Tag Archives: Iraq

Costs of War: $4.4 trillion, 350,000 lives

Updated figures for the direct costs of war in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan now stand at more than 350,000 lives lost and $4.4 trillion spent. Indirectly, another 250,000 lives have been lost to war-related causes like loss of civilian access to food and health care, and another $8 trillion in interest on war debt may come due during the next 40 years.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — The Costs of War project at Brown University’s Watson Institute for International Studies has released updated figures for the human and financial costs of the U.S. wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. (more…)

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Commentary by Jo-Anne Hart: Will we have ISIS to thank for peace with Iran?

If there is any good news in the ISIS developments in Iraq, it is that the United States and Iran both want to see ISIS stopped and Iraq’s government stabilized. It’s possible, writes Jo-Anne Hart, that addressing the ISIS issue could lead to confidence-building between the United States and Iran. Hart is an adjunct professor of international studies at Brown University’s Watson Institute for International Studies.

While the recent military advance of ISIS (Islamic State in Iraq and Syria) in northern Iraq has stirred sudden concern — if not panic — in public commentaries in the United States, it is important to keep in mind several key points. (more…)

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U.S. should pursue three-pronged strategy in Iraq

ANN ARBOR — U.S. efforts to combat terrorism in Iraq and help Iraqis maintain the territorial integrity of their embattled country need to follow three approaches, according to a University of Michigan expert on politics and values in the Middle East. (more…)

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Infra-red film helped photojournalist ‘step over the threshold’ to capture war’s impact

It wasn’t until he began taking a more artistic approach that Richard Mosse felt his photographs were truly capturing the horror of the conflict in the Congo, the artist told a group of undergraduates and graduates on Feb. 5.

Mosse spoke about the process behind his most recent project, “The Enclave,” at the Yale School of Art. The talk was sponsored by the Poynter Fellowship in Journalism. (more…)

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Steel drum band

UD’s Price uses music to unite children of different backgrounds

Turmoil has long existed in the Middle East. Now, one University of Delaware faculty member is doing his part to help bring about peace as part of an intrepid music project.

Harvey Price, associate professor of music, is using his connections and knowledge to form a steel drum band in Israel comprising both Jewish and Arab children. Jews and Arabs in the region have long distrusted each other, and Israel, a Jewish nation surrounded by wary Arab countries, has undergone strife since its inception in 1948. (more…)

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From military to MBA

How the Carlson School supports veterans going for an MBA

Looking to apply to an MBA program, Heidi Sandell faced a common problem among veterans.

“I had a hard time translating my skills into something the business world could use and appreciate,” says Sandell, who served four years in the U.S. Navy. (more…)

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Further destabilisation in the Middle East possible according to new report

The crisis in Egypt is already having a negative effect on the Syrian civil war and contributing to further destabilisation of the wider Middle East according to a major new report. 

Professor Gareth Stansfield from the University of Exeter’s Strategy and Security Institute and the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies wrote the report, for the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), an independent think-tank for defence and security which advises governments and the wider policy community.

‘The Remaking of Syria, Iraq and the Wider Middle East’ report suggests that important as events in Cairo are, they distract Western attention from the much bigger game being played out in Syria which significantly risks changing the Levant after a century of relative territorial stability. Professor Stansfield who is also an RUSI’s senior associate fellow analysed the impact the Syrian civil war could have on the future of the Middle East state system across the Levant. (more…)

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Blast concussions could cause pituitary deficiencies in war vets

Many veterans suffering from blast concussions may have hormone deficiencies that mimic some of the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and depression, according to researchers with the Department of Veterans Affairs Puget Sound Health Care System and the University of Washington.

The researchers screened 35 veterans with blast injuries. They found that 42 percent had irregular hormone levels indicative of hypopituitarism, a condition that can often be controlled by replacing the deficient hormones. (more…)

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