Juan Cole

A Government of War Criminals A Press of Agents Provocateurs A Bureaucracy of Foreign Spies Just reading ordinary press reports on the state of government and the press in Washington is like stepping into Orwell’s 1984. The Attorney General authorizes torture, the president orders it with weasel words, and the press acquiesces, mostly not even […]

110 Shiites Dead in 2 Days Talabani Blasts Jaafari for Illegalities AP reports that guerrilla violence in Iraq has taken the lives of 110 Shiites in two days. Sounds like a sectarian civil war to me. Al-Zaman/ AFP/ DPA: Iraq’s president, Jalal Talabani, launched charges on Friday against Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari of having contravened […]

85 Shiites Dead at Balad in Carbombings 5 US Troops Killed at Ramadi Friday morning, al-Jazeerah is reporting at least 10 dead and more wounded in a market in the Shiite city of Hilla south of Baghdad, as a result of a car bombing. This incident probably involved Sunni Arab guerrillas from the mixed Babil […]

Fayyad in Baghdad: It is no Longer Baghdad Al-Sharq al-Awsat carries a long, anguished and meditative piece by Maad Fayyad, an Arab journalist normally based in London, on the occasion of his return to Baghdad for the third time since the US invasion. I don’t have time to translate the entire thing, but perhaps he […]

You will be Democratic, Or Else! Nearly 3/4s of Americans are now skeptical about the use of force to spread democracy. The idea that the US should simply invade countries, overthrow their governments and impose “democracy” on them was championed by a coalition of American nationalists and rightwing Zionists in Washington in 2001-2003, was promoted […]

The American Street Speaks My article is out in Salon.com, The “American street” speaks: Will the Democratic Party listen? The lede is: “As more and more Americans turn against Bush’s Iraq war, Democratic politicians remain silent. Their play-it-safe strategy isn’t just cowardly, it also won’t work.” Excerpt: ‘ In a mid-September CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll, about […]

Bombings in Tal Afar, Baghdad, Najaf Iraq is not World War II Someone detonated a bomb outside the house of Muqtada al-Sadr in Najaf around 7 pm Wednesday Iraq time. The blast killed six, including a security guard. Among the bombings and shootings on Wednesday was a bombing in Dora, a district of Baghdad, that […]

Iran and Iraq Muhsin al-Hakim “Horrified” at British Assault in Basra Muhsin al-Hakim, the son of Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, spoke out in Tehran about the British attack on a Basra jail. Abdul Aziz al-Hakim is widely underestimated, but he is the leader of the majority party coalition in parliament as well as of one of […]

Guest Editorial: Achcar on “Iraq Developments” “Iraq developments” by Gilbert Achcar ‘ 1) The Saudi Kingdom and Iraq The last weeks and days have seen intensive campaigning by the Saudi Kingdom on the issue of Iraq, preceding US decisions on cooperation with the Kingdom. The campaign’s highlight has been the Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud […]