Juan Cole

Al-Zawahiri, Bush and Aljazeera In the miscellaneous department, Ayman al-Zawahiri, the number two man in al-Qaeda, released a video tape Thursday that was shown on Aljazeera. At least in the afternoon and evening, what was interesting was that Aljazeera led with President Bush’s reactions to the new tape. Only after extensively reporting and translating his […]

Fool me once, shame on you Fool me–can’t get fooled again The bizarre report by Jim Miklaszewski of NBC news that US military sources are saying Iran is the source of more sophisticated bombs used by Sunni Arab guerrillas in Iraq seems so unbelievable because it is. Poor Jim is the victim of a high-level […]

Vietnam-Speak in Iraq Military historian Tom Collier writes with regard to the killing of 14 Marines in Anbar province with a huge improvised explosive device: ‘ There seem to be two developments in Iraq that are “more than eerily Vietnam speak.” The first is the increasing use of bigger and better mines: bundled 155mm artillery […]

Constitutional Changes in the Iraqi National Assembly Guest Editorial byAndrew Arato It seems there are important changes about to be enacted by the Constitutional National Assembly in Iraq. And the direction of change favors the Arab Sunnis at the expense of the Kurds. This may be the last time when a more enlightened Kurd approach […]

14 Marines Killed Islam a Main Source in Constitution Guerrillas in Western Iraq killed 14 Marines with a huge roadside bomb on Wednesday. The guerrillas are deploying more powerful explosives in their roadside bombs, and are also “shaping” them to pierce armored vehicles. These tactics suggest that they are succeeding in getting hold of more […]

Straw Admits Coalition Troops a Problem Seven Marines Killed in Western Iraq At Least 41 Others Killed Tuesday First the Polish Prime Minister didn’t have the talking points from Karl Rove. Now the UK Foreign Minister, Jack Straw, has had an attack of frankness: ‘ First there is Iraq. “Things are not good there at […]

Fisking the “War on Terror” Once upon a time, a dangerous radical gained control of the US Republican Party. Reagan increased the budget for support of the radical Muslim Mujahidin conducting terrorism against the Afghanistan government to half a billion dollars a year. One fifth of the money, which the CIA mostly turned over to […]

20 Bodies Found Another 5 US Troops Killed 68 Attacks on US and Coalition Forces Per Day The bodies of twenty men were found in black bags in southwest Baghdad on Monday. They had beards and may have been Sunni Muslim militants. [Knight Ridder is now identifying them as Shiites.] There has been a behind […]

Good Muslim, Bad Muslim, Moderate Muslim? Guest Editorialby Mark LeVineProf. Dept of History UC Irvine, author, Why They Don’t Hate Us: Lifting the Veil on the Axis of Evil (Oneworld Publications, 2005) ‘ Just over two years ago I organized a forum of leading younger Muslim activists at the Central University in Budapest. Among those […]