Juan Cole

Exit Plans Senator John Kerry argues that the United States should set a May 15 deadline for the formation of a national unity government in Iraq, and then set a December 31, 2006 deadline for US withdrawal. Kerry seems to be under the impression that the US is fighting “al-Qaeda” in Iraq, which is generally […]

21 Killed, Dozens Wounded Jaafari refuses to Resign The Iraq Civil War ground on Tuesday. Guerrilla violence killed 21 in Iraq on Tuesday, including 10 who died in a car bombing in Shiite East Baghdad. Two employees of the UAE embassy were killed. A car bomb in al-Habibiyah wounded 25. In addition, 18 corpses have […]

Endowment Effort for Knight-Wallace Middle East Fellows Here’s an extremely important announcement: The Knight-Wallace Fellows in Journalism at the University of Michigan is opening an endowment drive to benefit journalists from the Middle East. Knight-Wallace is one of America’s most prestigious programs in the field. Each year it attracts a dozen of the best journalists […]

9 US Troops Dead Truck Bomb at Shiite Mosque The CBC reports that 9 US troops were announced dead on Monday, the highest one-day total this year. Guerrillas killed 4, a flash flood killed the other 5. Also on Monday, guerrillas detonated three massive car bombs in Baghdad, two of them in Shiite neighborhoods. A […]

Violence Kills 50 Health, Food, Security Situations Spiral Down Sunni guerrillas blew up a small Shiite mosque in Baquba northeast of the capital on Sunday. Guerrillas killed another two US GIs and it was confirmed that another two had died when their helicopter was shot down. The brother of a major secular Sunni Arab leader, […]

Political Maneuvers in Baghdad The Saudi-backed London daily al-Hayat [Life] [Ar.] argues that the visit (demarche would be more like it) of Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and her British counterpart Jack Straw to Baghdad is a (succssful) attempt to break up the Shiite United Iraqi Alliance bloc in parliament and to sideline Ibrahim Jaafari. […]

Guest Comment: Paying the Price at the UN for Iraq Ambassador Gerald B. Helman writes: ‘ At some point, historians, scholars and foreign affairs practitioners will undertake an evaluation of the consequences for U.S. security of the invasion of Iraq, and the (eventual) U.S. withdrawal. One specific consequence evident now is the failure by the […]

42 Bodies Found in Iraq 19 Others Killed in Separate Incidents In a macabre harvest, 42 bodies were found in various places in Iraq on Saturday, killed in night-time sectarian reprisals. AP counts another 19 killed in separate incidents in Baghdad, Basra and elsewhere. In Basra, a Sunni cleric was killed. On Friday evening a […]

UIA Member Calls for Jaafari to Step Down A member of the United Iraqi Alliance called publicly Saturday for Ibrahim Jaafari to step down as candidate for prime minister from the coalition. The UIA groups at least 7 Shiite religious parties, and it is being alleged that 4 of them have lost faith in Jaafari. […]