Juan Cole

McCain and the Oil Spots Senator John McCain has now jumped on the “oil-spot” bandwagon, urging that the US forces concentrate on making a handful of key cities safe rather than doing sweep and clear missions like Tal Afar and Husaybah. Unfortunately, this strategy is impractical, even if the US put 10,000 more troops in, […]

Sistani Aide Blasts Jaafari Government From BBC World Monitoring: November 11, 2005 AIDE SAYS IRAQ’S AL-SISTANI’S CRITICIZES PM AL-JA’FARI’S GOVERNMENT Text of report by Iraqi Al-Sharqiyah TV on 11 November The representative of Grand Ayatollah Al-Sayyid Ali al-Sistani has criticized the performance of Dr Ibrahim al-Ja’fari’s government and warned it against a failure in the […]

Chalabi Rides Again My article on Ahmad Chalabi and his revived connections to the Bush administration and the Neocons is at Salon.com. Excerpt: On the street in Iraq, people give nicknames to the big longtime-expatriate politicians whom the Americans brought back to Iraq. They call former transitional Prime Minister Iyad Allawi “Iyad the Baathist” because […]

Terrorists Strike Hotels in Amman Suicide bombers struck three tourist hotels in Amman, Jordan on Thursday, killing at least 67 persons and wounding nearly 200. Among the innocent victims was a wedding party. A Syrian film producer and his daughter may be dead, according to Al-Sharq al-Awsat. This news hits me where I live. I […]

Baghdad Bombs kill 13, wound 34; Divisions among Jihadis AFP reports that “13 people, including seven Iraqi policemen and six civilians, were killed and 34 were injured in three car bombs in different parts of Baghdad on Wednesday, medical and military sources said.” Knight Ridder reports that the “Zarqawi” group has broken with other Sunni […]

Kashmir Victims: 80,000 May Die; 3 Million Homeless Disasters in South Asia are Himalayan compared to our own. Three million persons have been made homeless in Pakistan. Oxfam and other aid agencies are increasingly afraid that tens of thousands of survivors of the Kashmir earthquake are in danger of perishing, as winter comes. As many […]

Stevenson on Riots in France Roger Stevenson kindly writes: “Thanks so much for your thoughtful and enlightened piece on the riots that are currently besetting France. I, too, am extremely upset over the inflated, sensational and unfactual reporting from the US media outlets. Steyn’s comments make you wonder if he has even ever set foot […]

Judith Miller fired from New York Times Lynne Duke examines the issues around the departure of Judith Miller from the NYT. Toward the end, she raises the question of whether Miller is a Neoconservative (something she denies). I addressed this question in my article for Salon.com, “Judy Miller and the Neocons.”

The Problem with Frenchness Readers have asked me for comment about the riots in France that have now provoked emergency laws and a curfew. What I would rather comment on, however, is the myths that have governed many rightwing American comments on the tragic events. Actually, I can only think that the disturbances must produce […]