Juan Cole

100,000 Sadrists March Against Constitution Reuters reports that Muqtada al-Sadr’s supporters rallied in 8 cities on Friday, totaling a hundred thousand demonstrators in all. They chanted against the new constitution, which they characterized as an American-authored document. They also complained about lack of electricity and other services. Al-Sadr’s followers rallied in Kufa, Najaf,Baghdad (Sadr City), […]

Constitution’s Fate Unclear Al-Jazeera early Saturday morning is reporting that some sort of deal has been reached with the Sunni Arabs on the constitution, but the situation is so muddled that I cannot be sure it is a firm agreement. [It was just talk, coming from speaker of the parliament, Hajim al-Hasani. The saga goes […]

The Iraqi Constitution and the Sunni Arabs My article in Salon.com is “The Iraqi constitution: DOA?” Angry and marginalized, Sunnis are threatening to torpedo Iraq’s constitution. Disaster looms, and the Bush administration’s blunders are largely to blame. See also Phillip Robertson’s touching article in Salon on the death of culture in Baghdad in the conditions […]

Death Toll of 52 as Constitution Talks Fizzle The Iraqi Parliament did not actually meet Thursday to vote on the draft constitution. Edmund Sanders of the LA Times reports ” Thursday’s talks at the Green Zone residence of Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani broke down around 10 p.m. when Sunni negotiators walked out, according to participants. […]

At Least 34 Dead, Dozens Wounded Guerilla Platoon Attacks Police in Baghdad Bloody Shiite on Shiite Clashes in the South Forty guerrillas in Baghdad launched a coordinated attack on police that included suicide bombings, killing 15 and wounding 56. It is always worrisome when you see a whole platoon of guerrillas operating openly in daylight […]

Steven Vincent Case I am reposting here with commentary my comments of 8 August about Colin Freeman’s story in the Telegraph concerning the murder of art journalist Stephen Vincent in Basra. Below, I also reprint part of the Freeman article. I am clarifying my remarks because Vincent’s widow is circulating a misleading characterization of them. […]

23 Dead in Violence Sunni Arabs Threaten Popular Uprising over Constitution Al-Hayat: Guerrilla violence left 23 Iraqis dead on Tuesday, among them 16 policemen. In addition. guerrillas bombed an American-Iraqi [military] Coordination Center in the northeastern city of Baqubah, leaving 2 Americans dead and as many as 9 other persons wounded. Reuters has some details […]

Coup in Baghdad Unfinished Constitution Presented, vote Delayed According to the interim constitution, the permanent constitution should have been presented to parliament and passed by August 15. There should have been two readings of it, two days apart, before the vote. Otherwise, parliament should have been dissolved and new elections called. Parliament avoided this fate […]

Achcar on Cole Proposals for Withdrawal of US Ground Troops ‘ Dear Juan, As a regular reader and occasional contributor to your blog, which I believe is doing a real service to all those concerned with the situation in Iraq, and as an activist in the antiwar movement, I feel it necessary to comment on […]