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There is a new ménage-à-quatre in the region, bringing Israel, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and the United States ever closer. And...an unexpected fifth player lurking in the shadows: Russia.

The recent electoral victory of Iraq’s Sairoon alliance is a shock to the US imposed system of governance that divided political positions and support along sectarian lines, and a major blow for political independence from both the U.S. and Iran.

The way to war, which will surely prove to be the road to hell, seems open with a Third Gulf War looming on humanity’s horizon. Once again, Iran is the enemy. Again, as in 2003, a president is surrounded by bellicose advisers intent on just such a war and looking for the right excuse to launch it.

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As Iraq prepares for its first post-Islamic State elections, the Iraqi Communist Party has formed a singular alliance with the movement led by activist Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. And it is a move that is not as bizarre as it may first appear.

Ex- Bush official confesses. President George W. Bush would have ordered the war even without United Nations support. "That led to a war that resulted in catastrophic losses for the region and the United States-led coalition, and that destabilized the entire Middle East". This should not be forgotten, since the Trump administration is using much the same playbook to create a false impression that war is the only way to address the threats posed by Iran.

ISIS wants civilian deaths caused by the U.S. and its partners. We should not give that to them.

Trump's wars are now all over the map. The peace movement can fight back by joining already thriving intersectional campaigns.

The US missile attack on Syria took place on the anniversary, one hundred years ago, of the United States’ entry into World War I. Writing in The Progressive in June 1917, Senator La Follette said that the war party, "justifies entrance into the conflict on the ground that it is in the interest of democracy. If there is no sufficient reason for war, the war party will make war on one pretext, then invent another, possibly more effective, pretext after war is on."