-has-dozens-of-secret-bases-across-the-middle-east-they-keep-getting-attacked/#respond Wed, 07 Aug 2024 15:07:26 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1270479 U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria have come under repeated attack in recent weeks, including a rocket attack on al-Asad Air Base in Iraq on Monday that reportedly injured five U.S. military personnel and contractors. The renewed strikes, which began in July, mark a resumption of a low-level war between America and Iran’s proxies in the Middle [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-u-s-has-dozens-of-secret-bases-across-the-middle-east-they-keep-getting-attacked/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/carceral-imperialism/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/carceral-imperialism/#respond Thu, 25 Apr 2024 15:49:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1265508 “To this day I feel humiliation for what was done to me… The time I spent in Abu Ghraib — it ended my life. I’m only half a human now.” That’s what Abu Ghraib survivor Talib al-Majli had to say about the 16 months he spent at that notorious prison in Iraq after being captured and detained by [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/carceral-imperialism/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-iraq-war-remade-the-world-in-its-grisly-image/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-iraq-war-remade-the-world-in-its-grisly-image/#respond Wed, 20 Mar 2024 18:20:09 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1263899 The failure to reckon with the people and the politics that made the Iraq War happen is one of the most tragic and significant oversights in recent history. To understand where we are today, in terms of both domestic politics and global affairs, we must understand the US invasion of Iraq — what led to [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-iraq-war-remade-the-world-in-its-grisly-image/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/top-3-things-biden-could-do-instead-of-intensively-bombing-iraq-and-syria/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/top-3-things-biden-could-do-instead-of-intensively-bombing-iraq-and-syria/#respond Sat, 03 Feb 2024 14:32:28 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1261680 The Biden administration launched 85 air strikes on Friday against small bases of the Party of God Brigades (Kata’ib Hizbullah), an Iraqi Shiite militia active in Iraq and Syria. The organization is likely the culprit in Sunday’s drone strike against the Tower 22 US base in the far north of Jordan on the border with [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/top-3-things-biden-could-do-instead-of-intensively-bombing-iraq-and-syria/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/zvideo/axis-of-resistance-hamas-hezbollah-houthis-challenge-u-s-israeli-power-amid-middle-east-tension/ https://znetwork.org/zvideo/axis-of-resistance-hamas-hezbollah-houthis-challenge-u-s-israeli-power-amid-middle-east-tension/#respond Wed, 27 Dec 2023 18:21:58 +0000 We look at how Israel’s war on Gaza has inflamed tensions in the Middle East and threatens to pull other countries into the fighting, including the United States. The Pentagon says it has intercepted a number of drones and missiles launched by Yemen’s Houthi forces — known as Ansar Allah — in the Red Sea [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/zvideo/axis-of-resistance-hamas-hezbollah-houthis-challenge-u-s-israeli-power-amid-middle-east-tension/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/women-fighting-patriarchy-and-oppression-in-northern-iraq/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/women-fighting-patriarchy-and-oppression-in-northern-iraq/#respond Sun, 15 Oct 2023 19:38:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1255848 In Sinjar, a small town in Northern Iraq, the consequences of genocide and war linger heavy.  Nearly a decade ago, in August of 2014, the Islamic State group (ISIS) carried out genocide against the Yazidi religious minority based in, and around, Sinjar.  To this day, the town lies in rubble and its people scattered in [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/women-fighting-patriarchy-and-oppression-in-northern-iraq/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/united-states-of-amnesia/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/united-states-of-amnesia/#respond Fri, 22 Sep 2023 20:52:22 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1254741 Just a little more than 20 years ago, on August 19th, 2003, a cement mixing truck containing a large bomb rolled into the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad. The subsequent explosion killed Sergio Vieira de Mello, the body’s special representative to the country and many others. This event, which led to the UN withdrawing all non-essential personnel from [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/united-states-of-amnesia/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/iraqs-climate-crisis/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/iraqs-climate-crisis/#comments Mon, 10 Jul 2023 15:14:03 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1249131 It was one of the fabled rivers of history and the Marines needed to cross it. In early April 2003, as American forces sought to wrap up their conquest of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, and take strongholds to its north, the Marine Corps