Juan Cole

EU to send 7000 Peacekeepers to Lebanon Israeli Cluster Bombs Menace Lebanese Children European nations have pledged 7000 troops to a peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon. France will lead the force, and will have 2000 of its own troops on the ground. The Israelis are saying that they won’t end their blockade of Lebanese ports […]

Amara Base Looted as British Withdraw Qadiri Sufi Order Declared Jihad on Americans, Shiites Things did not go well in Iraq on Friday according to WaPo. First, the British withdrew from Camp Abu Naji near Amara. They only gave the Iraqis one day notice. This short notice suggests that the evacuation was done under considerable […]

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 – […]