Iraq Archives - Occasional Planet

Caliphate: Why can’t we just talk about the possibility?

What if a [limited] Islamic caliphate became a reality? How awful would that be? I don’t know, and I’m having trouble figuring out how

Perhaps it’s always been this way; humankind has been more motivated by emotions than reason and the primary emotion that generates beliefs is fear.

Below is a letter in the May 30th, 2015 St. Louis Post-Dispatch, from a retired US Air Force officer. He says what many of

If you’re planning a family vacation and one of your kids asks, “What do we do if it rains?” do you say “I won’t

I suspect that most Americans don’t realize how much we are responsible for the acts of terror being committed in European countries. I know

The contrast could not have been more apparent. On Monday, February 18, 2013, MSNBC aired a program, Hubris, about how the Bush Administration used

It may be too strong an adage to say the definition of insanity is to continue to do the same things with the expectation

The war in Iraq is officially over. But did anyone notice, really? The last troops [except for the ones that are staying and the

March 19 was the 7th anniversary of the U.S-led invasion of Iraq, yet it came and went without much notice in the news. In

Some may call it a dead topic that should stay dead, but I think that a national discussion of torture needs to continue. Andy