Sitting on a couch in a penthouse hotel suite just blocks from the White House, Ayad Jamal al-Din lets cigar smoke curl in lazy trails around his head as he considers the fate of his nation. “I am not hopeful that Iraq can yet fly alone,” he says. It is a familiar refrain that the 49-year-old cleric, a fiercely secular Shiite, conveys to anyone in Washington who is willing to listen. Read the rest of this entry »

Militants in Iraq staged a series of bomb and machine gun attacks in the past ten days that left more than 250 dead and the country on edge. The spasm of violence comes on the eve of two pivotal events, the withdrawal of U.S. forces from urban centers and the distribution of major oil contracts, both of which are due to be completed this week. Read the rest of this entry »

Read the rest of this entry »