Word: baghdad
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...religious parties. Nor did he fare much better in the first full general election, in 2006. He then went into something of a funk. Even though he was an elected member of parliament, he showed no interest in playing a constructive role in opposition. Indeed, he was rarely in Baghdad at all, spending most of his time in Jordan and other Arab states. When I asked him about this in 2007, he cited concerns about his security in Baghdad - but plenty of other Iraqi leaders, not to speak of ordinary citizens, were braving death threats...
...breakthrough. Set in the first months of the U.S. occupation, the film has a churning urgency and a fierce verisimilitude, courtesy of director Paul Greengrass (United 93) and cinematographer Barry Ackroyd (The Hurt Locker). Shot in Spain, Morocco and the U.K., the film straps you into a Baghdad state of mind. It's hell at 130°, with dust and dread tarping the streets as if to smother anyone who'd attempt to escape. Murderous intent abounds on both the U.S. and Saddam-loyalist sides; life is cheap, and the stakes are high. If you're not gripped and terrified...
...dammit, he'll find what's behind that ruse, even if his life is threatened by renegade Baathists and the American high command. Soon he's a one-man army, going rogue or Rambo, dodging not-so-friendly fire and outwrestling an Iraqi thug. He's Bourne again, in Baghdad. (See pictures of the U.S. troops in Iraq...
...Rajiv Chandrasekaran's 2006 book, Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone. In it, the Washington Post reporter detailed the arrogance and naiveté of the young zealots the Bush Administration sent to pacify Iraq: how they frolicked beside Green Zone swimming pools as if Baghdad were spring-break Fort Lauderdale, handed out tens of millions in cash to American and Iraqi connivers and blithely mismanaged the occupation into chaos...
...great hope for Iraq's March 7 national elections was that could they could restore faith in the democratic process, and set a new tone of national purpose in Baghdad's corridors of power. The great fear was that without clear winners and losers, the elections could produce months of bitter infighting, heightening the sectarian and ethnic tensions behind the civil war that broke out after the 2005 election. And 10 days after the polls closed, with partial results tricking in and about 80% of the vote counted, Iraq appears destined for more trouble...