Drones, also known as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or remotely piloted aircraft (RPAs), have become sort of the ubiquitous symbol of the war formerly known as the Global War on Terror (GWOT). 

​While officially in use by the United States since the Vietnam War, they entered American public consciousness during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and bore the brunt of American offensive operations in other realms of “Overseas Contingency Operations” (OCO) like Pakistan and Yemen, mostly against unarmored mounted and dismounted targets without anti-air capability. As such, they have become the near-perfect weapon for counter-terrorism (i.e. killing high-value targets) in the 21st Century.

In popular culture, they were featured in 2003’s Terminator 3, chasing John Connor and Claire Danes down the hallways of Skynet and are a useful and easy to obtain kill streak reward in the Call of Duty video game franchise. Additionally, in the past few years articles warning of the dangers of their use by local police have become more common.
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Today, Iraq may be the drone capital of the world with drones in its skies currently operated by the US, UK, Australia, Iran, Islamic State, and of course the Iraqi military itself. It is difficult to find accurate numbers (if any numbers at all) of drone sorties flown by these actors and compare them to other countries, but if Iraq is not the drone capital by volume then surely its diverse drone community makes it the de facto capital.

The Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Commission found George W. Bush guilty of war crimes in absentia for the illegal invasion of Iraq.

Kuala Lumpur — It’s official; George W Bush is a war criminal.

In what is the first ever conviction of its kind anywhere in the world, the former US President and seven key members of his administration were yesterday (Fri) found guilty of war crimes.

Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and their legal advisers Alberto Gonzales, David Addington, William Haynes, Jay Bybee and John Yoo were tried in absentia in Malaysia.

The justification for going to war in Iraq thirteen years ago, was based on a 93-page classified document that allegedly contained “specific information” on former Iraqi leader President Saddam Hussein and the weapons of mass destruction (WMD) programs he was apparently running.

Now that document has been declassified and it reveals that there was virtually zero justification for the Iraq war. The document reveals that there was “no operational tie between Saddam and al Qaeda” and no WMD programs.

The report reveals that the intelligence community and the US Department of Energy did not think Saddam was pursuing any type of WMD program, and was instead developing rocket motors.

Vice.com reports.

Revelations that Ruhollah Khomeini secretly reached out to US presidents don't shock those who doubt Tehran's 'Death to America' stance.

Many observers of Middle Eastern events were surprised by revelations this week that the founder of the Islamic Republic, Ruhollah Khomeini, secretly reached out to the United States for help and cooperation when he was in exile, prior to the 1979 revolution.
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"Death to America" chants are still heard in Iran, and the Majlis (parliament) voted to keep that slogan last November. So you’d be forgiven for being astonished at the disclosure that Iran’s revolutionary leader was so open – albeit secretly – to engagement with the US in 1963 and 1979.

However, a more detailed look at the course of history after he took power, and indeed the path that continued even after his death in 1989, tells a different story..

Disunity from abroad, tensions at home allowed Tehran to pressure Baghdad into a dramatic departure from the American war strategy.

​Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi’s decision to engage the Islamic State group in Fallujah is about more than defeating the terrorist network. It’s about more than establishing safety in Baghdad, and it’s even about more than securing his own political future.

His abrupt departure from America’s script for the war against the Islamic State group, which prioritizes above all else the liberation of Iraq’s second-largest city, Mosul, shows the strength of the other major international influence in Iraq, and its sway on Baghdad.

Iran has reportedly been pressuring Abadi for weeks, if not months, to prioritize Fallujah. But now domestic tensions in Baghdad and disunity among the world powers that have involved themselves in the conflict have cleared the way for the Islamic republic to have more potency than the U.S., Russia, Turkey or any other world power involved in the conflict.

As the Iraqi military digs in against ISIS in the battle for Fallujah, American human rights advocates and Iraqi activists are voicing alarm about the potential for more sectarian atrocities from some Iraqi forces and their militia allies in the event of victory – a possible continuation of captives being tortured and executed with impunity, often on camera.

Over the weekend Iraqi officials confirmed that Iraq's controversial Popular Mobilization Forces [PMFs], Shiite-dominated militia groups, are participating in the fight for Fallujah, just west of Baghdad in central Iraq.
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Human Rights Watch and the U.S. Departments of State and Defense have reported continued instances of war crimes over the past year in Sunni areas north of Baghdad such as Tikrit — showing that some groups in the military and militias on Baghdad's payroll have not stopped committing abuses since an ABC News investigation revealed widespread atrocities posted on social media 14 months ago.

​Ali Khedery, a former senior U.S. official who was the longest-serving diplomat in Baghdad, said last week, "It will not surprise me if the city [Fallujah] is leveled and a lot of people are killed at the hands of the Iraqi security forces and militias."

​Sporadic violence has erupted in the Iraqi city of Saqlawiyah, Anbar province, after fleeing families from the area were held in their tracks by militia forces. 

The orchestrators of the latest spate of violence include a cluster of militia groups from Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMFs): Saraya al Khorasani, Asa’ib ahl al haq, Saraya Ashura, Iraqi Hezbollah brigade, and members from Iraq’s federal police. 

Eyewitnesses recounted the merciless behaviour of these actors, who “spared no one” a woman whose men remain missing told FRB’s research team. 

Govt says it has no choice but to screen fleeing men and boys to prevent IS fighters from escaping among civilians.

* Falluja residents caught up in battle
* Desperate for food and water, civilians flee
* Fears for hundreds of youths detained by army
* Authorities suspect detainees of siding with IS

GARMA VILLAGE, Iraq, June 1 (Reuters) - Desperate for food and water, residents are fleeing the Iraqi city of Falluja as Islamist militants seek to fend off an assault by the army, only for hundreds to be detained by the authorities on suspicion of siding with those they are escaping.

A week after Baghdad announced the start of its offensive on Falluja, its troops advanced into the city limits for the first time on Monday, pouring into rural territory on its southern outskirts but stopping short of the main built-up area.

(CNSNews.com) – Secretary of State John Kerry erroneously suggested Thursday that the commander of Iran’s Qods Force, accused of killing Americans and plotting terror attacks in Washington, is not among Iranians listed in the nuclear agreement as being in line for sanctions relief.

Kerry made the remark while speaking at the State Department alongside Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir. In his previous post as ambassador to the U.S., al-Jubeir was the target of an alleged Qods Force assassination plot involving a planned attack in a Washington restaurant.

A reporter asked the Saudi how he felt about the fact that under the nuclear deal with Iran, Qods Force commander Gen. Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani will probably be let “off the hook after it’s alleged that he tried to kill you?”

“First of all, it does not let him off the hook,” Kerry interjected. “He is – no, it’s a different Soleimani who is listed.”