I blame the British 
Charles Glass
but the voice-with-a-smile of democracy
announces night & day
‘all poor little peoples that want to be free
just trust in the u s a’
e.e. cummings, ‘Thanksgiving (1956)’
We in Iraq are losing our minds. War does that to people, even to us in the North who have yet to see one. All that we have observed are B52s roaring through the skies to bomb cities south of here and a sideshow offensive to eradicate Islamic fundamentalists from the hills along the Iranian border. Oh, yes, the Iraqi Army did withdraw from the Kirkuk front into Kirkuk itself without a fight. Not much, compared to the madness in the South, but enough for us to share the insanity.
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Charles Glass has recently published two books on the Middle East, The Northern Front and The Tribes Triumphant, and is writing a book set in France during the German occupation.
Other articles by this contributor:
Learning from Its Mistakes · Hizbullah
Cyber-Jihad · What Osama Said
The New Piracy · Terror on the High Seas
Is Syria next? · Charles Glass reports from Damascus