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RedditIn the heart of the city, the streets are empty and all shops are shuttered. The few cars we see are usually taxis full of young men cruising around--probably mujahedeen patrols. Some of them eye us suspiciously.
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Saving Iraq
Robert Dreyfuss: Dire predictions aside, it's not too late for a unified, nationalist Iraq to emerge from the rubble.
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Who Will Get the Oil?
Christian Parenti: War and corruption have decimated Iraq's oil supply, and Western companies are angling for a cut of what's left.
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Pity the Region
Augustus Richard Norton: Robert Fisk's The Great War for Civilization criticizes a self-righteous US foreign policy oblivious to the power of retributive justice in the Middle East.
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Pacifying Iraq: Insurgent Scenarios
Tom Hayden: In informal but politically credible ways, factions of Iraq's armed national resistance are developing scenarios for an honorable withdrawal of US troops and a shared set of demands that could lead to peace.
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Language of the Heart
Cindy Sheehan: We need to learn a new language of peace and love that we can speak, even shout, to our leaders who only understand the language of greed and murder.
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The Question of Kurdistan
Christian Parenti: The Kurds have almost no natural resources and suffer from a culture of corruption. But their call for autonomy is a serious threat to the building of a united Iraq.
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Pyrrhic Victory in Iraq
Iraqi Reconstruction/ Occupation
For Iraqis fed up with the violence and chaos of the occupation, passage of the new Constitution is just one more US-imposed measure that will set the stage for civil war.
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Class Struggle in the New China
Christian Parenti: Across China there is a rising rural and urban class struggle as the economy moves from Maoist socialism to a strange type of quasi-Maoist capitalism.
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Letters
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What Nuclear Renaissance?
Christian Parenti: Despite a slick PR campaign hyping its promise, the nuclear industry isn't going anywhere. It's too costly and won't save us from global warming.
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A New Diplomacy for Pakistan
Christian Parenti: As American policy-makers and pundits seek a Plan B for Pakistan, it's time to recognize the desperate need for a new diplomacy for the Muslim world.
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The Fight to Save Congo's Forests
Christian Parenti: A history of colonial neglect and endemic corruption has unleashed a lawless logging binge in the heart of Congo's massive woodlands.
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Christian Parenti: Congo Diary
Christian Parenti & Laura Hanna: The Nation's international correspondent journeys deep into the heart of the Congo Basin woodlands to see how a massive logging boom is decimating the world's second-largest tropical forest.
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Big Is Beautiful
Global Warming & Climate Change
Christian Parenti: Green utilities are growing, but they need to grow faster.
"Boys, we are in a bad situation. Yes, very bad," he says, as if commenting on the intense heat. The goal now is to find a certain religious sheik we know before running into any mujahedeen checkpoints--the local fighters might be cool, or they might kill us.
The sheik's store is closed, but we interview two men out front. They tell us of the dawn attacks, that the muj hold the city and that US forces have been driven out. We keep looking for the sheik, asking questions of the few men we see on the streets. They tell us the chief of police has had his home burned down by mujahedeen.
We visit one mosque, then another. At the second mosque, an old man, Haji Feissal, agrees to take us to the sheik's home by a circuitous drive through the empty market. He says there have been sporadic firefights and some tank incursions all morning.
We head deeper still into Baquba's narrow side streets, closer to the Apaches. As we cross each intersection, our nerves are taut with anxiety, not knowing who or what is down the next street. But we have to find the sheik. That's how things are done in Iraq: If you know an important local your chances of survival go up dramatically. If you wander around alone without contacts, you find trouble.
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