Juan Cole

Oil Workers Mobilize Iran Poised to Help with Reconstruction Greg Muttit of the Guardian reports that the Iraqi oil workers’ union is gearing up to fight any attempt to privatize the Iraqi oil industry. Since it can shut down oil production at will, it is a fight the union is likely to win. The watermelon […]

9 Dead in Tuz Khurmatu Bombing Deputy Governor of Diyala Assassinated in Baqubah Poisoned Watermelons Iraq looked more and more like a macabre horror film on Wednesday, as the Iraqi military announced that someone distributed poisoned watermelon to its troops at a Mosul checkpoint, killing one and making 12 others ill. This according to Deutsche […]

Warring Visions of Iraqi Federalism “Sumer” Rises in South Al-Hayat says that its sources in Iraq describe an ongoing dispute between the Kurds, who want an Iraqi federalism that gives “states’ rights” only to Kurdistan but not to other provinces, and the Shiites, who want a federalism that would apply geographically throughout the country. The […]

Women’s Demonstration in Egypt Women demonstrated in Cairo on Wednesday as part of a general protest by journalists and other oppositionists. They maintain that they were manhandled by Egyptian security forces during a demonstration last week during a popular referendum. The question in the referendum was whether other parties should be able to field candidates […]

Fallujah Film The Italian magazine Diario has posted to its web site a film of Fallujah made by Iraqis (apparently by Iraqi government workers sent in to help with clean-up) in early January of 2005, at a time when the international press was excluded from the city. Note that the links to the video are […]

The Iraqization of Afghanistan A suicide bomber walked into the Abd al-Rabb Mosque in the southwestern city of Qandahar, Afghanistan, at 9 am Wednesday morning and detonated his payload, killing nearly 20 and wounding dozens. The mosque was holding a commemoration for a slain cleric, killed last week, who opposed the Taliban. The bombing comes […]

The Good Israelis Revered Israeli news anchor Haim Yavin has made a five-part documentary on the Israeli colonization of the Palestinian West Bank and Gaza Strip since 1967, concluding that it has harmed Israel. He says, “Since 1967, we have been brutal conquerors, occupiers, suppressing another people.” He adds, “My intention was to get the […]

9 Dead in Crashes Jaafari Pledges not to Contravene Islamic Law A bomb wounded three on the road to the airport from Baghdad. The bombers had been gunning for a US military convoy. In Fallujah, a bomb destroyed a car. (-LBC) Al-Hayat: The body of the governor of Anbar province, Nawaf Raja al-Mahallawi was discovered. […]

31 Dead, 108 Wounded in Hillah Blasts Basra Insecure Suicide bombers in the Shiite city of Hillah about an hour’s drive south of Baghdad killed at least 31 persons and wounded 108 on Monday. Al-Zaman says one bomber targeted recruits to the Iraqi security forces standing in line for a medical examination. Another hit recently […]