formed “Task Force Tripoli.” It was commanded by General John F. Kelly [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/iraqs-climate-crisis/feed/ 1 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/bushs-mission-accomplished-20-years-later/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/bushs-mission-accomplished-20-years-later/#respond Mon, 01 May 2023 16:25:26 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1245387 Twenty years ago, President George W. Bush landed in a twin-engine Navy jet on an aircraft carrier, strode across the deck in a bulky flight suit and proceeded to give a televised victory speech under a huge red-white-and-blue banner announcing “Mission Accomplished.” For Bush, the optics on May 1, 2003 could hardly have been more [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/bushs-mission-accomplished-20-years-later/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/rescind-congressional-authorization-for-the-use-of-military-force-in-iraq-now/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/rescind-congressional-authorization-for-the-use-of-military-force-in-iraq-now/#comments Sun, 09 Apr 2023 14:55:11 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1243208 Recently, the US Senate voted on a bipartisan basis to rescind the Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) in Iraq. President Biden, who voted for that AUMF in 2003, has said he will sign it if it gets to his desk. At this writing, it is unclear if the U.S. House will post [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/rescind-congressional-authorization-for-the-use-of-military-force-in-iraq-now/feed/ 1 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-cataclysmic-iraq-war-in-6-charts/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-cataclysmic-iraq-war-in-6-charts/#respond Sun, 09 Apr 2023 14:00:25 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1243184 Speaking recently about Russia’s criminal invasion of Ukraine, Joe Biden said: “The idea that over 100,000 forces would invade another country . . . since World War II, nothing like that has happened.” He must have a short-term memory. US-led coalition forces in Iraq easily eclipsed one hundred thousand every year from 2003 to 2009, during which time [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-cataclysmic-iraq-war-in-6-charts/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/iraq-ukraine-and-a-world-without-accountability/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/iraq-ukraine-and-a-world-without-accountability/#respond Wed, 29 Mar 2023 16:09:41 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1242428 The wars in Iraq and Ukraine may differ, but both speak to the tragic realities of war. They also make a strong case for strengthening the rule of law instead of undermining it through flimsy pretexts for endless militarism. Like the 2003 U.S. war in Iraq, which marked its 20th anniversary this March, Russia’s year-long [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/iraq-ukraine-and-a-world-without-accountability/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/zvideo/war-made-easy-norman-solomon-on-how-mainstream-media-helped-pave-way-for-u-s-invasion-of-iraq/ https://znetwork.org/zvideo/war-made-easy-norman-solomon-on-how-mainstream-media-helped-pave-way-for-u-s-invasion-of-iraq/#respond Wed, 22 Mar 2023 18:00:30 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=video&p=1241924 As we continue to mark the 20th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, we look at how the corporate U.S. media helped pave the way for war by uncritically amplifying lies and misrepresentations from the Bush administration while silencing voices of dissent. Longtime media critic Norman Solomon says many of the same media personalities [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/zvideo/war-made-easy-norman-solomon-on-how-mainstream-media-helped-pave-way-for-u-s-invasion-of-iraq/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/whatever-they-say-now-americas-political-and-media-elites-overwhelmingly-supported-the-iraq-war/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/whatever-they-say-now-americas-political-and-media-elites-overwhelmingly-supported-the-iraq-war/#respond Tue, 21 Mar 2023 16:30:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1241848 The United States and its coalition partners launched the Iraq War in March 2003, and twenty years later pundits and participants alike still disagree as to why, exactly, they did so.  Was it (as the Bush administration claimed) to halt Saddam Hussein’s acquisition of WMDs and stave off a 9/11-like terrorist attack?  Was it to [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/whatever-they-say-now-americas-political-and-media-elites-overwhelmingly-supported-the-iraq-war/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/for-20-years-team-bush-has-escaped-prosecution-for-their-war-crimes-in-iraq/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/for-20-years-team-bush-has-escaped-prosecution-for-their-war-crimes-in-iraq/#respond Tue, 21 Mar 2023 16:30:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1241870 Today, Iraqis mark the 20th anniversary of the horrific U.S.