Nir Rosen

I can't even imagine Iraq anymore. It exceeds my capacity to visualize horror. In a recent interview with The Washington Post's Anthony Shadid, a woman named Fatima put it this way: "One-third of us are dying, one-third of us are fleeing, and one-third of us will be widows." At the Baghdad morgue, they distinguish Shia from Sunnis because the former are beheaded and the latter are killed with power drills. Moqtada Al Sadr has actually grown afraid of his own… more

With Iraq descending ever further into chaos and civil war, the first order of business of the new Democratic Congress when it convenes in January must be to pass a resolution establishing a clear and expeditious timeline for the withdrawal of US forces....

The monstrous events of November put an end to the illusion that US forces can somehow stabilize Iraq before they leave. The bloody civil war, brutal revenge killings and escalating sectarian violence claimed more than 200 Iraqi… more

On April 7, 2006, the third anniversary of the U.S. occupation of Iraq, I drove south with Shia pilgrims from Baghdad to the shrine city of Najaf. The day before, on the same route, a minibus like ours had taken machine-gun fire in the Sunni town of Iskandariyah. Five pilgrims were killed.

My companions -- a young man named Ahmed, his mother, and their friend Iskander, a driver -- came from Sadr City, the Shia bastion in Baghdad named for… more

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: We have reached another grim milestone in Iraq. It's hard to believe, but the U.S. has now been fighting in Iraq longer than its involvement in World War II.

But with no end in sight, many are comparing the situation in Iraq to another troubled conflict, Vietnam.

And the death toll is rising. We are closing in on 3,000 U.S. troops killed. More than 21,000 injured. And then, of course, there are the civilians. Countless of… more

Freelance journalist and author Nir Rosen joins us to discuss the latest developments in Iraq and the Middle East. Rosen says, "[The U.S.] destroyed Iraq. There was no civil war in Iraq until we got there and took certain steps to pit Sunni against Shia. We need to know that we are responsible.”

In his latest article, "Anatomy of a Civil War: Iraq's Descent Into Chaos", Rosen writes, "Shia religious parties such as the Iran-supported Supreme Council for the… more

Hassan Nasrallah and Moqtada al-Sadr are both deeply religious Shi'ites who say they believe Islam holds the answer to the problems facing Muslim societies. They head organizations with a militant wing and a network that provides social services for thousands of the poor in their countries. Both are powerful politicians. They believe in armed resistance.

Both men are anti-American and anti-Western. The U.S.-led coalition in Iraq says Moqtada al-Sadr is responsible for much of the violence in Iraq, including… more

Over one million Lebanese gathered in a vast square in a southern Beirut suburb on Sept. 22 to celebrate their country’s largely successful campaign against Israel. Seyid Hassan Nasrallah, secretary-general of Hizballah, risked his life by appearing in public after Israeli leaders had sworn to kill him, and spoke to his adoring supporters in Lebanon and around the world.

Many children were given the day off from school, and buses ferried supporters from all over Lebanon for the victory celebration.… more

The author of In the Belly of the Green Bird tells Aljazeera.net that the conflict in Iraq is far more terrible than reported and could spill over and threaten the entire Middle East.

Nir Rosen - who speaks Arabic and has Middle Eastern looks - went to Iraq in April 2003, just days after Baghdad fell.

Entering mosques and tribal meeting halls, and afforded access to fighters' secret meetings and Iraqi homes, he documented the deadly behind-the-scenes manoeuvring in the post-Saddam… more

Events in Iraq have long ceased to dominate the news. The trial of Saddam Hussein, which the media once seized on as yet another "defining moment," has been lost amid the daily repetition of car bombs, assassinations, the countless numbers of Iraqi and American dead. It is a sideshow for Iraqis, who are too busy trying to stay alive, and a bore for Americans, who have ceased to be interested in the war's many retroactive justifications. But the show in… more

Editor's note: This oral history is composed almost entirely of e-mail correspondences that Rosen received from a soldier, who wished to remain anonymous.

About the soldier: He served in Iraq during 2003 and 2004 as part of a Special Forces unit whose job, as he told Rosen, was to "hunt enemies and destroy their networks" -- to go after "former masterminds and leaders of Saddam's Baath Party." His targets soon morphed into members of "Al… more