The Iraq War
US threatens military escalation as Iraq confronts COVID-19 and oil price shock
By Bill Van Auken, 17 March 2020
Speaking with all the arrogance of a colonial occupier, Secretary of State Pompeo made it clear that Washington has no intention of withdrawing its troops as Iraq has demanded.
Iraq condemns US-UK strikes that killed soldiers, police and civilian
By Bill Van Auken, 14 March 2020
The top US commander in the Middle East made it clear that Thursday night’s airstrikes were part of a broader military escalation in the region.
Psychologist responsible for devising torture methods testifies at Guantanamo Bay hearing
By Adam Mclean, 30 January 2020
James Mitchell, an Air Force veteran and psychologist who was a leading architect of torture methods used at US “black sites” testified that he threatened to cut the throat of the son of detainee Khalid Shaikh Mohammed.
Iraqi government cracks down on anti-US protests
By Jean Shaoul, 28 January 2020
Protests were sparked by unemployment, particularly among young people, the lack of electricity and water, poor services and rampant corruption.
The mass protests in Iraq and the US drive to recolonize the Middle East
By Bill Van Auken, 25 January 2020
Among the hundreds of thousands who filled the streets of Baghdad were workers and youth whose entire lives have been shaped by the crimes of US imperialism.
Death toll mounts as Iraqi protests defy repression
By Bill Van Auken, 5 November 2019
At least 260 people have been killed and hundreds more wounded since protests against unemployment and social inequality erupted last month.
UN rapporteur Nils Melzer warns: Julian Assange may die in a British prison
By Oscar Grenfell, 4 November 2019
Melzer’s statements confirm that the British government, acting on behalf of the US administration of President Donald Trump, is seeking nothing less than Assange’s psychological and physical destruction.
Germany’s grand coalition extends military operations in Syria and Iraq
By Johannes Stern, 2 November 2019
Eighty years after the end of the Second World War, leading politicians from all parties openly advocate policies of war and military violence.
Trump admits US killed millions in war based on lies
By Bill Van Auken, 10 October 2019
Whatever his immediate intentions, Trump has admitted that successive US governments have engaged in war crimes resulting in mass murder.
Death toll in Iraq protests tops 105
By Bill Van Auken, 7 October 2019
According to Iraq’s Interior Ministry, five days of mass protests also left more than 6,100 wounded.
Iraq in flames
By Bill Van Auken, 5 October 2019
Iraqi security forces opened fire on unarmed civilians for the fourth day in a row Friday as protesters poured into the streets once again in defiance of Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi’s declaration of a round-the-clock curfew.
Israel launches airstrikes against Iraq, Syria and Lebanon
By Bill Van Auken, 27 August 2019
The wave of attacks across the region is linked to both the US offensive against Iran and Netanyahu’s re-election campaign.
Blackwater mercenary Nicholas Slatten sentenced to life in prison for initiating 2007 Nisour Square Massacre
By Jacob Crosse, 17 August 2019
Eight months after being found guilty a third time for first-degree murder, Slatten was sentenced Wednesday for his role in the notorious massacre in Baghdad during the height of the US occupation of Iraq.
“I begged them! I said ‘Please, I’ve never seen this country!’”
Detroit man dies after ICE deports him to Iraq
By Zac Corrigan, 10 August 2019
Jimmy Aldaoud was born in Greece to Iraqi refugee parents and arrived in the US as an infant in 1979. He was deported to Iraq in June and died this week.
New Zealand government extends Iraq and Afghanistan troop deployments
By Tom Peters, 14 June 2019
Contrary to statements by the Greens and pseudo-lefts, the Labour Party-led government is strengthening New Zealand’s alliance with US imperialism.
Trump issues full pardon to former lieutenant who executed prisoner in Iraq
By Jessica Goldstein, 9 May 2019
The act of clemency for a war criminal was a calculated gesture to ultra-right and fascistic elements inside and outside the US military.
Canada extends military missions in Ukraine and Mideast, allies with Trump in refugee crackdown
By Roger Jordan, 23 March 2019
The Trudeau government’s right-wing, militarist policies underscore yet again the Liberal Party’s role in advancing the predatory interests of Canadian imperialism.
US Navy SEAL accused of war crimes, murder, pleads not guilty
By Jacob Crosse, 9 January 2019
Navy prosecutors allege Edward Gallagher stabbed and killed a 15-year-old boy being treated for injuries sustained during the “Mosul Massacre.”
Trump’s visit to Iraq and Washington’s never-ending war in the Middle East
By Bill Van Auken, 28 December 2018
Trump’s buffoonish performance in Iraq carried one serious message: With or without troops in Syria, the decades-long US war for hegemony in the Middle East goes on.
