Iraq round up

Iraq is probably the most underposted topic around these days. Couple that with my anticipating that some bloggers are going to be milking the Rima Fakih pseudo-controversy for all it's worth this week, I thought that some of y'all might want something (anything) else to read and I am here to help you out with that. Here are some stories you might have missed over the last month or so.

1. Parents of children with birth defects in Falluja are suing the British military, saying they knew about chemical weapons use. Apparently, US soldiers are also taking Iraqis to court.

2. Another Kurdish journalist was murdered, his body showing signs of torture, for criticizing the KRG. Apparently others demonstrating over his death have also been threatened.

3. HRW reported on "routine and systematic" detainee torture.

4. Iraqi parliamentarians' salaries, 40 times the national average, are exhausting state budgets.

5. Petition to stop the deportation of refugees from Lebanon. Refugees in Lebanon are of varying nationalities but I'm always happy to see stuff like this or this and post about it. Beirut is a city with about a billion problems but some awesome activists.

6. Amnesty called out the UK, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands for forcibly repatriating Iraqis to "extremely dangerous" areas in breach of UN guidelines.

7. Amnesty also calls on the Iraqi gov't to protect civilians from violence. April saw increases in civilian deaths.

8. Culture in Chaos: really interesting article on the state of Iraqi art these days.

9. Juan Cole speculates on what "withdrawal" will actually look like-I tend to read him-and US-based academics on this particular subject-with a skeptical eye but I thought I'd put this out there. Unfortunately I find a lot of US discourse about Iraq these days to basically be a referendum on whether you support Obama or not.

10. Girl sold into sex slavery and escaped only to be put behind bars when she returned home.

11. Tony Blair's ties to Gulf oil were revealed and literally nobody noticed.

12. Refugees International says the US still has a responsibility to support and work to reintegrate Iraq's displaced (via 1000 yard stare.)