MetaFilter posts tagged with iraq and iran

America's Secret War

Surfin' Bird — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 08:55:28 -0800

America's Secret War: charming Vanguard correspondent Mariana van Zeller travels to the Iraq-Iran border to investigate claims that the United States is supporting militant groups that are attacking Iran.

The path to 'victory'

homunculus — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 10:00:52 -0800

Is This a 'Victory'? "We hear again and again from Washington that we have turned a corner in Iraq and are on the path to victory. If so, it is a strange victory."

Magnum Photos' two newest nominees

madamjujujive — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 19:29:44 -0800

American-Dutch photographer Peter van Agtmael and English photographer Olivia Arthur are the two newest nominees recently welcomed into Magnum Photos. Agtmael's images of Afghanistan and Iraq are very powerful - he discusses his work in Conscientious. Arthur's recent work has focused on women's experiences in what she calls the Middle Distance. "The Magnum Photos selection process for new members is legendary for its toughness. Becoming a full Member of Magnum Photos is a process that takes place over at least four years, with candidates evolving from the status of Nominee, to Associate, to Member, each evolution in status requiring a vote by the Magnum Photos Members." This year, member status was granted to: Antoine d’Agata, French (many images NSFW) Jonas Bendiksen, Norwegian Alec Soth, American

Secret moves against Iran

homunculus — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 22:00:05 -0800

Preparing the Battlefield: The Bush Administration steps up its secret moves against Iran.

The Makhmalbaf Film House

sciurus — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 13:58:15 -0800

The Makhmalbafs are an Iranian family of filmmakers, although Samira tends to get the most press.

The House that Mohsen Built.
Limbs of No Body by Mohsen Makmalbaf [very long!] June 20, 2001
Last year I attended the Pusan Film Festival in South Korea where I was asked about the subject of my next film. I would respond, Afghanistan. Immediately I would be asked, "What is Afghanistan?" Why is it so? Why should a country be so obsolete that the people of another Asian country such as South Korea have not even heard of it? The reason is clear. Afghanistan does not have a role in today's world. It is neither a country remembered for a certain commodity nor for its scientific advancement or as a nation that has achieved artistic honors. In the United States, Europe and the Middle East, however, the situation is different and Afghanistan is recognized as a peculiar country.
A woman's place
Samira Makhmalbaf set out to make a film about a female president of Afghanistan. The hardest part was persuading someone to play the role, she tells Geoffrey Macnab
The Digital Revolution and the Future of Cinema - Samira Makmalbaf addresses the Cannes Film Festival forum.
Under the Chador by Jonathan Rosenbaum
Jeremy Lehrer interview with Samira Makmalbaf: God and Satan in The Apple. [more on The Apple here, most of the text is linked, although it doesn't look that way.]
Gerald Peary interviews Samira Makmalbaf about her film The Blackboard
During a stay in Kurdistan with my father, we found little topics, little stories, and I preferred this story: about the journey of teachers with blackboards on their backs as they traveled Kurdistan. My father gave me the outline of the story, and I drew up the screenplay as we went along.
YouTube clips:
- Samira Makmalbaf on the purpose of cinema
- Clip from The Peddler [unfortunately, no subtitles].
- Tabeh Nosuh by Mosen Makhmalbaf [no subtitles]
- Kandahar by Mosen Makmalbaf [pre-invasion Afghanistan]

There is a ton of information within the initial link, definitely worth digging throuh.

Admiral Fallon

homunculus — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 16:59:59 -0800

The Man Between War and Peace. "As head of U. S. Central Command, Admiral William 'Fox' Fallon is in charge of American military strategy for the most troubled parts of the world. Now, as the White House has been escalating the war of words with Iran, and seeming ever more determined to strike militarily before the end of this presidency, the admiral has urged restraint and diplomacy. Who will prevail, the president or the admiral?" [Via Think Progress.]

