Michael Schwartz

Baghdad Surges into Hell

Michael Schwartz — 2007-02-13T05:33:00Z

In his Iraq policy address on January 10, President Bush promised three new initiatives: a "surge" of American troops accompanied by a new "clear, hold, and build" strategy in Sunni insurgent strongholds; an offensive against Shia militias, particularly the Sadrist Mahdi Army which "U.S. military officials now identify as the greatest security threat in Iraq"; and forceful action to prevent Iran from further increasing its influence in Iraq and the Middle East. (...) - / TomDispatch

7 Facts You Might Not Know about the Iraq War

Michael Schwartz — 2006-08-22T07:07:00Z

With a tenuous cease-fire between Israel and Lebanon holding, the ever-hotter war in Iraq is once again creeping back onto newspaper front pages and towards the top of the evening news. Before being fully immersed in daily reports of bomb blasts, sectarian violence, and casualties, however, it might be worth considering some of the just-under-the-radar-screen realities of the situation in that country. Here, then, is a little guide to understanding what is likely to be a flood of new Iraqi developments — a few enduring, but seldom commented upon, patterns central to the dynamics of the Iraq war, as well as to the fate of the American occupation and Iraqi society. (...) - / TomDispatch

Dismantling Iraqi Life

Michael Schwartz — 2006-05-18T23:41:00Z

Media coverage of the Iraq War has generally portrayed the current quagmire as the result of an American failure to achieve a set of otherwise admirable goals: suppressing the insurgency that is intimidating the Iraqi people and sabotaging the economy; stopping the destructive ethno-religious violence that has become a major source of civilian casualties; building an Iraqi army that can establish and sustain law and order; rebuilding electrical and sewage systems and the rest of the country's damaged infrastructure; ramping up oil production to place Iraq on a positive economic trajectory; eliminating the element that has made crime in the streets a prevalent and profitable occupation; and nurturing an elected parliament that can effectively rule. U.S. failure, then, resides in its inability to halt and reverse the destructive forces within Iraqi society. (...) - / TomDispatch

Ten Ways to Argue about the War

Michael Schwartz — 2005-12-05T04:28:00Z

I often receive emails — pro and con — about my postings on the war in Iraq, and I try to respond to any substantive questions or critiques offered. But when I received an email recently entitled "10 Questions" in response to a Tomdispatch commentary detailing the arguments for immediate withdrawal, I must admit my heart sank — the questions were familiar, but the answers were complex and I was in no mood to spend the time needed to respond properly.

After a couple of days, however, I began to warm to the idea of writing short but pointed responses to these common criticisms of antiwar positions because, I realized, they are the bread and butter of daily Iraq discourse in our country. When the war comes up in the media or in casual conversation, these are the issues that are raised by those who think we have to "stay the course" — and among those who oppose the war, these are the lurking, unspoken questions that haunt our discussions. So here are my best brief answers to these key issues in the crucial, ongoing debate over Iraq. (...)

- / TomDispatch

Forgotten Iraq

Michael Schwartz — 2005-11-03T01:16:00Z

So much of the Iraq war operates below the radar screen of the mainstream media that we rarely glimpse what is really going on — either in the daily lives of Iraqis or in the daily life of the war itself. The news we do get is generally filled with moments when large numbers of soldiers, policemen, and civilians are killed in suicide attacks; or with the surreal machinations of American and Iraqi politicians so disconnected from Iraqi reality that they can hardly venture outside Baghdad's hermetically sealed "Green Zone," even with convoys of armed guards.

In the meantime, Western reporters in Iraq are, by and large, locked into their own little Green-Zone-style situations, held back from anything like normal reporting by the dangers they face. Fortunately, there are significant exceptions to this rule. Many reporters do venture outside their protective cocoons — often at great peril to themselves — to chase down stories, do real investigative journalism, or explore as best they can the daily lives of Iraqis and the nature of the Iraqi resistance. By normal journalistic standards, their reports should be plastered across front pages and dominate the TV news about Iraq; but, alas, they all too often are relegated to the inside pages or obscure locations on the Internet. And most Americans consequently get, at best, the briefest glimpses of any deeper Iraqi reality. (...)

- / TomDispatch

The Ironies of Conquest: The Bush Administration's Iranian Nightmare

Michael Schwartz — 2005-08-10T12:40:00Z

In 1998, neo-conservative theorist Robert Kagan enunciated what would become a foundational belief of Bush Administration policy. He asserted that "a successful intervention in Iraq would revolutionize the strategic situation in the Middle East, in ways both tangible and intangible, and all to the benefit of American interests."

Now, over two years after Baghdad fell and the American occupation of Iraq began, Kagan's prediction appears to have been fulfilled — in reverse. The chief beneficiary of the occupation and the chaos it produced has not been the Bush administration, but Iran, the most populous and powerful member of the "Axis of Evil," and the chief American competitor for dominance in the oil-rich region. As diplomatic historian Gabriel Kolko commented: "By destroying a united Iraq under [Saddam] Hussein...the U.S. removed the main barrier to Iran's eventual triumph." (...)