-U.K. bombing of Baghdad, dubbed “Shock and Awe.” In rapid succession, “coalition forces” dropped 3,000 bombs, including many that weighed 2,000 pounds, on Baghdad in what The New York Times called “almost biblical power.” Although they launched an illegal war of aggression and committed war crimes in Iraq, 20 [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/for-20-years-team-bush-has-escaped-prosecution-for-their-war-crimes-in-iraq/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/20-years-after-illegal-us-invasion-of-iraq-its-architects-are-still-cashing-in/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/20-years-after-illegal-us-invasion-of-iraq-its-architects-are-still-cashing-in/#respond Mon, 20 Mar 2023 15:41:50 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1241800 It had been 15 years since the U.S. invaded Iraq when, on March 19, 2018, the celebrated Iraqi novelist and poet Sinan Antoon published a blistering op-ed in The New York Times. He took readers through his observations of the steady deterioration of Iraqi society since the war began, but the most scathing words came toward the end. [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/20-years-after-illegal-us-invasion-of-iraq-its-architects-are-still-cashing-in/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/confessions-of-a-conscientious-quitter/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/confessions-of-a-conscientious-quitter/#comments Mon, 20 Mar 2023 14:19:25 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1241746 Perhaps it’s coincidence, or perhaps it has been of my own subconscious making, but there has been a community of people right here under my nose which took me 20 years to be able to see. Their mere existence, and willingness to acknowledge mine among them, has given me a powerful realization that I didn’t [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/confessions-of-a-conscientious-quitter/feed/ 2 https://znetwork.org/zvideo/war-made-easy-the-iraq-war-20-years-later/ https://znetwork.org/zvideo/war-made-easy-the-iraq-war-20-years-later/#respond Sun, 19 Mar 2023 15:22:24 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=video&p=1241717 March 20, 2023, marks the 20-year anniversary of the illegal US invasion of Iraq. Two decades later, over a million Iraqis have been killed, 37 million people have been displaced by the War on Terror, and none of the architects of the worst crime of the century have been held accountable. In commemoration of the [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/zvideo/war-made-easy-the-iraq-war-20-years-later/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-us-invasion-was-a-catastrophe-for-the-people-of-iraq/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-us-invasion-was-a-catastrophe-for-the-people-of-iraq/#respond Sun, 19 Mar 2023 15:15:26 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1241711 In March 2003, the US military launched a full-scale invasion of Iraq. The Bush administration promised to bring freedom to millions of Iraqis. In reality, the occupation inflamed sectarian divisions and reopened Saddam Hussein’s torture chambers at Abu Ghraib, while US officials tried to privatize Iraq’s vast oil resources. Eight years later, US forces officially [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-us-invasion-was-a-catastrophe-for-the-people-of-iraq/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/iraq-and-15-lessons-we-never-learned/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/iraq-and-15-lessons-we-never-learned/#comments Sat, 18 Mar 2023 16:56:09 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1241651 The peace movement did a great many things right in the first decade of this millennium, some of which we’ve forgotten. It also fell short in many ways. I want to highlight the lessons I think we’ve most failed to learn and suggest how we might benefit from them today. We formed uncomfortably large coalitions. [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/iraq-and-15-lessons-we-never-learned/feed/ 1 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/we-iraqis-had-survived-saddam-hussein-it-was-the-us-invasion-that-destroyed-our-lives/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/we-iraqis-had-survived-saddam-hussein-it-was-the-us-invasion-that-destroyed-our-lives/#respond Sat, 18 Mar 2023 16:05:21 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1241605 Twenty years ago, around this time, the US-led military operation to invade Iraq and topple Saddam Hussein’s regime finally seemed inevitable for Iraqis. With it, the idea of leaving started to sink in. By leaving, I do not mean fleeing the country. That was not even an option. After the 1990s Gulf war, and the international sanctions that followed [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/we-iraqis-had-survived-saddam-hussein-it-was-the-us-invasion-that-destroyed-our-lives/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/zvideo/death-destruction-resilience-nadje-al-ali-on-the-20th-anniversary-of-u-s-invasion-of-iraq/ https://znetwork.org/zvideo/death-destruction-resilience-nadje-al-ali-on-the-20th-anniversary-of-u-s-invasion-of-iraq/#respond Fri, 17 Mar 2023 14:25:07 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=video&p=1241581 Transcript This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form. AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman, with Nermeen Shaikh. Twenty years ago today, peace protests rocked the globe, held across the world, urging the United States to halt its imminent plans to invade Iraq. There were [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/zvideo/death-destruction-resilience-nadje-al-ali-on-the-20th-anniversary-of-u-s-invasion-of-iraq/feed/ 0