IPS correspondents bring you independent perspective on what is happening in Iran, Iraq and across the Middle East.

U.S. Cockroach Cartoon Crossed the Line, Iranians Say

Omid Memarian*
BERKELEY – As the war of words between Western nations led by United States and Iran’s hardliner government over its nuclear programme has escalated in the last few weeks, a cartoon published on the editorial page of the Columbus Dispatch on Sep. 4 has created a furor amongst Iranians worldwide.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39305

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Neo-Cons Tie N. Korea to Israeli Strike on Syria

Analysis by Khody Akhavi
WASHINGTON – Nearly two weeks have passed since Israeli warplanes conducted a mysterious raid against an as yet unidentified target in northeast Syria. Details of the incident have been slow to come, as officials from both countries have remained tight-lipped.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39304

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In the Middle East and around the world, flows of refugees and migrants influence the social, economic and political dynamics of their destinations, creating dialogue between civilisations. Migrants themselves become the building blocks of bridges between cultures.
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IRAQ: Back to School, Back to Horror

Ali al-Fadhily*
BAGHDAD – As another school year begins in Iraq, parents approach it with dread, fearing for the safety of their children.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39266

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Gen. Petraeus Helps Destroy Bush’s “Proxy War” Claim

Analysis by Gareth Porter*
WASHINGTON – In his prepared statement to the U.S. House Foreign Affairs and Armed Services committees last week, Gen. David Petraeus claimed that Iran is using the Quds Force to turn Shiite militias into a “Hezbollah-like force” to “fight a proxy war against the Iraqi state and coalition forces in Iraq”.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39294

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U.N. to Spend 120 million on Hariri Tribunal

Rajiv Fernando
UNITED NATIONS – The United Nations is expected to spend about 120 million dollars on a special tribunal in the Netherlands to investigate the events leading to the 2005 assassination of Lebanon’s former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39237

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Q&A: ‘War on Terror Served Iran’s Interests Best’

Interview with Tariq Ali
LAHORE, Pakistan – Eminent writer, historian and filmmaker Tariq Ali was born in Lahore in 1943. While a student at Oxford University, he became involved in the movement against the war in Vietnam. That was the beginning of a long career in the literary arts and in peace activism that has earned him iconic status.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39279

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Blackwater Banned in Iraq After Deadly Firefight

Daniel Luban
WASHINGTON – The Iraqi government announced Monday that it had revoked the license of one of the most prominent private U.S. security firms operating in Iraq, a decision that is expected to cause friction with U.S. occupying forces, which have increasingly come to rely on private contractors to meet their logistical and security needs.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39296

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IRAN: Rafsanjani – the Man to Watch

Kimia Sanati
TEHRAN – When Iran?s reformist Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, ?keeper of the Revolution?s secrets and kingmaker?, was elected as speaker of the powerful Assembly of Experts earlier this month, it signalled a major shift in the country?s tumultuous political scene.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39261

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THEATRE-U.S.: Palestinian Martyrs and Traitors

Lucy Komisar*
NEW YORK – In a new play by a Palestinian-American woman, two characters say in unison: “Oppression is like a coin maker. You put in human beings, press the right buttons and watch them get squeezed, shrunk, flattened till they take the slim shape of a two-faced coin, one side is a martyr, the other a traitor. All the possibilities of a life get reduced to those paltry two.”
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39255

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IRAQ: No Refuge Within or Outside the Country

Ali al-Fadhily*
BAGHDAD – U.S. occupation authorities and successive U.S.-backed Iraqi governments have done little to stem the flow of Iraqis fleeing their war-torn country since the beginning of the occupation.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39248

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African Maids Face Abuse in Lebanon

Simba Russeau
BEIRUT – Driven by poverty and conflict in their home countries, women from Africa travel to Lebanon only to find themselves hungry, abused, raped and subjected to conditions akin to slavery.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39245

For more IPS reporting on the Middle East – www.ipsnews.net/middle.asp

Iraq: Beyond the Green Zone – www.ipsnews.net/new_focus/iraq/index.asp

Iran: The Parthian Shot – www.ipsnews.net/new_focus/iran/index.asp

Holy Land/Unholy War – www.ipsnews.net/new_focus/israel_palestina/index.asp

Afghan Divide – www.ipsnews.net/afghanistan/index.asp

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