[August 9, 2005]

- / TomDispatch

Car bombings: Iraq's time bomb

Michael Schwartz — 2005-06-08T00:30:00Z

In co-opting the Iraqi police and national guard, the resistance proved highly successful: it created a "Trojan Horse" supplied and trained by the US that was frequently an ally and almost never the enemy. So the US switched tactics. The relentless wave of car bombings is the resistance's response, a response that carries catastrophic implications. - / Asia Times

"Going to War with the Army You Have"

Michael Schwartz — 2005-03-07T01:54:00Z

The Latest American Theory about the Iraqi Resistance

In early February, a Newsweek team led by Rod Nordland produced a detailed account of current theorizing among American and Iraqi officials about the structure of the Iraqi resistance. (...)

[March 5, 2005]

- / TomDispatch

The Poll Watcher's Guide to the Iraqi Election

Michael Schwartz — 2005-01-29T03:48:00Z

Most of us are pretty certain that the Iraq elections this weekend will not change much — the U.S. will continue its attempt to pacify Iraq and the resistance will continue resisting it. The level of violence will remain high, together with the unemployment rate; the support for the American presence will remain low, together with the amount of reconstruction.

But if the election is not an important event, it is nevertheless an important indicator of all sorts of things about the situation in Iraq. So those of us who are forever trying to figure out what is going on have a good opportunity for diagnostics based on what happens that day and afterward.

Here are a few of the key indicators that we should all be looking at. (...)

- / ZNet

Falluja: City Without a Future?

Michael Schwartz — 2005-01-14T20:14:00Z

In November, after three weeks of "precision" bombing, 10,000 American soldiers and 2,000 Iraqi national guards marched into Falluja. They had five goals (...) - / TomDispatch

The taming of Sadr City

Michael Schwartz — 2005-01-12T01:06:31Z

The US effort to destroy the insurgency in Iraq can`only succeed if it also destroys the ability of the Iraqis to govern their own communities - hence the attack on the Sunni stronghold of Fallujah. Yet Sadr City, the vast slum in Baghdad at the heart of the Shi'ite rebellion, has evolved into a virtually independent city-state, a "liberated area" in the classic guerrilla warfare model. Something will have to give. - / Asia Times

America's Sinister Plan for Falluja

Michael Schwartz — 2004-12-17T19:45:00Z

The chilling reality of what Falluja has become is only now seeping out, as the American military continues to block almost all access to the city, whether to reporters, its former residents, or aid groups like the Red Crescent Society. The date of access keeps being postponed, partly because of ongoing fighting — only this week more air strikes were called in and fighting "in pockets" remains fierce (despite American pronouncements of success weeks ago) — and partly because of the difficulties military commanders have faced in attempting to prettify their ugly handiwork. Residents will now officially be denied entry until at least December 24; and even then, only the heads of households will be allowed in, a few at a time, to assess damage to their residences in the largely destroyed city. (...)

[December 16, 2004]

- / TomDispatch

U.S. hopes for the Falluja battle have already begun to unravel

Michael Schwartz — 2004-11-20T15:26:00Z

[Also posted on ZNet, November 18, 2004]

The US is faced with the choice of leaving Fallujah and allowing the "rebel" government that has ruled it since April to return to power, or allow the resistance to take power in other cities. Either option will leave the US in a significantly worse position than it was in before the attack.

- / Asia Times

The Opiate of the Electorate

Michael Schwartz — 2004-10-06T22:24:00Z

If your anti-Bush sentiments have turned into electoral passion, then you probably restrained your exhilaration after last Thursday's debate until you got a sense of how it played to the American electorate; which means, how it played in the polls that began to pour out only moments after the event ended. The first "instant" polls seemed to indicate a Kerry victory, and by Sunday the Newsweek poll (considered notoriously unreliable by the pros) had appeared with the news that Kerry had pulled even or might be ahead in the presidential sweepstakes. If it was then that the real rush of excitement hit you, face it, like a host of other Americans, you're a polls addict. (...) - / TomDispatch

America's new strategy in Iraq

Michael Schwartz — 2004-09-29T13:19:31Z

Who won in Najaf?

The short answer is Ali al-Sistani, who re-established himself as the preeminent Iraqi leader by resolving the crisis without the destruction of the Imam Ali Shrine or the slaughter of the Mehdi soldiers occupying it. But al-Sistani is having trouble consolidating this preeminence, because the United States has not delivered the reconstruction aid it guaranteed; and Sistani cannot restore an orderly existence without such outside help. Moreover, since al-Sistani's strategy rests upon asking the Shi'ite to forgo immediate demands in the expectation of achieving political domination in the January election, the sustained violence elsewhere is a threat to the elections, and therefore to his credibility. (...)

- / Asia Times