Juan Cole

Is Bush Unhinged? Calling Hannah Arendt Journalist Bill Gallagher of Detroit’s Channel 2 News joins Andrew Sullivan in asking the increasingly unavoidable question: Is George W. Bush Criminally Insane? Gallagher writes: ‘ Bush’s fantasies are even disturbing his fans. In a sit-down with wire-service reporters, Bush assured them that Rumsfeld, the most incompetent man on […]

Baquba Police Kill 20 Pro-Saddam Demonstrators; Khalilzad to Depart Someone, [presumably, Shiite militiamen] fired mortar rounds into the Sunni Arab Adhamiya district of Baghdad on Monday, wounding 7. Al-Zaman (Arabic) says that this is the fourth day in the row that this quarter has been attacked this way. Al-Zaman also reports that the death toll […]

Iran, Iraqi Shiites Celebrate Mosul, Baquba, West Baghdad Demonstrate The US military announced that guerrillas had killed 3 US GIs in Iraq over Saturday and Sunday. Only 8 percent of Americans are satisfied with ‘stay the course’ in Iraq. Al-Zaman reports in Arabic that clashes broke out in Baghdad Sunday between joyous anti-Saddam and angry […]

Saddam to Hang; Shiites, Kurds Celebrate Some Sunnis Protest The Daily Telegraph reports that the death verdict against Saddam Hussein announced Sunday has sharpened further Iraq’s already parlous ethnic tensions. Shiites in Sadr City, once viciously repressed by Saddam, erupted in celebrations of joy, including celebratory fire. NBC news is reporting some protests by Sunnis […]

Iraq Jittery over Saddam Verdict Dozens of Sunnis killed by Police Commandos Special Police Commandoes killed 53 al-Qaeda fighters in Iraq on Saturday, according to Iraqi officials. Or you could say that Shiite death squads infiltrated into the special police commandos killed 53 Sunni Arab guerrillas. Just to make sure everyone is unhappy all at […]

Top Ten Ways we know We have Lost in Iraq Top Ten Ways you can tell we have have lost in Iraq: 10. When your daily news frequently includes an item like this: Reuters reports that ‘Police found 56 bodies and a severed head in different parts of Baghdad over the last 24 hours, an […]

Chirac Calls for Withdrawal Timetable 5 GIs die in Iraq Bombings, killings continued apace. The US military announced the deaths of 5 US GIs by Iraqi guerrillas on Thursday. Guerrillas in east Baghdad killed three US soldiers with a roadside bomb. In al-Anbar province, a US marine died from earlier injuries inflicted by the enemy. […]

Iraqi Government Negotiations with Sunni Guerrillas The US Government Open Source Center translates the following from al-Ra’y: ‘Iraqi Reconciliation Conference Postponed ‘To Allow For More Time for Dialogue’ Report by Faysal Malkawi in Amman: “Contacts Between US Officials and Armed Factions… …and the Postponement of the Reconciliation Conference. The Iraqi Government Meets Representatives of the […]

3 GIs Killed 55 Dead in Killings, Bombings US Plans Ramadi Assault The LA Times reports that the deaths of 3 US GIs were announced on Wednesday: ‘ U.S. military officials announced the deaths of two troops a day earlier in Al Anbar province in western Iraq, raising to at least 105 the number of […]