Juan Cole

Grand Ayatollahs urge “Yes” Vote Sunni Iraqi Islamic Party attacked Over its acceptance of Constitution Guerrillas managed to launch a few attacks on Wednesday and Thursday as the country began being locked down and cut off from the outside world in preparation for the referendum on Saturday. Mortar fire wounded 8 policemen in Sunni Adhamiyah […]

More WMD Pie in the Sky According to Douglas Jehl of the New York Times, , in a January, 2003 conversation with Tony Blair, George W. Bush said that he “wanted to go beyond Iraq in dealing with WMD proliferation, mentioning in particular Saudi Arabia, Iran, North Korea and Pakistan.” What is odd about this […]

Miller and the Neocons My article on Judith Miller and the neocons is out in Salon.com. Excerpt: ‘ Miller began to uncritically parrot even some of the neocons’ loonier claims. On CNN’s “American Morning With Paula Zahn” for May 14, 2002, Miller explained the controversy that had broken out about allegations that Cuba had a […]

Albin Guest Editorial: From a Japan Model to a Decent Interval Roger Albin of the University of Michigan Medical School writes: ‘ Gilbert Achcar gives the Bush administration too much credit. This is not a divide and rule effort. The initial Bush plan (if you can call anything formulated so poorly a plan) was modeled […]

Iraq Anarchy Grows Constitution Deal May attract IIP Veteran British reporter Robert Fisk, according to the Independent, finds much of Iraq to have significantly deteriorated since his last visit and to be in a “state of anarchy” and found it bizarre for the Western press to focus on procedural matters like the referendum on the […]

46 Killed in Guerrilla Attacks Compromise on Constitution accepted by IIP 46 persons were killed by guerrilla bombings and attacks on Tuesday and dozens wounded. A big bombing at Tal Afar killed 30 and another 10 were killed in Baghdad. The Shiites and Kurds have agreed that the newly elected parliament after December 15 will […]

Achcar Guest Editorial: Gulliver in Iraq Gilbert Achcar writes ‘1) Gulliver in Iraq—-for how long? US Ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, best epitomizes the actual status of the US occupation of Iraq, which looks more and more indeed, in its relation to Iraqi Shiites and Sunnis, like Gulliver among Lilliputians and Blefuscudans (Google shows that […]

18 Killed Arab League Convoy Attacked Last Minute Negotiations on Constitution Guerrilla violence killed 18 persons in Iraq on Monday, including one US GI. Protesters in Ramadi said they had not yet seen the offical text of the constitution and think the government is conspiring to keep it from them, according to the Washington Post. […]

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 […]