Iraq

On 31 January 2003, Katharine Gun, a 28-year old translator of Mandarin at Government Communication Headquarters in Cheltenham, arrived at work to find she had been copied in to an email from Frank Koza at the American National Security Agency.

With the US and UK facing stiff opposition at the United Nations to its aggressive stance on Iraq, the email explained how the American and British intelligence agencies were mounting a “dirty tricks” operation at the Security Council in an…

Greg Muttitt’s presentation about the politics of Iraqi oil at the Peace Festival produced both righteous anger and inspiration.

The Iraqi people are embroiled in an intense struggle against the privatisation of oil reserves and production. The fight put up by trade unionists and the Iraqi people to maintain ownership of their oil has so far been a surprising success and a cause for hope.

A law banning trade unions, which dates back to the days of Saddam Hussein, has never…

On 13 October, at a meeting in London, Iraq’s oil minister, Hussein Shahristani, put eight oil and gas fields, representing about 40% of Iraq’s known oil reserves, up for grabs.

According to press reports, foreign oil companies were told they will be allowed to access up to 49% of each field; and, rather than receiving a flat fee for pumping the oil, they can bid for a share of the extra revenue they generate.

The oil ministry has reportedly said that contracts could run…

Britain’s military presence in Basra is “not necessary for maintaining security and control”, Nouri al-Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister, told The Times in an interview that appeared on 13 October. “There might be a need for their experience in training and some technological issues,” he added, “but as a fighting force, I don’t think that is necessary.”

Al-Maliki, a leading figure in Dawa, the Shia party, also noted that the status of Britain’s non-combat forces is also in doubt, as…

The threatened Iraqi oil rip-off was highlighted in central London on 11 October in a lively demonstration. The demo, organised by Hands Off Iraqi Oil, featured a huge puppet of Dick Cheney trying to grasp an oil well. It was timed to coincide with the start of the last 100 days of the Bush administration, a period expected to see its sustained effort to force through a law that would mean the effective privatisation of Iraq’s main industry.

As the march snaked its way from Shell…

Iraqi architect and blogger Raed Jarrar has translated a leaked copy of the interim US-Iraq agreement for American Friends Service Committee.

The text promises full immunity for US forces operating in Iraq, sets no deadline for the withdrawal of “non-combat” troops (not defined).

The agreement also raises the possibility that the US and Iraqi governments may try to ratify the agreement without gaining the approval of the Iraqi parliamentary (the text says it comes into…

At the beginning of August the Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions (IFOU) succeeded in winning the return of eight oil union activists from the south of Iraq, who had been forcibly transferred to a dangerous part of Baghdad in June.
Britain’s Trades Union Congress, the AFL-CIO (US), and global union federations including the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers’ Unions all exerted pressure, notably at an International Labour Organisation conference in…

July saw a major victory for opponents of the Iraq occupation. US plans to consolidate its long-term presence in Iraq were derailed by popular pressure within Iraq.

Instead of a semi-permanent “Status of Forces Agreement” (SOFA) granting US forces authority to establish more than 50 long-term bases and to conduct unilateral operations and detentions without fear of prosecution in the Iraqi justice system, the US has been forced to try to secure a scaled-down accord.

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118 Days celebrates the “explosion of goodness” that arose from the kidnapping of four peace activists in Baghdad on 26 November 2005.

In 22 articles by 24 different authors, the book explores how this terrible event touched so many people in positive ways – from increased cooperation between peace and faith groups in Britain, to demonstrations of solidarity in the West Bank, and from discussions on the value of self-sacrifice in a US penitentiary to the media frenzy in the UK, the…

There were many acts of remembrance around the country when the hundredth British soldier was killed in Afghanistan, names of the dead were read out. The occasion highlighted the enormous importance of Iraq Body Count’s work in collecting the names of non combatants killed in Iraq since the 2003 invasion. There are in contrast so few names of Afghans killed, there is no one doing an Afghan body count. Uncounted Afghan’s have lost their lives, and without their names who knows if they ever…

President Bush wants the Iraqi government to seal a “status of forces”agreement cementing the US military presence in Iraq without seeking the approval of the Iraqi parliament, unsurprising given that a majority of members of the Iraqi parliament have written to the US congress rejecting a long-term security deal with Washington if it is not linked to a requirement that US forces leave.

Forced deportations of Iraqi asylum seekers are accelerating under Brown; 60…

The Iraqi government’s military assault on the southern Iraqi city of Basra at the end of March – which drew in both US and British forces, and sparked fighting in Baghdad and the south that claimed an estimated 600 lives – appears to have been as much an attempt to disrupt British plans for the area as a blow against the powerful Shia leader Moqtada al-Sadr.

Noting the key role envisioned for Iraqi lieutenant-general Mohan al-Furayji in British plans for Basra, the Independent…

As part of the international day of World Against War demonstrations, Aberystwyth Peace and Justice Network invited Wales to continue to protest. Five years on, the occupation of Iraq remains an unmitigated catastrophe.

In Aberystwyth, Cor Gobaith sang stirringly and a number of AP&JN supporters engaged with the public. Plaid Cymru president Dafydd Iwan sent a strong message of party support for the campaigns: Troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan, Don't attack Iran, End the siege…

There are at least three hundred thousand widows in Baghdad alone, and a further one million throughout Iraq, with their numbers rising daily. City of Widows is a timely reminder of the continuing calamitous affect of the Iraq war, particularly on Iraqi women. It interweaves Zangana's personal story of resistance, imprisonment and torture under Saddam Hussein with a history of Iraq from the early twentieth century to the present day.

The promotion of women's rights was given as a…

Gordon Brown has gone back on the promise he made on 8 October last year that troop numbers in Iraq would be cut to 2,500 this spring.

Troops have now been told that 4,000 must stay until the end of the year. 1,500 had been told they would be coming home this April but have now been informed that they will not be returning until the end of June, when they will be replaced.

The decision was allegedly based on ongoing rocket attacks on the base at Basra airport and on the…