Posted on March 6th, 2008 by Marian Houk
I received this by email, from the Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights in Geneva, and shall reproduce it here in its entirety almost without comment, except to point out that this concerns the Iraqi base camp of the military units of the Iranian opposition Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, which has long been a thorn in [...]
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Filed under: Human Rights, Iran, Iraq, United Nations
Posted on February 29th, 2008 by Marian Houk
It is the first execution of Iraq’s former leaders that has been approved by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, and two Iraqi vice presidents, apparently fulfilling all the legal requirements in the present Iraqi penal code in a way that the executions of (1) Saddam Hussein and (2) his half-brother Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti (whose head was [...]
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Filed under: Iraq, United Nations, USA
Posted on February 13th, 2008 by Marian Houk
This says it all. The UN, or some brilliant minds working in the Department of Public Information, together with some media advisors placed within the Secretary-General’s office (not the present one, though he hasn’t done anything to change this disgraceful system), thought that the way to get “good” coverage of the work of the UN [...]
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Filed under: Donors, Iraq
Posted on November 16th, 2007 by Marian Houk
The question is put in a review of a book, “Beyond the Green Zone“, written by Dahr Jamail. The review calls it “the latest entry in a crowded field of books by U.S. journalists attempting to present the Iraqi side of the war”. With all these books, and all this reportage, the review asks, Why [...]
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Filed under: Iraq, Journalism and Journalists
Posted on November 2nd, 2007 by Marian Houk
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told journalists travelling with her en route to Ankara, Turkey last night, according to a State Department transcript, that UNSG BAN Ki-Moon is “ready” to establish a permanent office to service the “neighbors’ meetings” on Iraq: “This is the second neighbors ministerial and I think we expect it to [...]
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Filed under: BAN Ki-Moon, Iraq
Posted on October 31st, 2007 by Marian Houk
About ten days ago, it emerged that the SG’s son-in-law is being moved to Iraq. Journalists at the UN probed the move. Here are some excerpts from an exchange between Inner City Press’ Matthew Lee and UN Spokesperson Michele Montas at the UNHQ daily Noon Briefing for journalists on 19 October: “Question: And there’s a [...]
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Filed under: BAN Ki-Moon, Iraq, Journalism and Journalists, UN Administration
Posted on October 30th, 2007 by Marian Houk
In an editorial a few days ago, the NYTimes put the spotlight on the recent “courage in journalism award” that he International Women’s Media Foundation gave to six Iraqi women who work for the McClatchy Newspapers bureau in Baghdad. The NYT reproduced remarks made in an acceptance speech by Sahar Issa, on behalf of all [...]
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Filed under: Iraq, Journalism and Journalists
Posted on October 26th, 2007 by Marian Houk
Four governments who are not particularly needy are to receive nearly half a billion dollars in compensation from Iraq’s oil revenues, paid out by the UN Compensation Commission. Kuwait alone will receive over $388 million dollars. Saudi Arabia is to receive nearly $40 million. Turkey will get some $22 million. And the USA will be [...]
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Filed under: Iraq, UN Security Council, United Nations
Posted on October 24th, 2007 by Marian Houk
Joshua Landis’ SyriaComment posts today a report from the Iraqi blogger Riverbend, who has now left Iraq and arrived in Syria. Riverbend writes…”It took me at least three weeks to teach myself to walk properly again- with head lifted, not constantly looking behind me. It is estimated that there are at least 1.5 million Iraqis [...]
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Filed under: Iraq, Syria
Posted on October 11th, 2007 by Marian Houk
It’s better late than never. The UN, which likes to think of itself as a moral barometer of what’s right and wrong in the world, said last week that in Bagdad that “they will be looking into whether war crimes and crimes against humanity were committed in recent shootings of Iraqi civilians by U.S.-hired contractors, [...]
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Filed under: Iraq, United Nations
