Juan Cole

655,000 Dead in Iraq since Bush Invasion It is a big news day. Don’t miss my interview with veteran Iraq reporter Rajiv Chandrasekaran, below. Among other things, on Tuesday guerrillas blew up a bakery in Baghdad and killed and wounded a lot of people; police found over 50 bodies in the streets of the capital; […]

Interview with Rajiv Chandrasekaran Washington Post reporter Rajiv Chandrasekaran spent a very great deal of time in Iraq, beginning in 2002 and then resuming after the war. His book, Imperial Life in the Emerald City is just out from Alfred Knopf. It is a challenging account of American missteps in Iraq, from the point of […]

N. Korea, Iraq, Foley Anything in Common? Now with the North Korea crisis erupting, it strikes me that there are some similarities among Bush’s crises. In all three cases–North Korea, Iraq and Foleygate– the Republican establishment knew something was wrong but failed or declined to address the problem. And the reason for the inaction was […]

Brother of Iraqi VP Killed 4 US Troops Killed 57 Bodies found in Baghdad Reuters reports that 4 US GIs were announced killed by Iraqi guerrillas on Monday. Since the beginning of October, guerrillas have killed 33 US soldiers and Marines. Gunmen dressed in police uniforms killed the brother of Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi […]

100 Tortured Each Day in Iraq Situation Worse than Under Saddam Andras Riedlemayer writes: ‘ The UN Special Rapporteur for Torture, Manfred Nowak, was interviewed about Iraq for German public broadcaster ARD’s news magazine program “Tagesschau”. He had some blunt and disturbing things to say . . . English translation by yrs. truly; link to […]

Rubin on Afghanistan Just in case anyone has forgotten, there is a war going on in Afghanistan, too. Barnett Rubin doesn’t think it is going well.

Lebanon War MIT’s electronic journal on the Middle East has a special issue on the Lebanon war. (Warning, .pdf).

9 US Troops Announced Killed; US/ Mahdi Army Clashes in Diwaniyah; Hundreds of Iraqi Police Made Sick by Meal Altogether, the US military announced the deaths of 9 US troops over the weekend on Sunday. Four US troops were announced killed by a roadside bomb on Sunday. The NYT says, that in addition, “The military […]

Tony Judt Talk Cancelled after Pressure from Israel Lobby There was a virtual news blackout on the debate at Cooper Union recently on the influence of the Israel Lobby. The video of the debate, which included John Mearsheimber, Dennis Ross, Martin Indyk and Rashid Khalidi, is now available on the Web. Despite the widespread interest […]