Juan Cole

Goldberg and Jarvis Fold; And, The Real Meaning of ‘Fools Rush In’ I don’t take any pleasure in having been right about Iraq when they were wrong, or that they are they now are admitting it. I wish we could have avoided so much bloodshed and horror in Iraq, for our own troops and for […]

Marine Dies of Wounds 11 Iraqi Soldiers Kidnapped, 35 Killed in New Wave of Violence Reuters reports that a US Marine died Friday from wounds inflicted by guerrillas in al-Anbar Province. At least 2,803 GIs have been killed in Iraq, some 97 of them in October–making it among the costliest in US life since the […]

At least 56 Killed in Sunni Arab Heartland; Sadrists and the Problem of Shiite Militias in the South The Sunnis Sunni Arab Iraq saw significance violence and tension on Friday, especially in Khan Bani Saad near Baquba and in Mosul and Ramadi. In Khan Bani Saad, Diyala Province, a guerrilla force attacked a police unit. […]

War Support Among Evangelicals Collapses Bush Incompetence Said to Delay Second Coming In the past 30 days, support for the Iraq War among white evangelicals has fallen from 70 percent to 58 percent. These numbers matter because evangelicals are a quarter of the people who actually bother to vote, and 78 percent of them voted […]

Maliki Condemns US for Raid Wednesday’s dramatic events in Iraq began with a US military raid into Sadr City, the vast Shiite slum full of followers of nationalist young cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. The soldiers said that they were looking for a suspected death squad leader. The Americans were attacked by Mahdi Army militiamen, and they […]

Helman: Iraq and Vietnam Ambassador Gerald B. Helman writes: In recent days, events in the Vietnem war have been cited and compared to what is happening in Iraq. Even the President referred to the Tet offensive to argue that the Iraqi resistance has been deliberately seeking to turn American public opinion against the war by […]

Iraqi Guerrillas Kill 4 US GIs al-Hakim Supports Regional Confederacies (Don’t miss the second part of my interview with Rajiv Chandrasekaran on Iraq, below.) The US military announced the deaths of 4 GIs in Iraq on Tuesday. AP reports, “A Baghdad-based soldier died at about 2:15 a.m. (2315 GMT) from wounds received when his patrol […]

Chandrasekaran Interview, Part II This is the second part of my interview with Rajiv Chandrasekaran of the Washington Post, concerning his book, Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq’s Green Zone. The book is a must-read for anyone interested in how we got to where we are in Iraq. Cole: Former New York City […]

Amara Explodes in Violence Again US Raids Sadrist Offices in Diwaniyah, Hillah 2 GIs were announced killed on Monday and one has disappeared, presumably kidnapped. The US military has launched an intensive manhunt for him. Reuters reports further political violence on Monday. The Mahdi Army militia engaged in a military operation in Amara, killing 4 […]