Juan Cole

Tel Afar and the North We have not heard much lately about the US campaign in the northern, largely Turkmen city of Tel Afar. The city has been a perennial security problem. There is evidence of local Turkmen guerrilla groups cooperating with Arab guerrillas, and the city seems to be part of an underground railway […]

SCIRI Rejects Negotiations with Baathists Against the backdrop of the London Times report that the Americans are negotiating with Iraqi guerrillas, confirmed recently by US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Gilbert Achcar writes: Excerpt from the lead article on Iraq in Al-Hayat, June 28: The Supreme Council of Islamic Revolution in Iraq (led by Abdul-Aziz […]

Parliamentarian Assassinated Guerrillas assassinated a member of parliament in Baghdad on Tuesday. They cut down Dhari Ali al-Fayadh, along with his son and three bodyguards. Al-Fayadh had run for office as part of the largely Shiite United Iraqi Alliance. The oldest member of parliament, he served as speaker of the house when it first met. […]

Guerrillas Shoot Down US Helicopter Bombings in Baghdad Bush Presses Blair for More Troops Guerrillas using a shoulder-held missile launcher, probably an SA-16, shot down a US Apache helicopter Monday north of Baghdad, killing both servicemen aboard. AP reports, ‘ “Witness Mohammed Naji told Associated Press Television News he saw two helicopters flying toward Mishahda […]

Rumsfeld on Vietnam and Government Secrecy These quotes from Congressman Rumsfeld, circa 1966, are amusing and tragic in retrospect. ‘ A 1966 article in the Chicago Tribune quoted Rumsfeld as saying the following: “The administration should clarify its intent in Viet Nam,’ he said. ‘People lack confidence in the credibility of our government.’ Even our […]

50 Killed in Guerrilla Violence Al-Hakim: Sectarian War Could Engulf Middle East Al-Akhbar: Internationalize Iraq Crisis Guerrilla violence killed at least 50 persons in Iraq on Sunday and left a similar number wounded, according to Al-Sharq al-Awsat. Among the killed was a US soldier killed by roadside bomb in Baghdad (two other US servicemen were […]

It Depends on What “Throes” Is It started when Cheney went on “Larry King Live” last month and said this: ‘ “I think we may well have some kind of presence there over a period of time,” Cheney said. “The level of activity that we see today from a military standpoint, I think, will clearly […]

Al-Hayat on US contacts with AMS Chalabi Favors Timeline for US Withdrawal Gilbert Achcar writes: Quite interesting excerpts from an article written from Baghdad by Basil Muhammad in today’s Al-Hayat, reporting on an interview he made with Abdul-Salam al-Kubaisi, a prominent leading member of the (Sunni) Association of Muslim Scholars (AMS), the most respected Sunni […]

Ahmadinejad Uses Bush’s Tactics Supreme Jurisprudent Ali Khamenei gloated Saturday that the Iranian public had “humiliated” Bush by electing hard liner Mahmud Ahmadinejad as president. But in fact, the campaigning style of the two men suggests that in some ways they are soul mates. Newly elected Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad won in some part by […]