Juan Cole

Sunnis Join Talks on National Unity Government; Guerrillas kill 19 AP correspondent Sinan Salaheddin reports that the Sunni fundamentalist National Accord Front [Accordance is not an English adjective] broke ranks on Monday with its partners in the Rejection Bloc. The NAF had earlier joined the National Dialogue Council of Salih Mutlak (Neobaathist) and the National […]

Reconstruction Aid to Afghanistan Halved; Or, “Don’t Forget to Write!” Now that it has been announced that the US won’t seek more reconstruction aid for Iraq. it also turns out that the Bush administration has reduced reconstruction aid in Afghanistan from $1 bn. a year to a little ove $600 mn. The US is pulling […]

Guerrillas Target Police all over Iraq with 13 Car Bombs on New Year’s Day Over 2 Dozen Casualties Al-Sharq al-Awsat [Ar.]: Baghdad rang in the New Year with a sting of 8 coordinated car bombs that left at least 24 persons injured. A further five car bombs were detonated in Kirkuk, Tikrit and Miqdadiyah. Other […]

Ten Amazing Predictions for 2006 1. Al-Qaeda’s Ayman al-Zawahiri, whom the Bush administration has failed to capture after all this time, and who was probably responsible for the July 7 bombings in the London subway and the bombings in the Sinai in Egypt, will strike at US allies again in 2006. 2. Saudi Arabia will […]

Sadrists Reject Allawi Coalition Al-Hakim Seeks position of Party Overseer Al-Hayat[Ar.]: The fundamentalist Shiite coalition, the United Iraqi alliance, one of the leaders of which will be prime minister in the new government, continues to construct its internal alliances. It will appoint as “Political Overseer” [marja`iyyah siyasiyya) Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, the head of the Supreme […]

Al-Hakim Sees Baghdad as Federated Province Sadrists Urge Alliance with Sunni Arabs Al-Zaman/ AFP [Ar.]: Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, the head of the victorious (fundamentalist Shiite) United Iraqi Alliance suggested Friday that Baghdad province join Kurdistan, the Middle Euphrates, and the deep south as a confederacy with special privileges, overseen by a federal government. He said […]

Iraq Petroleum Crisis Bahr al-Ulum Forced Out Drivers in Baghdad are waiting in lines a quarter of a mile long, according to the NYT, as the country faces a fuel crisis. They feared further price increases, and were also stocking gasoline to run their generators, since electricity provision in the capital has been erratic. Al-Zaman/ […]

Iraq Petroleum Production “Suffocating”: Bahr al-Ulum An informed observer writes: ‘ Reuters reports that “average exports in November fell to 1.21 million barrels a day – the lowest level since at least November 2003 – and down from 1.24 million barrels per day last month,” indicating that something may be seriously wrong. The figures for […]

The Middle East and America in 2005: How the Region Has Changed The Bush administration has several major policy goals in the Middle East, which are often self-contradictory. They include: 1. Fighting terrorism emanating from the region, which might menace the US or its major allies, Israel and Saudi Arabia. 2. Ensuring the security of […]