Resent articles by the "APS Diplomat Fate of the Arabian Peninsula" from The Free Libraryhttp://www.thefreelibrary.comen-usFarlex, Inc.Fri, 8 Jan 2010 17:43:41 GMT360http://www.thefreelibrary.comhttp://www.thefreelibrary.com/_/static/TFLbyFarlex.gif17565Mon, 7 Dec 2009 00:00:00 http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Another+Iraq+Election+Law+Veto+Seen.-a0214471204
Iraq's Sunni Arab Vice-President Tareq al-Hashemi on Dec. 3 warned that MPs had 24 hours to resolve an impasse over a new electoral law needed for the next legislative polls to take place. Otherwise, he said, he was to veto the legislation again, having done so in November.

The Council of Representatives (parliament) has since failed to resolve the problem by amending the law it...]]>Mon, 7 Dec 2009 00:00:00 http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Mysterious+Damascus+Blast.-a0214471203There have been some strange developments between Syria and Iran in recent months, despite their official line that they remain allies within the axis mentioned above. A big blast on Dec. 3 killed three people in the Damascus suburb of Sayeda Zainab and coincided with a visit to the Syrian capital by Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Sa'id Jalili.

]]>Mon, 7 Dec 2009 00:00:00 http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Iran's+Iraqi+Allies+Wavering.-a0214471202Iran's main ally is a Shi'ite-dominated coalition formed in August and engineered by the IRGC called the Iraqi National Alliance (INA). At the same time, however, Tehran is keeping close links with its main rival, Maleki's SoL bloc. But both are no longer as dependent on Tehran's support as they used to be in the early phase of the post-June 12 Iranian electoral crisis. Both blocs now quietly...]]>Mon, 7 Dec 2009 00:00:00 http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Pax+Americana+In+Iraq+Is+Changing+-+Part+42+-+Syrian+Vs+Iranian...-a0214471201There is quiet competition for influence in Iraq between the militarised Shi'ite theocracy of Iran and Syria's Alawite/Ba'thist regime of Bashar al-Assad. Iran is betting mainly on its Shi'ite allies in Baghdad and the south and on its Kurdish friends in the semi-autonomous north, while Syria is backing the secular groups in the various parts of the country notably including both the banned...]]>Mon, 9 Nov 2009 00:00:00 http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Iraq+Bets+By+Bomb+Detector+US+Calls+Useless.-a0211568132
Despite huge bombings rattling Iraq as US troops withdraw, the government's security forces rely on a sensor device to detect bombs and weapons which the US military and technical experts say is useless. Known as the ADE 651, this costs from $16,500 to $60,000 each. Iraq has bought more than 1,500 of them. The small hand-held wand, with a telescopic antenna on a swivel, is being...]]>Mon, 9 Nov 2009 00:00:00 http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Move+Against+Iran+Weapons+Smuggling.-a0211568131
Hundreds of km south-east of Baghdad, US and Iraqi Army troops are making a major push to fight arms smuggling and infiltration from Iran in the run-up to the elections. They concentrate on Iran-Iraq border in Mayssan Province which is straddled by almost 200 km of desert and marsh-land which the militaries call a vital corridor for Iraqi Shi'ite militants with ties to the...]]>Mon, 9 Nov 2009 00:00:00 http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Salam+Al-Zowba'i.-a0211568130A Sunni Deputy PM in charge of security since May 2006, Zowba'i is a key member of Dulaimi's IAF. Previously he was a university professor in agriculture, having a doctorate in this field from the Agricultural College of Baghdad. He was also head of the Iraqi Union of Farmers.

]]>Mon, 9 Nov 2009 00:00:00 http://www.thefreelibrary.com/'Adnan+Al-Dulaimi.-a0211568129The head of the IAF, the largest Sunni Arab bloc with 44 seats in the current parliament, Dulaimi is one of the founders of the MB. He was arrested in the 1950s, when he worked as a teacher in Arabic. In the mid-1970s he received a doctorate in Arabic from a university in Cairo. Later he became a professor of Arabic at Baghdad University. He retired in 1992.

]]>Mon, 9 Nov 2009 00:00:00 http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Tareq+Al-Hashemi.-a0211568128The Vice President of Iraq since May 2006, Hashemi comes from a wealthy Sunni Arab family. He began his career as a military officer and graduated from the British academy of Sandhurst. Later he joined the Muslim Brotherhood (MB). In the early 1980s he became close to Adnan Khairallah, a cousin of Saddam Hussein and a sympathiser of the MB as well as a key Ba'thist. (Khairallah died in a crash...]]>Mon, 9 Nov 2009 00:00:00 http://www.thefreelibrary.com/The+Iraqi+National+Movement+%26+Its+Leaders.-a0211568127Dr Allawi, a former Ba'thist, says Iraq needs the INM as a pan-Iraqi current and its people demand it, "to build an Iraqi State on national and professional grounds, away from sectarianism: a State of institutions; a State of justice and equality; a strong unified State ensuring a safe and prosperous life to all Iraqis". He says the "major [Nov. 1] event marked the unification of two movements...]]>