Juan Cole

9/11, 7/7 and 8/30 On the fourth-year anniversary of the al-Qaeda attacks on the US, it is important that we take stock of where we stand. We do not stand in a good place. The US military is bogged down in an intractable guerrilla war in Iraq, which most Muslims view as an aggressive neo-imperialism. […]

Tal Afar Stormed Threat of Ethnic Cleansing Grows in Iraq Iraqi troops took the lead in the ground assault in the northern Turkmen city of Tal Afar, in an attempt by the US to showcase newly trained Iraqi army units. The problem is that they are perceived as mostly Shiite, and the Tal Afar campaign […]

Hitchens and Iraq History News Network has reprinted my essay responding to Christopher Hitchens on the Iraq War.

Television Review: The Flight that Fought Back The Discovery Channel is airing a documentary on United Airlines flight 93, which was hijacked and crashed in Pennsylvania on September 11. It will be on 9 pm on Sunday, September 11, and then repeated at 11 pm and at 1 am. I watched it this morning and […]

Private Company Shuts down Baghdad International Airport More violence in Baghdad The steady drumbeat of mayhem continued again on Friday. One bomb in Baghdad killed 4 persons, including three policemen, and wounded 9. There were other assassinations and guerrilla violence elsewhere in the country. Al-Zaman: American forces, both infantry and armor moved further into the […]

Another Winning Formula for Iraq Distinguished Middle East historian William R. Polk writes: ‘ If my comments in my last essay on the suggestion of Scott Gerwehr and Nina Hachigian on how to turn around insurgents “with a little tenderness” depressed you, be of good cheer. All is not lost. I have just read about […]

The Disaster of US Economic Policy in Iraq An informed observer of the Iraq scene writes: ‘ For most constructive purposes, it is not worth adding controversy over the Bush Administration’s economic policy in Iraq and early plans to privatize the economy, including the oil industry. Until after there is an elected constitutional government, there […]

Huge Bomb in Basra Kills 16 14 Bodies Discovered in Mahmudiyah Guerrillas detonated an enormous bomb outside a restaurant in the southern port city of Basra on Thursday, killing 16 persons and wounding 21. Two children were killed in the attack. Basra has occasionally suffered from such guerrilla violence, which is carried out by Salafi […]

Who is the Enemy, Really? My talk at the New America Foundation conference on Terrorism, Security and America’s Purpose is available in streaming video (windows media player). Thanks again to Steve Clemons of the Washington Note blog for his key role in setting it up. And a shout out to Irish blogger Gavin, who blogged […]