Harry's Place

This is a cross-post by Marc Goldberg
It was weapons of mass destruction that got the United States (and others) bogged down in the Middle East and it seems that it will be weapons of mass destruction that suck the US military back in. The use of sarin gas by forces loyal to President Assad is [...]

On the 10th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, Labour MP Dave Anderson writes:
Ten years ago, I was utterly opposed to the invasion of Iraq. At the time I was President of Unison and sat on the TUC general council, so like a lot of others in the labour movement I did my bit to [...]

Following Tony Blair’s interview on Newsnight this week, there have been those who have criticised his invocation of Saddam’s crimes against humanity as one reason why those who supported the war might feel it was still the correct decision. Others have rushed to condemn this as retrospective justification that cannot be entered into the credit [...]

David Aaronovitch returns to Iraq in his column in The Times today (£). He writes as we reach the tenth anniversary of the parliamentary debate that gave the go ahead for Britain’s part in the invasion of Iraq and two weeks before we had the anniversary of the ‘Great Iraq Demonstration’. A march that will forever [...]

At Socialist Unity and Stop the War, they are nostalgically celebrating the 10th anniversary of the high point of the British antiwar movement– the huge London antiwar demonstration against the pending invasion of Iraq. (The invasion went ahead anyway.)
I’m reminded of a passage from Ian McEwan’s novel “Saturday,” which is set in London on the [...]

Yesterday I posted extracts of the transcript of the discussion about the Socialist Workers Party Disputes Committee report at the SWP conference. The key part of the report was a rape and sexual harassment allegation against a leading party member. The Disputes Committee concluded that the charges against the leading party member were not proven. The [...]

This is a cross-post by Aymenn Jawad al-Tamimi
Just as 2011 in Iraq ended with a political crisis following the issuing of an arrest warrant by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki against Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi on allegations of running a death squad, so 2012 has rounded off with another political crisis: this time involving the [...]

Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi 
One year after the completion of the pullout of American troops from Iraq, what are the main issues affecting the country today?
Russian Arms Scandal and Corruption: On October 9, Iraq announced the signing of a $4.2 billion arms contract with Russia. Commentators took this deal to be a sign of waning U.S. influence in Iraq since [...]

Cross-posted from James Bloodworth at Obliged to Offend
Tony Blair made a tentative return to politics last week as an advisor to the Labour Party. For a number of people on the left, including your humble servant, this did not sit particularly well. Many of us had hoped that under the stewardship of Ed Miliband [...]

This is a post by Mikey
Many readers of this blog will be aware of the antics of Tony Greenstein. What might not be known is that an organisation with which Tony Greenstein has been associated, was, as he now admits, both funded by and controlled by Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi Ba’ath party.[1]
While an activist in the [...]