New Zealand government extends troop deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan
By Tom Peters, 21 September 2018
The announcement that troops will remain in Iraq and Afghanistan further demolishes claims that the NZ Labour Party-NZ First-Greens coalition government is a “progressive” alternative.
Mass social unrest leaves Iraq’s oil capital in flames
By Bill Van Auken, 8 September 2018
After 15 years of devastation wrought by the US war against Iraq, anger over social conditions has led to an eruption of mass struggles.
Mistrial in case of formerly convicted Blackwater mercenary
By Jacob Crosse, 8 September 2018
Key testimony of the Nisour Square Massacre was called into question due to a brain injury sustained by an eyewitness.
Election result in Iraq portends further political and social conflict
By James Cogan, 15 May 2018
No grouping of parties has won anywhere near the support needed to form a government.
Fifteen years since the launching of the Iraq War
By Patrick Martin, 21 March 2018
Neither the warmongers in Washington and London, nor their media apologists, have been held to account for the greatest crime of the 21st century.
German government plans massive military expansion in Iraq
By Johannes Stern, 13 February 2018
Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen announced the build-up in the course of her trip to the Middle East last weekend.
UN condemns Iraq’s mass hanging of accused ISIS fighters
By Bill Van Auken, 18 December 2017
The mass execution constitutes one more war crime in the bloody US-backed war in Iraq and Syria.
Defeat of ISIS in last stronghold signals new stage of US war in Syria
By Bill Van Auken, 21 November 2017
Syrian government troops, backed by Iraqi and Lebanese Shia militia forces, routed ISIS from its last stronghold near the Iraqi border.
Earthquake near Iran-Iraq border kills hundreds and injures thousands
By Trévon Austin, 14 November 2017
The 7.3 magnitude earthquake is the deadliest in 2017.
Iraqi counter-offensive roils Kurdish Regional Government
By Keith Jones, 2 November 2017
With the US having stoked sectarian conflict in the Mideast, McCain and other congressional war-hawks are now claiming a new intervention may be needed to “save” the Kurds.
Iraqi forces seize back more Kurdish-held territory
By James Cogan, 18 October 2017
Washington, Germany and other powers are applying immense diplomatic pressure on the Kurdish region to submit.
Iraqi seizure of oil-rich Kirkuk from Kurds risks broader war
By Jordan Shilton, 17 October 2017
While the US military and corporate media sought to downplay the scale of the clashes Monday, the Iraqi army’s advance will have explosive consequences for the entire region.
Washington condemns Kurdish referendum as Iraq mobilizes its army
By Halil Celik, 3 October 2017
Washington has long promoted the KRG, but views its current independence bid as an obstacle to US plans to escalate military-strategic confrontation with Iran.
US massacring hundreds of Syrian civilians every week in Raqqa
By Jordan Shilton, 25 August 2017
The horrific slaughter of civilians in Raqqa comes just months after US-backed Iraqi forces, relying on US air power, laid waste to vast swathes of the city of Mosul in northern Iraq.
Syria charges Washington with war crimes in siege of Raqqa
By Bill Van Auken, 9 August 2017
Scores of Syrian civilians have been killed in US air strikes, which, according to Damascus, have included the use of banned white phosphorous munitions against a hospital.
US-trained Iraqi troops ordered to “kill anything that moves” in western Mosul
By Bill Van Auken, 28 July 2017
Two weeks after the Iraqi government hailed Mosul’s “liberation,” the criminal nature of the mass slaughter there continues to emerge.
Judge blocks deportation of 1,400 Iraqis in temporary reprieve
By Jake Dean, 27 July 2017
The future of the Iraqis, many of whom are Chaldean Christians, is far from certain.
Iraqi sources place real death toll in US-led siege of Mosul at 40,000
By Bill Van Auken, 21 July 2017
The sheer scale of the killing makes the siege one of the greatest war crimes of the post-World War II era.
One week after Mosul’s “liberation,” horror of US siege continues to unfold
By Bill Van Auken, 17 July 2017
While the bulk of the US media has moved on, after proclaiming “victory” over ISIS in the Iraqi city, evidence of war crimes and collective punishment is mounting.
US commander predicts weeks more of fighting in “liberated” Mosul
By Bill Van Auken, 13 July 2017
The top US general in Iraq signaled that US forces will remain deployed there long after ISIS is defeated.
The “liberation” of Mosul: Washington’s latest war crime in the Middle East
By Bill Van Auken, 12 July 2017
The crimes carried out against the people of Mosul are on a Hitlerian scale, with tens of thousands killed or wounded and close to one million people driven from their homes.
