Juan Cole

What is Hizbullah? Western and Israeli pundits keep comparing Hizbullah to al-Qaeda. It is a huge conceptual error. There is a crucial difference between an international terrorist network like al-Qaeda, which can be disrupted by good old policing techniques (such as inserting an agent in the Western Union office in Karachi), and a sub-nationalist movement. […]

Sistani Threatens US over Israeli War on Lebanon The US punditocracy and ruling elite is fixated on Hizbullah as a “terrorist group” even though the organization hasn’t engaged in international terror against American civilians in many years. What they forget about Hizbullah is that it is also a Shiite religious party, and that that is […]

Why Mel Gibson is Wrong It is not very important or interesting that a Hollywood star has substance abuse problems. But the alleged sentiment expressed by Mel Gibson to the police who arrested him, as follows, is worth some comment: ‘ “Once inside the car, a source directly connected with the case says Gibson began […]

The Qana Massacre, Part II Israeli war planes scored a direct hit on a building in the Shiite village of Qana where destitute farming folk, including old people, women and children, had taken refuge in the basement from Israeli bombing raids. At least 60 are dead, as bodies are pulled from the rubble. 19 children […]

Renewed Israeli Airstrikes Kill Family, Others, Wound 2 UN Troops; Nasrallah Vows Longer Range Rocket Strikes The Israelis continued air strikes on Saturday. Naharnet.com carries this via AFP and AP: ‘Elsewhere, Israeli warplanes demolished houses, killing seven people, including a woman and her five children . . . Lebanese civilians have born the brunt of […]

Over a Dozen Dead in Civil War Violence Khafaji denounces Maliki for Visit to Bush Guerrillas detonated a car bomb in Kirkuk on Saturday, killing four persons and wounding 15. There have been lots of bombings in the volatile multi-ethnic oil city recently, and some worry about a sectarian war breaking out there. Turkish troops […]

Blair and the Rhetoric of False Equivalence The techniques of propaganda were on full display during the joint news conference of George W. Bush and British PM Tony Blair on Friday. Blair began by saying, ‘ What is happening in the Middle East at the moment is a complete tragedy for Lebanon, for Israel and […]

Islands in Arabia Patrick McGreevy writes from Beirut: ‘ Islands in Arabia Sitting on my balcony staring down at the Sea Gate of the American University of Beirut, and to the Mediterranean beyond, I am in no danger. The bombs are in the distance. The fighting is in the south. In Tel Aviv, Israeli citizens […]

Israeli Air Strikes Kill 15 Civilians: Hizbullah Fires longer range Missile, Misses The Daily Star reports: ‘ Israel’s powerful war machine pounded Lebanon for the 17th day on Friday as Hizbullah launched new, longer-range wepons on settlements in northern Israel . . . Israeli planes and warships hammered Southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley . […]