Baghdad Sniper Gains Legendary Status: "Snipers targeting U.S. soldiers in Baghdad and in other Iraqi cities garnered attention on jihadi forums in early 2005. It was not until November 2005, however, that these shootings received extensive press coverage when U.S. forces announced a reward for any information leading to the arrest of the 'Baghdad sniper,' who U.S. forces had nicknamed 'Juba.' Thereafter, the Islamic Army of Iraq released two video clips, supposedly shot by a camera mounted on a sniper rifle, showing the shooting of U.S. troops patrolling the streets of Baghdad. The video clips were then uploaded to the internet. The video footage became famous once it was aired on al-Zawraa television, a network run by Mishan al-Jabouri, a former member of Iraq's parliament and leader of the Arab Front for Reconciliation and Liberation, who fled to Syria due to corruption charges leveled against him (http://majdah.maktoob.com/vb/, December 4, 2006)."
Broken Spring? : Information Clearing House This is a sequel to my June 2011 article, ‘After the spring’, on the upheavals in the Arab world. It is an article that has been painful to write, because it brings bad tidings and offers a pessimistic analysis of the upheavals, at least in the short term, in a number of Arab countries. The outcomes and potential outcomes of these uprisings have also acquired new, very significant dimensions. These include a complex entanglement with the accelerated preparations for a possible attack on Iran, and a poisonous, sectarian aspect that could have the consequence of ripping Syria and the Middle East apart.
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