Iraqi prime minister claims “liberation” of devastated Mosul
By Bill Van Auken, 10 July 2017
The “liberated city of Mosul” has been largely reduced to smoking rubble littered with decaying corpses.
Iraqi government claims fall of ISIS as war goes on
By Bill Van Auken, 30 June 2017
Baghdad’s Pyrrhic victory in conquering the demolished al-Nuri mosque has not ended the fighting in Mosul, much less the armed conflict across Iraq, Syria and beyond.
US-backed forces on verge of recapturing Iraqi city of Mosul
By James Cogan, 23 June 2017
The destruction yesterday of the 900-year-old minaret of the historic Al Nuri mosque symbolises the devastation that has been inflicted on Mosul.
Megan Leavey: Oblivious to Iraqi suffering
By Joanne Laurier, 23 June 2017
Set during the Iraq war in 2006, Megan Leavey deals with the relationship of a female Marine corporal and her military dog companion. It is an unvarnished pro-war film.
US-backed siege batters Old City of Mosul
By Bill Van Auken, 19 June 2017
US-backed Iraqi forces began their siege of Mosul eight months ago. Since then, thousands of Iraqi civilians have died under US bombs, rockets and shells.
Washington’s war crimes in Syria
By Bill Van Auken, 15 June 2017
UN war crimes investigators found that the US military has inflicted a “staggering loss of civilian life” with its relentless airstrikes in and around the Syrian city of Raqqa.
US-backed forces enter Syrian city of Raqqa
By Bill Van Auken, 7 June 2017
The offensive against the ISIS-controlled city has been accompanied by an escalating US military presence in Syria and renewed clashes with government-backed forces.
US-backed Iraqi forces carry out “annihilation tactics” in Mosul
By James Cogan, 30 May 2017
Secretary of Defense Mattis implied that the “tactics” included the extra-judicial execution of wounded or captured alleged ISIS militants, which would constitute a war crime.
Pentagon in talks with Baghdad on permanent US occupation of Iraq
By Bill Van Auken, 5 May 2017
The discussions are unfolding in the shadow of the US-backed siege of Mosul, which continues to inflict mass civilian casualties.
Severe humanitarian crisis in Iraq with 800,000 going to bed hungry
By Jean Shaoul, 18 April 2017
A new survey, the most comprehensive ever carried out in Iraq, found that 53 percent of residents and 66 percent of internally displaced people are vulnerable to “food insecurity.”
US accused of war crimes in air strikes on Iraqi city of Mosul
By Bill Van Auken, 29 March 2017
The scale of the atrocity carried out by the US military in the March 17 bombing of Mosul continues to emerge amid fresh reports of the slaughter of civilians.
The massacre in Mosul
By James Cogan, 27 March 2017
In February, the Trump administration let it be known that it would sharply escalate the onslaught on Mosul—regardless of how many innocent lives would be lost.
Casualties soar in Iraqi city of Mosul
By James Cogan, 25 March 2017
In the latest atrocity, an air strike on March 17 slaughtered as many as 200 civilians.
US bombing kills 11 civilians in Mosul as Washington lifts restraints on Pentagon
By Bill Van Auken, 14 March 2017
There are clear indications that the Pentagon has given the green light for airstrikes that inevitably result in the killing of unarmed men, women and children.
Turkey prepares for military escalation in the Middle East
By Halil Celik, 3 March 2017
Ankara is expected to expand its intervention in the wars in Syria and Iraq, while also threatening Iran.
Thousands flee as US artillery and air strikes intensify in Mosul offensive
By Jordan Shilton, 1 March 2017
The brutal offensive on Iraq’s second-largest city has already displaced upwards of 200,000 civilians, including 8,000 over the past week.
Pentagon prepares for bigger, bloodier war in Iraq and Syria
By Bill Van Auken, 25 February 2017
Among recommendations being prepared for Trump is a lifting of restrictions on rules of engagement supposedly designed to limit civilian casualties.
US defense chief arrives in Iraq amid renewed assault on Mosul
By Jordan Shilton, 22 February 2017
Secretary of Defense James Mattis will soon recommend an escalation of US military involvement in both Iraq and Syria.
Iraqi civilian death toll mounts as fighting intensifies in Mosul
By Jordan Shilton, 17 January 2017
Up to 30 civilians were reportedly killed in a US-led air strike last Thursday. The UN reports that fully half of all casualties in Mosul have been civilians.
US bombs hospital amid escalating assault on Mosul
By Bill Van Auken, 31 December 2016
The attack came as US-backed Iraqi forces launched what they described as the second phase of their assault on Iraq’s second-largest city.
