Juan Cole

Muqtada Pledges Defense of Iran from US attack Iranian FM calls for US Troop Withdrawal from Iraq AP reports that guerrilla violence left dozens dead or wounded in Iraq over the weekend. The young men who attempted to volunteer for the Iraqi police force, kidnapped last week, turned up as two dozen corpses on Sunday. […]

2 Marines Killed UIA picks up some smaller parties Two US Marines were reported having been killed on Friday. Newsweek details how the guerrilla movement has denied Iraq the oil income that the Bush administration had depended on for reconstruction. There have been 20 big attacks on the most important parts of the Baiji refinery […]

Iraqi Election Results: Shiites Near Majority in Parliament Shiite clerical leader Abdul Aziz al-Hakim narrowly avoided being assassinated as the election results were announced in Iraq on Friday. The Shiite fundamentalist coalition, the United Iraqi Alliance, won 128 of 275 seats in parliament. It needs 138 for a simple majority. The Risaliyun or Message Party […]

Iraq Minorities Among most Threatened Al-Hakim Warns on Sunni Arab Violence Iraqi minorities are among the more endangered in the world, according to Minority Rights Group International. The group’s web site is here. Abdul Aziz al-Hakim is warning that mere political arrangements will not end the Sunni Arab guerrilla war. While al-Hakim is correct, the […]

50 Dead in Wave of Violence Petroleum Industry, Electricity Generation Paralyzed The Washington Post reports that guerrillas killed 50 Iraqis on Wednesday. In Salahuddin, they kidnapped and executed 25 persons they suspected of being police (or perhaps police informants?) In the Wahdah district of Baghdad, seven Shiites showed up dead. They detonated car bombs in […]

Guerrillas Kill 18 Sunnis offered only 6 Cabinet Posts The newly elected Iraqi government is planning to offer Iraqi Sunni Arabs only 6 cabinet posts. They had 17 MPs in the last parliament, and also 6 cabinet posts. They have 51 MPs in the new parliament. The Sunni Arabs are going to greet this announcement […]

Taliban Kamikazes Kill 26 A motorscooter suicide bomber in Spin Baldak and a car bomber in Qandahar killed 26 persons and wounded dozens in twin attacks on Monday in Afghanistan. Analysts suggested that the Taliban were learning lessons from the guerrilla movement in Iraq. Despite killing many civilians, the attacks targeted Afghan military officers supporting […]

Cheney will Ask Mubarak for Egyptian Troops for Iraq: al-Zaman Will Cairo counter Tehran? Vice President Richard Bruce Cheney will meet Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak on Wednesday. Al-Zaman (“The Times of Baghdad”) says that its sources in Cairo tell it that Cheney will ask that Egypt be ready to send troops to Iraq if the […]

Only 1% of Dec. 15 Votes Thrown Out by Commission Iraq Results Unchanged by Investigation The rash of helicopter downings, with another Apache shot out of the skies on Monday, may, worrisomely, suggest that guerrillas in Iraq have managed to buy more shoulder-held missiles. Reuters reports the blowing up of some police at Musaib and […]