The Persecution of Christians in Iraq Mark Leon Goldberg June 10, 2019In 2003, before the US invasion of Iraq, there were an estimated 1.2 million Christians living there. Today, that number is less than 250,000 -- an eighty percent drop in less than two decades.If this trend continues, a religious minority that has been in ...
PODCAST: The Bombing of UN Headquarters in Iraq, 15 Years On Mark Leon Goldberg August 13, 2018On August 19th, 2003 the United Nations headquarters in Iraq at the Canal Hotel in Baghdad, was hit with a truck bomb. At least 22 people lost their lives in this attack, including the UN's top official in Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello.In subsequent yea...
PODCAST: What Happened to Iraq’s Oil Wealth? Mark Leon Goldberg April 12, 2018What happened to Iraq's oil wealth? That is the central question of the book: Pipe Dreams: The Plundering of Iraq's Oil Wealth by my guest today Erin Banco.Erin Banco is an investigative reporter at the Star Ledger in New Jersey, where she covers t...
How ISIS May Face Justice for their Atrocities Mark Leon Goldberg November 17, 2017Over the last several weeks, ISIS has been systematically losing territory. Its last stronghold in Iraq, the city of Hawija, was liberated in early October. A few weeks later, ISIS' de-facto capital in Raqqa, Syria fell to US-backed forces.ISIS no long...
The World is Sidestepping the International Criminal Court to “Investigate” War Crimes in Yemen and Iraq? Kimberly Curtis October 11, 2017Yemen and ISIS's crimes in Iraq are two of the most dire human rights situations in the world right now. There is plenty of evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity, and under normal circumstances the International Criminal Court would be dispatched ...
What the Kurdish Independence Referendum Means for the Middle East Mark Leon Goldberg October 5, 2017People in Kurdish region of Iraq have voted overwhelmingly for independence in a popular referendum that took place in late September. No country in the region wanted this referendum to happen -- and neither did the United States, with whom the Kurds have ...
PODCAST: Author Meghan O’Sullivan Explains How America’s Energy Abundance is Re-Shaping International Relations Mark Leon Goldberg September 25, 2017Meghan O'Sullivan is the author of the new book Windfall: How the new energy abundance upends global politics and strengthens American power. We kick off this episode with a discussion of the ways in which the natural gas boom in the United States is cha...
House of Representatives Cuts Funding for the Same UN Agencies that Helped to Liberate Mosul from ISIS Mark Leon Goldberg July 14, 2017A key committee in the US House of Representatives passed a budget this week that would significantly underfund UN programs, including the very UN agencies that provided critical support for the US-backed liberation of Mosul.The bill totally zeroes out a f...
Trump’s refugee ban begins today and this Iraqi interpreter for a US military contractor has been blocked Mark Leon Goldberg July 13, 2017Update: After a week long delay, a ban on refugees coming to the United States has become policy. Starting July 13, no new refugees will be allowed to the country unless they have a "bona-fide" connection. Last week, I learned the story of an Iraqi refugee and...
