Juan Cole

Aljazeera.net reports that the Sunni Arab walk-out from the constitution drafting committee appears to be ending. The talk is positive that remaining issues can be resolved by August 15. The Jaafari government will provide security to the Sunni members of the constitution writing committee, just as it does to members of parliament. Two Sunni Arab […]

State of Play in Taba Trial Some commentators are wondering if the Taba bombings of last fall are related to the Sharm el-Sheikh atrocity. I thought I’d archive this article about the Taba trial (which begins again on Sunday) below. al-Sharq al-Awsat for July 24 has an article quoting Egyptian Minister of the Interior Habib […]

62 Dead, 150 Wounded in Terror Attack on Egyptian Resort Terrorists placed seven car bombs at various points around the Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh on Friday and detonated them one after another, killing 62 persons and wounding another 150 (numbers as of early morning Saturday). The dead included 17 Egyptian workers at […]

Constitutional Wrangling in Iraq Americans fear Blowback The process of writing the Iraqi constitution is well advanced, and drafts are circulating. But the work has run into snags over some big issues such as federalism, the place of religious law, and the shape of the Kurdistan province. None of us outside observers can figure out […]

Sharon to Condi: F– You! Haaretz reports on US Secretary of State Condi Rice’s visit to Israel: ‘ U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spent Thursday in Jerusalem, where she met with Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom. Rice told Shalom that coordinating the pullout plan with the PA [Palestinian Authority] was critical and must be continued. […]

Reader Comment on Gaza Pullout Roger Wyatt writes from the U.K. ‘ I find your blog enormously stimulating and admire your prolific output. Your comments on the Israeli colonisation of Palestinian land are spot on. During the first Palestinian intifada I was a volunteer at Kibbutz Kissufim just outside the Gaza Strip (ok, at that […]

London Police Shoot Suspected Terror Network Member London plainclothes police were on the trail of a suspected member of a terror network when he bolted in a subway. He was wearing a thick coat in the middle of a humid summer day, and it appears that the police were afraid he might be concealing a […]

The Networks of the London Bombing: Shehzad Tanweer and Jaish-e Muhammad Anger over Guantanamo I have been trying to trace the influences on and organizational contacts of the July 7 bombers in London. Let me start with 22-year-old Shehzad Tanweer of Leeds. His family is originally from a Punjabi village near Faisalabad, Kottan (Chak number […]

20 Dead in Guerrilla Violence Sunnis Pull out of Constitution Drafting Committee Guerrillas abducted two Algerian diplomats on Thursday, in a continuing campaign to isolate the new elected government internationally. All the Sunni members of the Constitution-drafting committee have suspended their membership in the committee and are boycotting its meetings. They protest that the clerical […]