Seymour Hersh speaks at third Annual Amnesty International Lecture at Trinity College, Dublin, Oct 24/2007

dougzilla — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 00:34:49 -0800

Seymour Hersh speaks at third Annual Amnesty International Lecture at Trinity College, Dublin, Oct 24/2007. YouTube links 1, 2, 3, 4.

Valerie Plame v. The CIA

homunculus — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 11:35:23 -0800

Wilson et al v. McConnell et al. This site has all the legal documents surrounding Valerie Plame's legal case against the CIA over her new book. CIA censors blacked out 10 percent of the copy, as can seen in this excerpt from the book, and Plame is not allowed to speak freely in her interviews. [Via No Quarter.] In other news, Plame think it's entirely possible that the Bush administration could start a war with Iran based on twisted intelligence.

Iraq was just the beginning.

FeldBum — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 00:43:13 -0800

Iraq was just the beginning. According to retired General Wesley Clark, a top-secret memo detailed a plan for “taking out” seven countries in five years, ending with Iran. Wesley Clark: I said, “Are we still going to war with Iraq?” And he said, “Oh, it’s worse than that.” He reached over on his desk. He picked up a piece of paper. And he said, “I just got this down from upstairs” -- meaning the Secretary of Defense’s office -- “today.” And he said, “This is a memo that describes how we’re going to take out seven countries in five years, starting with Iraq, and then Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and, finishing off, Iran.” I said, “Is it classified?” He said, “Yes, sir.”

Adding up US subsidies for auto travel with and without the costs of war

salvia — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 02:02:34 -0800

In the U.S., motorists do not pay their way. The US government spends more on highways and other auto-related expenses than it receives from auto-related taxes, unlike almost every country in Europe. In a recent report [pdf], Mark Delucchi calculates automobile-related costs and revenues in three different ways and concludes the subsidy is around 20-70 cents per gallon or $24-105 billion in 2002. But what are automobile-related costs, you ask? Largely tucked away in footnotes and background papers [pdf] are his careful considerations about which expenditures to include and what portion of costs relate directly to automobile oil use, for everything from the highway patrol, to fighting brushfires, to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, to military activity in the Middle East. Don't miss Report #15, in which Delucchi and coauthor James Murphy seek to calculate: “If the U.S. transportation sector did not use oil, how much would the U.S. federal government reduce its military commitment in the Persian Gulf?” [pdf] (especially Table 15-12, which summarizes much of the paper). [previously] [originally via]

Considering a war with Iran

homunculus — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 15:30:56 -0800

"Considering a war with Iran: A discussion paper on WMD in the Middle East" (PDF). A new study by two British scholars claims that the United States has the capacity for and may be prepared to launch a massive assault on Iran. This comes just in time for the post Labor Day product rollout. [Via Informed Comment.]

"50% of all Saudi fighters in Iraq come here as suicide bombers"

amberglow — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 16:50:29 -0800

The "same people who attacked us on 9/11"? It may be the very latest talking point from the Administration, but it's actually true--altho it's not Al Qaeda in Iraq, but Saudis. Although Bush administration officials have frequently lashed out at Syria and Iran, accusing it of helping insurgents and militias here, the largest number of foreign fighters and suicide bombers in Iraq come from a third neighbor, Saudi Arabia ... A historical note: 15 of the 19 hijackers on 9/11 were Saudis.

Much to do about nothing?

zeoslap — Thu, 17 May 2007 10:31:23 -0800

This opinion piece in Prospect magazine argues that perhaps the importance of the problems in the Middle East are overblown. Interesting read.

congressman dennis kucinich has submitted a resolution to impeach VP Dick Cheney on charges of "high crimes and misdemeanors."

quonsar — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 10:28:33 -0800

impeachy keen! learn why cleveland is the capital of polka, bowling and kielbasa.

