A 12 year old Iraqi girl was killed today when US forces fired “warning shots” at a vehicle in Nineveh Province. The press release said the girl was standing about 100 meters behind the vehicle which was being warned: it was not clear if the drivers of the vehicle were sufficiently surprised by the shooting [...]
As has been the case virtually every day recently, Pakistanis were out on the streets in force today. Yet the tenor of today’s gatherings were considerably different – where the previous rallies protested the Zardari government’s crackdowns and were met with fierce police resistance, today they were celebrating across the nation the restoration of ousted [...]
In an interview today on the Charlie Rose show, Admiral Michael Mullen cautioned that a unilateral Israeli attack on Iran could endanger the stability entire region, leading to an escalation that could imperil American forces in the Gulf region. Then Mullen spoke about a hypothetical US attack on Iran, declaring that it was in “a [...]
Last week Afghanistan’s Ambassador to the United States Said T. Jawad lashed out at the “defeatist and reductionist” western governments. Today, those governments continued a series of statements suggesting that, as the situation in Afghanistan continues to worsen, the ones limitless patience they’ve had for continuing the nearly eight year long occupation is starting to [...]
Sunday evening marked perhaps one of the most significant moments in recent Pakistani history, as the government gave in to a growing protest movement and agreed to restore ousted Chief Justice Ifthkar Muhammad Chaudhry to power. The opposition, which only hours earlier was facing threats of prison, is now engaging in talks with officials to [...]
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki told the Associated Press today that he had informed top US officials, including President Obama, that any US military pullouts “must be done with our approval.” And while the Iraqi government has been generally forthcoming with approval for the US doing whatever it wants in the nation, getting the approval [...]
Last Updated 3/15/09 11:25 PM EST Iftkhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Pakistan’s 20th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, was unconditionally restored to power during an address by Prime Minister Yousef Raza Gilani early Wednesday morning. Opposition leader Nawaz Sharif has called off the long march after talking with other opposition party heads. He congratulated the protesters [...]
The Pakistani government has erected barriers across all entry points into the capital city of Islamabad as well as its twin city of Rawalpindi, in an attempt to prevent protesters from marching into the capital for their planned sit-in. Vehicles entering the cities are subject to search by police and the long lines are delaying [...]
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari lashed out at the hundreds of thousands of people taking part in the Long March protests across the nation, saying they were behaving in a manner contrary to “democratic norms” in taking to the streets to protest the decisions of the government. “In democracy issues are resolved by sitting together,” [...]
The international community is expressing considerable disquiet as the Pakistani government continues its crackdown against the growing protest movement. There has been some indication, however, that the Zardari Administration is offering a deal to end the protests. Reportedly the latest offer was to restore the Sharif brothers’ ability to hold offices and to return control [...]
