Child marriage has abundant attestation in Islamic tradition and law. Turkey’s directorate of religious affairs (Diyanet) said in January 2018 that under Islamic law, girls as young as nine can marry. “Islam has no age barrier in marriage and Muslims have no apology for those who refuse to accept this” — Ishaq Akintola, professor of Islamic Eschatology and […]
Richard Clarke’s Complicated Iraq Calculus (Part Two)
“The lesson of President Jimmy Carter’s abandonment of the Shah of Iran in 1979 should be a warning,” wrote high-ranking National Security Council (NSC) veteran Richard Clarke in 2004 amidst the Iraq war. In his controversial memoir Against All Enemies: Inside America’s War on Terror, he thus harshly criticized President George W. Bush’s similar democracy […]
Sadr’s Shiite jihadists who killed US soldiers dominate Iraqi election
Democracy. The results, posted online successively, also showed the bloc of Iraq’s populist Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr maintaining the most seats in parliament, leading in several of Iraq’s 18 provinces, including the capital Baghdad. Al-Sadr, a maverick leader remembered for leading an insurgency against U.S. forces after the 2003 invasion, appeared to have increased his […]
Richard Clarke’s Complicated Iraq Calculus (Part One)
High-ranking National Security Council (NSC) veteran Richard Clarke consistently condemned President George W. Bush’s “unnecessary and costly war in Iraq” in his 2004 memoir Against All Enemies: Inside America’s War on Terror. Yet Clarke’s own analysis reveals a much more complex picture of the policy choices involved in this “counterproductive Iraq fiasco” as well […]
In Iraq, A Faltering Democracy
The great hope of the Bush Administration was to bring democracy to Iraq, after so many decades of despotism, by Saddam Hussein and those assorted generals and strongmen who preceded him, and thereby that country could serve as a model – a light-unto-the-Muslim nations – to be emulated. There was plenty of excitement, not […]
314 Iraqi Notables Call For Iraq to Join Abraham Accords
A remarkable gathering of 314 Iraqi notables – tribal leaders, generals, politicians, intellectuals – took place in Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, on September 24. The participants were Arabs and Kurds, Sunni and Shi’a, civilians and military men. They all agreed on one thing: that Iraq should recognize, and make peace with, and […]
Iraq: Islamic State jihadis open fire on funeral procession, murder 13 people, injure 45
The participants in the procession did not accept the authority of the Islamic State, and thus were heretics or apostates, who deserved death and could be lawfully killed according to Sharia. “Over a dozen killed in terrorist attack on a funeral procession in northern Iraq,” Gulf News, July 31, 2021: Baghdad: An attack on a […]
Biden makes deal with Iraq to end US combat mission amid escalation by Iranian-backed jihad militias
American combat troops are leaving their mission in Iraq and pulling out of the area by the end of the year. Biden didn’t refer to the fact in his meeting with Kadhimi, but Iran’s proxy forces are in control of major areas of Iraq, and are buying up lands in Syria. Many powerful pro-Iranian Shi’ite […]
Iraq: Son of prominent rights activist found shot dead, Iran-backed jihad militias suspected
While there is usually a statement or two by Amnesty International or other human rights organizations in cases involving the targeting of defenders of human rights, there is no substantial followup and certainly no global outcry. The global outcry is about “Islamophobia,” a concept pushed by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and marketed particularly by […]
Iraq’s prime minister says US troops no longer needed to fight Islamic State jihadis
Good. So long, fellows, and good luck. It is not or should not be the responsibility of the United States to solve all the world’s problems. U.S. forces should be devoted to making sure that the Islamic State (ISIS) can’t bring its jihad to America. But of course our military is much too concerned about […]