Category: Iraq Diaries

Iraq Diaries: Ayatollahs As Guardians Of Democracy

The reputation of Iraq's ayatollahs has been in sharp contrast to those in neighbouring Iran, who have since Ayatollah Khomeini-led 1979 revolution personified bogeymen in the US and Europe

Iraq Diaries: Ayatollah As Breath Of Fresh Air For West

The Iranian revolution and the captivity of 52 Americans crystalized dormant Islamophobia with ubiquitous Khomeini at its center decades before the US invasion of Iraq put another Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani under the global spotlight for entirely different reasons as someone unlike the Iranian revolutionary leader

Iraq Diaries: Ground Zero Of Spirited Fightback Against ISIS

The seeds of perhaps the most spirited fightback ever against terrorism were sown in narrow Rasool Street in Iraq’s Najaf, where Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani issued a fatwa in 2014 from his small house urging all able-bodied men to resist ISIS Pope Francis on his way to Sistani's residence for a meeting in 2021. By … Continue reading Iraq Diaries: Ground Zero Of Spirited Fightback Against ISIS →

From Bell To Paul Bremer: Bitter Fruits Of West’s Adventurism

In 2016, Iraq was reaping the bitter fruits of the adventurism of another westerner Paul Bremer, who fell back upon the colonial divide-and-rule policy to counter a broad-based challenge to the American occupation and prepared the ground for ISIS to tap into resentment over the Sunni purge

Iraq Diaries: Colonnaded Street And British Betrayal Of Arabs

Colonnaded thoroughfare Al Rasheed Street was built to commemorate the Ottoman victory in Kut al-Amara during the First World War before the scales tipped in Britain’s favour and the British troops drove Ottomans out with the help of Arabs By Sameer Arshad Khatlani In March 2003, the United States invaded Iraq on the pretext of … Continue reading Iraq Diaries: Colonnaded Street And British Betrayal Of Arabs →

Iraq Diaries: Remnant Of Golden Age, One Of World’s 1st Varsities

A tapering gateway of inscriptions and geometric themes now leads to Mustansiriya University, one of the world’s oldest universities which survived the Mongol onslaught, floods, and manmade and natural calamities that claimed much of Baghdad’s heritage over centuries