To mark the tenth anniversary of the 2003 Iraq war, I am re-posting diary entries that I wrote at the time for the Guardian's website. They are posted here day by day and the full collection can be found here.
24 March 2003:
It is day five, and suddenly the clinical,...
Blog archive: Iraq
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24th March 2013
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21st March 2013To mark the tenth anniversary of the 2003 Iraq war, I am re-posting diary entries that I wrote at the time for the Guardian's website. They are posted here day by day and the full collection can be found here. 21 March 2003: After an initial diversion to take pot-shots at...
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20th March 2013To mark the tenth anniversary of the 2003 Iraq war, I am re-posting diary entries that I wrote at the time for the Guardian's website. They are posted here day by day and the full collection can be found here. 20 March 2003: It's begun. Well, sort of ... but more with a...
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19th March 2013To mark the tenth anniversary of the 2003 Iraq war, I am re-posting diary entries that I wrote at the time for the Guardian's website. They are posted here day by day and the full collection can be found here. 19 March 2003: Tony Blair need not go into exile just yet....
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17th March 2013Ten years ago this week my daily routine changed. I began setting my alarm for five o'clock each morning to write a diary of the war in Iraq. The idea was to provide a short and sometimes opinionated review of each day's events – both military and political – and to have it ready and posted on...
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30th December 2012Flooding caused by several days of heavy rain brought much of Baghdad to a standstill last week. "Disruption to the electricity grid and the failure of emergency generators as a result of damage to cables underground left many businesses and individuals without power," The National reported...
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11th March 2012A new wave of killings is reported in Baghdad, targeting youngsters of unconventional appearance. Reuters says at least 14 have been stoned to death in the past three weeks, though there are claims that the total may be much higher. Lists have also been circulated naming those who will be...
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25th October 2011The following is a statement issued on Tuesday by the London-based Iraqi LGBT organisation: In Iraq, concern is growing of a renewed purge against the country’s gay community by government forces and hardline religious militia groups after the arrest of 25 men in Kalar, a small town...
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5th December 2010More than seven years after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, Iraq is still a dangerous place for many of its citizens – and none more so than men who are gay or considered not "manly" enough .... Read the full article in the latest issue of Near East Quarterly. Posted by Brian Whitaker, 5...
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3rd August 2010The Gay Middle East website has a compilation of attacks in Iraq last month directed against men who are gay or not looking sufficiently "masculine". Some were beaten up, some disappeared and others were murdered, according to the website's sources. As a report by Human...
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14th July 2010Following last month's police raid on a "safe house" in Karbala used used as a refuge for gay, lesbian and transgender Iraqis, there's news of another raid – this time at a male beauty parlour in Baghdad. Interior Ministry forces took away the manager and four workers. The London-based...
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20th June 2010Police in Karbala last week raided a "safe house" used by gay, lesbian and transgender Iraqis, and took away the occupants. The house (pictured above, after the raid) was one of several established by the UK-based Iraqi LGBT organisation to protect them against ...