In Defense Of Foreign Policy Reptiles

Sticherbeast — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 11:01:16 -0800

Learning From Ike: What a Republican realist could teach George Bush. "If we hope to succeed, we manage evil. We minimize, mitigate, and manipulate evil. But efforts to pre-emptively eliminate evil are prone to end in overreaction and destabilization, with consequences that are often worse than the original problem."

Signs of torture on kidnapped Iranian diplomat's body

hoder — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 16:22:10 -0800

Iranian envoy wounds 'confirmed': The head of the International Red Cross in Tehran, Peter Stoeker, says he saw wounds on an Iranian diplomat who has alleged that US forces in Iraq tortured him. There were marks on Jalal Sharafi's feet, legs, back and nose. [photos].
On 4 February soldiers from the Iraqi army 36th Commando battalion in Baghdad, considered to be under American control, had seized Jalal Sharafi, while he was carrying a videogame, a gift for his daughter. Read more about the US secret operations against Iranians in Iraq in an exclusive report by The Independent.

Fighting PTSD the only way they know how.

MapGuy — Sat, 07 Apr 2007 07:59:03 -0800

Behind Enemy Lines Liberal use of this narcotic produced with high voltage found to reduce the affects of PTSD, in coalition and British forces in particular.

Doing our homework on the Middle East

LobsterMitten — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 14:41:44 -0800

22 basic suggested readings on the Middle East from history professor and informed commenter on Middle Eastern affairs Juan Cole.

The Redirection

homunculus — Sun, 25 Feb 2007 09:22:27 -0800

The Redirection. "Is the Administration’s new policy aiding our enemies in the war on terrorism?" New article by Seymour Hersh in the New Yorker.

Chomsky on Iran, Iraq, and the Rest of the World

chunking express — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 11:42:34 -0800

Chomsky on Iran, Iraq, and the Rest of the World.

Fool me once...

Benny Andajetz — Sun, 11 Feb 2007 12:49:18 -0800

One more time? It looks like the case against Iran has begun publicly. Unfortunately, this seems eerily familiar. Unnamed officials with unverified claims are holding press conferences - on a Sunday, no less. Is this an attempt to explain our difficulties in Iraq or a prelude to retaliation with Iran? Worrisome, or not?

"The Uncontainable Kurds"

stbalbach — Sun, 11 Feb 2007 09:49:20 -0800

"The Uncontainable Kurds" (NYRB). Nice summary of recent Kurdish politics in Iraq, Iran and Turkey.

From the Wonderful Folks Who Brought You Iraq

y2karl — Thu, 08 Feb 2007 10:28:31 -0800

..."Shifting to StratCom indicates that they are talking about a really punishing air-force and naval air attack [on Iran]," says Lang. ..."If they write a plan like that and the president issues an execute order, the forces will execute it. He's got the power to do that as commander-in-chief. We set that up during the Cold War. It may, after the fact, be considered illegal, or an impeachable offense, but if he orders them to do it, they will do it." ...by the end of February the United States will have enough forces in place to mount an assault on Iran. That, in the words of former national-security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski, would be "an act of political folly" so severe that "the era of American preponderance could come to a premature end."

From the Wonderful Folks Who Brought You Iraq
Stepped up US preparations for war against Iran
The United States and Iran: the logic of war
How the press can prevent another Iraq
What to Ask Before the Next War

What is Bush planning to do with Iran?

empath — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 06:18:05 -0800

US Storms Iranian Consulate in Iraq.

White House may have published how-to nuke guide

XQUZYPHYR — Fri, 03 Nov 2006 06:47:30 -0800

Last March, the White House put numerous Iraqi government documents online, hoping to "leverage the internet" to find evidence of Saddam's nuclear potential. After questioning from the New York Times this week, the site has now been shut down, as it has been revealed that the Bush administration, by publishing the information, may have publicly published detailed information on how to build atomic weapons. Right-wing bloggers, many of whom have been discussing the documents all year, have seen the sunny side of the news, claiming the real issue of the potential distribution of nuclear plans (which were dated pre-1991) is the "proof Saddam had a nuclear program."