Juan Cole

Republican Congressional Report on Iran Riddled With Errors Here is what the professionals are saying about the Republican-dominated Subcommittee on Intelligence Policy report on Iran that slams US intelligence professionals for poor intelligence on Iran: The report demonstrates that these Republicans have poor intelligence . . . on Iran. What follows is summaries of things […]

Turkey Strikes PKK Bases in North Iraq; At Least 29 Dead in Civil War Bombings, Shootings Turkish jets bombed bases in northern Iraq on Thursday of the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK), which has been responsible for several terrorist strikes in eastern Anatalia in recent months. The US military, which monitors everything that happens in Iraq […]

South Beirut’s Divine Victory Patrick McGreevy writes from Beirut: “So . . . I went to Bourj Brajneh and Haret Hreik in the southern suburbs today. No need for words; the pictures say it all. The divine victory seems to have caused quite a bit of destruction: a good thing it wasn’t a defeat, eh? […]

Interior Minister Narrowly avoids bombing; Bush faces Choice of Withdrawal or Draft The Bush administration’s call-up of 2500 US Marine reservists who have already given 4 years of service shows how desperate it is becoming for military manpower in Iraq. A veterans’ organization maintains that this sort of thing is unsustainable, and that Bush will […]

Beirut War Diary Rasha Salti’s Beirut War Diary. Syria is threatening to close its borders with Lebanon if UN troops are stationed along the borders of the two countries. Lebanon is extremely vulnerable to this threat, since Syria is key to its hinterland trade routes, to Jordan, Iraq, and the Gulf. Currently its sea trade […]

McGreevy: Beautiful Beirut Patrick McGreevy writes from Beirut: ‘ Beautiful Beirut Is a moment of crisis a time to understand a place? Or only a time to romanticize or demonize because our vision is hopelessly clouded by desire or fear? Are desires and fears ever disseverable from the places we experience and shape? As a […]

Oil Workers Strike in Iraq Inflation Rate hits 70% amid stagflation Reuters reports on civil war violence in Iraq. Among the worst incidents: ‘ *MOSUL – Gunmen killed a family of five, including two children, after entering their home in the al-Zanjeeli district of Mosul 390 km north of Baghdad . . . MADAEN – […]

Helman Guest Editorial: Peril in Lebanon Ambassador Gerald B. Helman writes: ‘ The momentum that was imparted by the Security Council’s cease fire resolution (1701) on August 11, is in danger of dissipating. The initial deployment of Lebanese troops to the south seems stalled at an inadequate 3,000 men. Potential European troop contributors to a […]

Bush’s Arab Dream Palace Is it Narcissism? Bush said again on Monday that he would keep US troops in Iraq until 2009 and argued that for the US to withdraw would send a bad message to reformers in the region. He said he is concerned about that talk of civil war in Iraq and seemed […]