Juan Cole

30,000 Dead in Pakistan 2.5 Million Homeless The Pakistani government is now estimating 30,000 dead in the earthquake, and incidents of civil violence are being reported by AP. CNN is suggesting that 2.5 million are homeless, and perhaps as many as 5 million. The magnitude of the disaster is only gradually becoming apparent. It will […]

Guest Editorial by Gilbert Achcar: The US and Shiite Politics in Iraq Gilbert Achcar writes: 1) How US and British Forces help Iraqis recover their sovereignty For any person believing in good faith that occupation troops in Iraq are helping the Iraqis build independent institutions in order to recover their sovereignty, recent events in Basra—the […]

Basra Bombing Targets Badr Jaafari Rejects Conference of National Reconsiliation Someone detonated a car bomb in Basra outside an office of the Badr Corps, the paramilitary of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq. One child was killed and six were wounded in the explosion. It was not clear who was behind the blast, […]

At Least 18,000 Dead in Major Earthquake The death toll in Saturday’s massive earthquake keeps climbing, and will probably be higher yet by Sunday afternoon. Some 17,000 are feared dead in Kashmir, mainly on the Pakistani side of the line of control (Kashmir is mostly with India but a portion of it is under Pakistani […]

2 US Troops Killed Sistani Sits this one Out Basra Governor: British troops Destabilizing the South Two more US troops were killed in Iraq on Saturday. So was a city council member for Hawija. There has been a largely unnoticed but serious attrition rate among Iraqi provincial and municipal officials, as the guerrillas target them. […]

Iraq War Generating Threats to New York 6 GIs Killed 22 Bodies Found So much for the theory of ‘fighting them there so we don’t have to fight them here.’ (which has always struck me as monstrous and immoral). But anyway there is now at least some evidence that the war in Iraq is actually […]

Iraqi Vice President: Shiite United Iraqi Alliance has not Broken Up: al-Hayat BBC World Monitoring presents a translation of an interview in al-Hayat with Iraqi Vice President Adil Abdul Mahdi, a member of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq who tilts toward free-market secularism. He denied that the Shiite coalition cobbled together by […]

Arguing with Bush and the GWOT Bush articulated his War on Terror yet again on Thursday. But I think the American public has heard all this over and over again and it is increasingly just not convinced. It is time for another installment of the ever-popular “Arguing with Bush” series. Bush, predictably, began with September […]

21 Killed around Baghdad Jaafari denies Allegations against Iran Guerrilla violence killed 21 persons, including a US soldier, around Baghdad on Thursday. Reuters reports the following violence outside Baghdad: ‘ KIRKUK – Gunmen shot dead five Oil Ministry security guards and wounded another three as they were driving to the northern city of Kirkuk, 250 […]