Stories by Patrick Cockburn
One reason Afghan villagers prefer dealing with the Taliban than govt. security forces is that the latter have a habit of seizing their sons at checkpoints and sodomizing them.
Posted on Nov 13, 2009, Source: CounterPunch
The election in Afghanistan has turned into a disaster for all who promoted it.
Posted on Nov 3, 2009, Source: Independent UK
What foreign reporting of elections in both Afghanistan and Iraq misses is that many ordinary Afghans and Iraqis see their governments as rackets run by political gangsters.
Posted on Aug 24, 2009, Source: CounterPunch
The American military withdrawal is stabilizing Iraq to a degree the neocons who got us into this war could never admit to.
Posted on Aug 17, 2009, Source: CounterPunch
Allegations of kickbacks rock key government department as 1,000 officials face arrest and the Trade Minister is forced to resign.
Posted on May 29, 2009, Source: Independent UK
Western aid agencies are lavishing vast sums on their officials while extreme poverty is driving young Afghans to fight for the Taliban.
Posted on May 2, 2009, Source: Independent UK
A unique civilization that has existed in Iraq for thousands of years, the marsh Arabs survived Saddam but now are losing a battle against nature.
Posted on Apr 30, 2009, Source: Independent UK
As American troops prepare to leave, the Sunni who changed from insurgents to US allies over the last two years are fearful for their future.
Posted on Apr 14, 2009, Source: CounterPunch
The suicide bombing comes three days after a similar attack killed 28 people near the police academy in east Baghdad.
Posted on Mar 11, 2009, Source: Independent UK
More U.S. troops in Afghanistan will spark a backlash in which religion combines with nationalism to oppose foreign intervention.
Posted on Feb 27, 2009, Source: Independent UK
Iraqi voters have rebuffed religious parties and cemented the power of the country's Prime Minister.
Posted on Feb 5, 2009, Source: Independent UK
The last regional poll, in 2005, triggered two years of civil war. This time, there was not a single major attack anywhere in the country.
Posted on Feb 1, 2009, Source: Independent UK
The scale of the ruin, the economic siege of the enclave, and attempts to exclude Hamas are complicating factors.
Posted on Jan 20, 2009, Source: Independent UK
Iraq's parliament came to a major agreement recently: all 150,000 troops are to withdraw from cities by June.
Posted on Dec 15, 2008, Source: CounterPunch
The attack, which killed eight, was labeled "terrorist aggression" by Syria and is an unexpected expansion of the Iraq war.
Posted on Oct 28, 2008, Source: Independent UK
The Bush administration will present the pact as a sign of its success in Iraq, but in fact it is very different from what it intended.
Posted on Oct 16, 2008, Source: Independent UK
Although Bob Woodward doesn't mention it in his book, the true aim of the U.S. has been to figure out Baghdad's real relationship with Iran.
Posted on Sep 8, 2008, Source: Independent UK
With an eye on the presidential election, the White House is working to create the impression that the war is ripe for U.S. victory.
Posted on Sep 3, 2008, Source: Independent UK
The United States has far less control over events in Iraq than politicians and the press would have us believe.
Posted on Aug 8, 2008, Source: CounterPunch
John McCain and the White House have been clearly dismayed and embarrassed by Iraqi govt. support for Obama's withdrawal plan.
Posted on Jul 23, 2008, Source: CounterPunch
With Iraqis more concerned with electricity that the U.S. election, a timetable for withdrawal is the best Obama could give them.
Posted on Jul 22, 2008, Source: The Nation
With covert operations against Iran poised to be carried out from Iraqi territory, Iranian retaliation would target the already embattled country.
Posted on Jul 7, 2008, Source: Independent UK
The return of the four major Western oil companies will be greeted with dismay by many Iraqis who fear losing control of their vast oil reserves.
Posted on Jun 21, 2008, Source: The Independent UK
Bush wants fifty military bases, control of Iraqi airspace and legal immunity for all American soldiers and contractors.
Posted on Jun 6, 2008, Source: The Independent UK
The position of women in Iraqi society has deteriorated dramatically since the start of the occupation -- and the daily results are deadly.
Posted on May 21, 2008, Source: Independent UK
The ceasefire agreement is intended to end seven weeks of fighting in which more than 1,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed.
Posted on May 14, 2008, Source: Independent UK
Five years after the fall of Saddam Hussein, Mosul, one of the world's great cities, has become a desolate battleground.
Posted on May 12, 2008, Source: Independent UK
The killing of three U.S. soldiers in Baghdad raised the number killed in April to 47, reversing a trend towards lower American casualties.
Posted on May 2, 2008, Source: Independent UK
And the biggest question: Who is left from Saddam Hussein's regime?
Posted on May 1, 2008, Source: Independent UK
One of the most famous faces of Saddam Hussein's regime, Aziz is accused of ordering the execution of 42 merchants for increasing food prices in 1992.
Posted on Apr 28, 2008, Source: Independent UK
The recent explosion of violence is making a mockery of Bush's claim that America had turned the corner in Iraq.
Posted on Mar 31, 2008, Source: CounterPunch
Muqtada al-Sadr called for a campaign of civil disobedience in which shops, businesses, schools and universities would close down.
Posted on Mar 26, 2008, Source: The Independent UK
This the fifth of Iraq's blood-sodden anniversaries since Bush invaded, and the country is now utterly ruined.
Posted on Mar 17, 2008, Source: CounterPunch
The "surge" in Iraq isn't working, but the PR for it has -- the truth is that Iraq could return to a bloodbath at a moment's notice.
Posted on Mar 8, 2008, Source: CounterPunch
Many Iraqi Kurdish leaders are convinced that a hidden aim of the Turkish attack is to undermine the Kurdish regional government.
Posted on Feb 25, 2008, Source: The Independent UK
Life in Iraq, the Pentagon boasts, is returning to normal. But the truth is a very different story.
Posted on Feb 15, 2008, Source: The Independent UK
The nightmare is working!
Posted on Feb 11, 2008, Source: Independent UK
War-hawks say the "liberal media" don't report positive progress from the edges of Empire.
Posted on Jan 18, 2008, Source: Independent UK
Americans will discover, as the British learned to their cost in Basra, that they have few permanent allies.
Posted on Dec 14, 2007, Source: The Independent
A devastating disaster looms over Mosul, an Iraqi city of almost 2 million.
Posted on Aug 8, 2007, Source: Independent UK
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