Juan Cole

London and Sharm el-Sheikh Investigations British police made a third arrest in their investigation of the July 21 attempted bombings of the London transportation system. They are attempting to reconstruct an al-Qaeda cell that recruited and facilitated the operation of the bombers. The investigation has now been complicated by the killing Friday of an innocent […]

Straw Backs Down on Iraq Link On Sunday, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw backed off his categorical denial that the Iraq war had increased the likelihood of terrorist action against the UK. The assertion was not plausible and cost Straw and PM Tony Blair credibility with the British public. Former foreign secretary Robin Cook was […]

Is Bin Laden Ordering the Bombings around the World? The Washington Post’s Craig Whitlock quotes counter-terrorism experts who are beginning to wonder if Usama Bin Laden is ordering the terrorist attacks in places like Baghdad, London and Egypt. The consensus last spring was that al-Qaeda’s command and control structure had been extensively disrupted by the […]

Sharm el-Sheikh Deaths rise to 88 Al-Qaeda Claims Responsibility The death toll at Sharm el-Sheikh had risen to 88 by late Saturday, with 200 wounded. Most of the dead were Egyptians. The attacks took place on a national holiday to commemorate the 1952 nationalist revolution. The young officers’ Revolutionary Command Council banned the fundamentalist Muslim […]

Aljazeera.net reports that the Sunni Arab walk-out from the constitution drafting committee appears to be ending. The talk is positive that remaining issues can be resolved by August 15. The Jaafari government will provide security to the Sunni members of the constitution writing committee, just as it does to members of parliament. Two Sunni Arab […]

State of Play in Taba Trial Some commentators are wondering if the Taba bombings of last fall are related to the Sharm el-Sheikh atrocity. I thought I’d archive this article about the Taba trial (which begins again on Sunday) below. al-Sharq al-Awsat for July 24 has an article quoting Egyptian Minister of the Interior Habib […]

62 Dead, 150 Wounded in Terror Attack on Egyptian Resort Terrorists placed seven car bombs at various points around the Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh on Friday and detonated them one after another, killing 62 persons and wounding another 150 (numbers as of early morning Saturday). The dead included 17 Egyptian workers at […]

Constitutional Wrangling in Iraq Americans fear Blowback The process of writing the Iraqi constitution is well advanced, and drafts are circulating. But the work has run into snags over some big issues such as federalism, the place of religious law, and the shape of the Kurdistan province. None of us outside observers can figure out […]

Sharon to Condi: F– You! Haaretz reports on US Secretary of State Condi Rice’s visit to Israel: ‘ U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spent Thursday in Jerusalem, where she met with Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom. Rice told Shalom that coordinating the pullout plan with the PA [Palestinian Authority] was critical and must be continued. […]