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Juan Cole

Iraq
Rice: Muqtada a Coward; Najaf Tense; Veterans Depressed, Unemployed

Rice: Muqtada a Coward; Najaf Tense; Veterans Depressed, Unemployed

Juan Cole

Ned Parker, Raheem Salman and Saad Fakhrildeen get the story in Najaf, the Shiite holy city south of Baghdad. The four grand ayatollahs, pillars of middle and upper class Shiite orthodoxy, are fearful of the influence of young Muqtada al-Sadr, leader of the millenarian workers and the poor. The authors do not note the irony, […]

Iraq
Muqtada threatens Open Warfare; Islamic State in Iraq launches One-Month Campaign; Help! They told me on Television Iraq Was Calm Now

Muqtada threatens Open Warfare; Islamic State in Iraq launches One-Month Campaign; Help! They told me on Television Iraq Was Calm Now

Juan Cole

Meanwhile, a lot of open warfare is being threatened in Iraq. Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr is said to have threatened open warfare with the al-Maliki government if it does not cleanse “militias” [i.e. the Badr Corps] from its security forces and does not cease attacking Sadrist areas. The Islamic State in Iraq declared a month-long […]

Iraq
McCain, the Retired Military "Analysts" and the Myth of al-Qaeda in Iraq

McCain, the Retired Military "Analysts" and the Myth of al-Qaeda in Iraq

Juan Cole

I am quoted in this NYT piece today on John McCain’s allegations that the US is fighting “al-Qaeda” in Iraq and that there is a danger of “al-Qaeda” taking over the country if the US leaves. Those allegations don’t make any sense. McCain contradicts himself because he sometimes warns that the Shiites or Iran will […]

Uncategorized
Palestinian Children

Palestinian Children

Juan Cole

Call me suspicious. Bound bodies found floating in a lake just don’t seem to me very likely to be the victims of suicide. Riad’s friend writes: ‘ A friend of mine, Austin middle-school teacher and pro-Palestinian activist Riad (also spelled Riadh) Hamad, was found gagged & bound in a lake. His death was declared by […]

Iraq
132 Wounded in Sadr City; The $3 Trillion Shopping Spree

132 Wounded in Sadr City; The $3 Trillion Shopping Spree

Juan Cole

The spring dust storms in Baghdad have given cover to renewed guerrilla fighting there. On Thursday Iraqi guerrillas used the cover of the dust storms to bombard the Green Zone with mortar shells. On Friday clashes broke out between Mahdi Army militiamen in Sadr City and Iraqi and US troops at the edges of the […]

Iraq
60 Killed in Diyala Bombing; NDU Study: Iraq War Debacle; Netanyahu: 9/11 benefitted Israel

60 Killed in Diyala Bombing; NDU Study: Iraq War Debacle; Netanyahu: 9/11 benefitted Israel

Juan Cole

A suicide bombing at a funeral for pro-American militiamen in a village northeast of Baghdad in Diyala province killed at least 60 persons on Thursday and wounded a similar number. This attack follows a previous bombing in the provincial capital of Baquba that had killed 60. The US-backed ‘Awakening Councils’ are being fought in Diyala […]

Iraq
Pope: Iraq War "has no moral justification"; Says Decision Should have been Made by UN

Pope: Iraq War "has no moral justification"; Says Decision Should have been Made by UN

Juan Cole

Here is what Pope Benedict really thinks of Bush and his Iraq War: Is the war that has been announced against Iraq a just war? “All I can do is invite you to read the Catechism,” [the present Pope when he was still] Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger replied with a mischievous grin, “and the conclusion seems […]

Iraq
Sunni-Shiite Divide in Baghdad Worsens

Sunni-Shiite Divide in Baghdad Worsens

Juan Cole

Aljazeera English reports on the increased Sunni-Shiite divide in Baghdad. The video of blast walls and closed bridges is worth the price of admission. My only puzzlement is why they did not say more about the ethnic cleansing of the Sunnis from Iraq, such that the city is now overwhelmingly Shiite. Also, for those of […]

Iraq
Islamic Radicals Announce Accord with Sunni Tribes

Islamic Radicals Announce Accord with Sunni Tribes

Juan Cole

The USG Open Source Center translates a speech by Abu Umar al-Baghdadi, the putative leader of the radical Islamic State of Iraq, which has committed many bombings in the center-north of the country. FYI — ISI Leader Al-Baghdadi Announces Agreement with Sunni Tribal LeadersJihadist Websites — OSC SummaryTuesday, April 15, 2008 . . . On […]

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