Juan Cole

Kurdish Weekly Despairs of Iraq From the USG Open Source Center translation of an editorial by a pro- Kurdistan Democratic Party (led by Massoud Barzani) magazine: “Iraqi Kurdish Weekly Says Leadership Better Leave Baghdad, Return to KurdistanUnattributed commentary: “Three years in Baghdad and a ruined country”Govari GulanThursday, June 15, 2006 T14:15:29Z Document Type: OSC Translated […]

Basra Crowd Attacks Iranian Consulate Fighting in Adhamiyah An angry crowd of Iraqi Shiites attacked the Iranian Basra consulate on Wednesday, protesting an insult aired on Iranian television against Shaikh Mahmud al-Sarkhi al-Hasani, a popular preacher [in Karbala who is very anti-American and is fixated on the coming of the Mahdi or promised one. See […]

Steele on Ahmadinejad: Of Arenas of Time and Intransitive Verbs Jonathan Steele of the Guardian does a good piece about the controversy over Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s quotation from Khomeini that “the occupation regime over Jerusalem must vanish from the page of time” — which some Iranian activists and the Western press translated as “Israel […]

Islamists, Experts Speculate on Abu Hamza, new leader of “al-Qaeda in Iraq” Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, the new leader of the Salafi Jihadis in Iraq, has threatened to kill Sunni Arab leaders cooperating with the US in the Green Zone in the center of Baghdad. al-Sharq al-Awsat interviews Sunni Islamists and Arab experts on Islamists for […]

Maysan Governing Council Members Go on Strike The deteriorating security situation in southern Iraq has been dealt another blow, as provincial governing council members have suspended their membership. The following is the USG Open Source Center translation. ‘Al-Zaman: Maysan Advisory Council Protests British Forces’ RaidsReport by Basim al-Shaykh Ali: “Maysan Advisory Council Suspends Work in […]

Bush Sneaks In and Out of Baghdad Again 24 Dead in Kirkuk Bombings Iraq’s civil war claimed at least 55 lives on Tuesday. Guerrillas detonated a coordinated set of car bombs in Kirkuk on Tuesday, killing 24 persons and wounding nearly 50. Among the targets were senior police officers, and the offices of the Patriotic […]

Bush to an Iraq in Shambles: You Create Your Own National Fund Or, “Let them Eat Cake” An informed observer writes: ‘ THURMONT, Md., June 12 — President Bush proposed today that Iraq create a national fund to use its oil revenues for national projects, as part of a strategy to build loyalty to the […]

Fallujah Imam: Be Vigilant in Face of US Conspiracies Sadrist al-Nu`mani: Violence in Iraq Orchestrated by US Shiites Condemn HAMAS The USG Open Source Center provides summaries of the major sermons in Iraq’s big mosques, Sunni and Shiite, last Friday. The difference in the concerns of Sunni and Shiite preachers is striking and a cause […]

Backgrounds of New Security Ministers The USG Open Source Center rounds up information on the new ministers of interior and defence, and of national security. ‘Iraq: Interior, National Security, Defense Ministers ProfiledIraq — OSC ReportMonday, June 12, 2006 T12:51:57Z Jawad al-Bulani – Born in Baghdad in 1960, but comes from the city of Al-[A]marah, Al-Diwaniyah […]