Mosul, Iraq and Obama’s legacy of war
By James Cogan, 22 December 2016
There is no doubt as to the overriding motive behind the 1991 Gulf War, years of sanctions on Iraq, the 2003 US invasion and the blood-letting in Mosul—oil.
While decrying “massacre” in Aleppo, US steps up bloodshed in Mosul
By Bill Van Auken, 16 December 2016
The hypocrisy of US denunciations of Syria, Russia and Iran for the suffering in Aleppo is exposed by the plight of the besieged Iraqi city of Mosul.
Pseudo-left covers for Corbyn’s capitulation to Blair over Iraq war
By Laura Tiernan, 14 December 2016
The pseudo-left’s support for Corbyn gives Labour a blank cheque to facilitate British military aggression.
German defence minister on the offensive in the Middle East
By Johannes Stern, 10 December 2016
The central goal of Ursula von der Leyen’s trip to Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Jordan is the expansion of German imperialist influence in the geo-strategically important region.
Mosul and imperialist “human rights”
By James Cogan, 2 December 2016
The attitude of the imperialist powers to war crimes is determined by whether they benefit from them.
Fighting intensifies in Mosul and northern Iraq
By James Cogan, 22 November 2016
Hundreds of American personnel are on the ground and involved in the combat, while British and Australian troops are also reported to be fighting alongside Iraqi units.
Bagram air base bombing kills four US personnel in Afghanistan
By Bill Van Auken, 14 November 2016
The attack and other incidents underscore the increasingly precarious situation in Afghanistan after a decade and a half of US war and occupation.
Growing crisis surrounds US-backed offensive in Syria
By Bill Van Auken, 11 November 2016
The assault on the ISIS stronghold of Raqqa has exposed the sharp tensions between the disparate forces that constitute Washington’s allies.
US-backed Iraqi assault on Mosul enters third week
By James Cogan, 10 November 2016
There is every reason to suspect that large casualties are being inflicted on civilians.
Sectarian tensions rise in Iraq as Mosul offensive enters third week
By Jordan Shilton, 1 November 2016
Iraqi government troops entered the eastern outskirts of the northern Iraqi city Monday amid ongoing warnings of a humanitarian catastrophe facing its residents.
Report says New Zealand SAS is fighting in Iraq
By Tom Peters, 28 October 2016
The New Zealand government denied a report that the NZSAS is involved in combat operations in northern Iraq, but admitted that the elite fighting unit has visited the country.
Aleppo, Mosul and “war crimes”
By Bill Van Auken, 28 October 2016
Those denouncing Russia for “war crimes” in Aleppo have carried out atrocities over the course of the past three quarters of a century that vastly eclipse the events in the embattled Syrian city.
Civilian toll mounts as Mosul offensive enters second week
By Bill Van Auken, 26 October 2016
There are increasing reports that ISIS fighters are being funneled from Mosul across the border into Syria.
Obama administration split on “Plan B” for Syria intervention
By Bill Van Auken, 25 October 2016
The US National Security Council reportedly discussed proposals to provide heavy weapons to Al Qaeda-linked rebels, but took no decision.
Mosul offensive intensifies regional tensions as Turkish soldiers intervene in Iraq
By Jordan Shilton, 24 October 2016
The dispute between the Iraqi and Turkish governments is only one of a vast array of regional and sectarian divisions being inflamed by the US-backed offensive on the northern Iraqi city.
Turkish bombing in Syria threatens wider war
By Bill Van Auken, 22 October 2016
The fractious and mutually antagonistic alliances forged by Washington in its interventions in Syria and Iraq threaten to explode into a regional and perhaps a world war.
Mosul offensive stirs a cauldron of conflicts
By James Cogan, 21 October 2016
Before Mosul even falls, savage fighting threatens to break out between nominal allies in the operations against Islamic State.
The siege of Mosul and the crimes of US imperialism
By Bill Van Auken, 20 October 2016
The offensive against Mosul is the latest in a series of US war crimes that have killed, maimed and displaced millions across the Middle East.
Mosul offensive threatens to inflame sectarian conflicts in Iraq and Syria
By Jordan Shilton, 19 October 2016
The offensive on Mosul not only threatens the city’s more than 1 million residents, but is intensifying the ethnic and regional conflicts in Iraq and throughout the Middle East.
US-backed Iraqi forces tighten noose around Mosul
By James Cogan, 18 October 2016
The increasingly clear intent is to use air strikes, starvation and desperation to weaken what remains of ISIS’s fighting strength.
The US-directed assault on Mosul and imperialist hypocrisy
By James Cogan, 17 October 2016
In both Syria and Iraq, US objectives are the same: asserting its dominance over the key oil-producing region of the world.
Pentagon paid British PR firm $500 million to create fake al-Qaeda recruiting videos
By Jean Shaoul, 8 October 2016
The US military paid British public relations firm Bell Pottinger half a billion dollars to make fake terrorist videos as part of a secret propaganda programme in Iraq.
More US troops sent to Iraq ahead of assault on Mosul
By James Cogan, 30 September 2016
Justifications have been given in advance for the slaughter of every person labelled a member of ISIS and for large numbers of civilian casualties.
US military prepares new offensives in Syria and Iraq
By Peter Symonds, 12 August 2016
The US is planning major simultaneous operations to seize Mosul in Iraq and Raqqa in Syria that could unfold in the final weeks of the presidential election campaign.
British government to escalate its Middle East intervention
By Paul Mitchell, 5 August 2016
The ramping up of the British military intervention is part of US plans to recapture Mosul from Islamic State control.
British RAF carry out airstrikes in Mosul, Iraq
By Robert Stevens, 4 August 2016
The bombings mark a further escalation of Britain’s participation in imperialist military operations in the Middle East.
From WikiLeaks’ Clinton Email Archive
The New York Times’ chief military correspondent met secretly with State Department in 2010 to bury Iraq War Logs
By E.P. Bannon, 3 August 2016
The revelation of the correspondence again makes clear the degree to which the American “fourth estate” is completely integrated into the capitalist state.
Labour’s Jack Straw and MI6’s Sir Mark Allen shielded from prosecution over rendition to Libya
By Jean Shaoul, 13 July 2016
The British government has spent at least £600,000 to prevent a civil case going ahead, forcing Straw and Allen to give evidence.
US Defense Secretary Carter announces 560 more US troops to Iraq
By Thomas Gaist, 13 July 2016
The deployments will support a joint US-Iraqi offensive against the urban center of Mosul, which is projected to last for months and turn hundreds of thousands more Iraqis into refugees.
Australian parliamentarian calls for Iraqi war crimes trial
By James Cogan, 9 July 2016
Andrew Wilkie declared that he would like to see an international court to hear the “pretty compelling case” against George Bush, Tony Blair and John Howard for war crimes.
British fake bomb detectors withdrawn from Iraq following terrorist attacks
By Harvey Thompson, 9 July 2016
Thousands of Iraqis have died as a result of car and truck bombs since 2006, when the fake devices first came into use at checkpoints in Baghdad and Basra.
UK: Labour’s Jeremy Corbyn refuses to call Tony Blair a war criminal
By Chris Marsden, 8 July 2016
Corbyn’s silence is his response to the efforts by 80 percent of Labour MPs, led by the Blairite wing of the party, to remove him as party leader.
The New York Times on the Chilcot report on Iraq war: “Nothing new here”
By Bill Van Auken, 8 July 2016
During the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, the Times provided invaluable assistance to the Bush administration in dragging the American people into a criminal war based on lies.
The Chilcot verdict on Iraq: A war crime by British and US imperialism
By Julie Hyland, 7 July 2016
The Chilcot report provides conclusive proof that those responsible for the war have the blood of hundreds of thousands, if not millions, on their hands.
Terror attacks shake US-backed Baghdad regime
By Thomas Gaist, 4 July 2016
At least 125 Iraqis were killed by a massive car bomb explosion in Baghdad Saturday, underscoring the crisis of the US-backed Iraq state
Obama’s war in Iraq and the third battle of Fallujah
By Thomas Gaist, 29 June 2016
The “liberation” of Fallujah, touted as a victory, has already inflamed sectarian conflicts and set the stage for further escalation of the Obama administration’s renewed war in Iraq.
Reports of sectarian massacres as Fallujah falls to Iraqi government
By James Cogan, 20 June 2016
The Iraqi forces are being accompanied by US, British and Australian military “advisors.”
Fallujah: A symbol of US war crimes
By James Cogan, 8 June 2016
The humanitarian disaster that is unfolding in Fallujah is the product of the US-led invasion in 2003 and Washington’s deliberate stoking of sectarian conflict in the face of determined Iraqi resistance.
US-backed offensive against Fallujah threatens “human catastrophe”
By Bill Van Auken, 1 June 2016
The siege of the Iraqi city has exposed the deep sectarian fault lines in Iraq that are the product of the US occupation and its divide-and-rule tactics.
Thousands of civilians in danger as US-backed forces mount offensives in Iraq and Syria
By Bill Van Auken, 26 May 2016
The offensives launched by US-backed forces on both sides of the Iraqi-Syrian border threaten to deepen the region’s crisis.
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