Juan Cole

16 Killed, 39 Wounded in Guerrilla Violence Foreign Jihadis Target Shiite Badr Corps Al-Zaman: A statement attributed to Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has announced the formation of a radical Sunni “Umar Brigades” to target the Shiite “Badr Corps”. His group also threatened to execute Egyptian diplomat Ihab Sherif for “apostasy” from Islam. (Radical Salafis […]

103 Iraqi Parliamentarians Demand Withdrawal of US Troops Gilber Achcar kindly shares his translation of an al-Hayat article: ‘[More than] 103 MPs Demand a Timetable for the Withdrawal of Foreign Troops Baghdad – Abdel-Wahed Tohmeh – Al-Hayat, July 4, 2005 103 members of the [ 275-member] National Assembly (the Parliament) have demanded the adoption of […]

More on Exit Strategies An informed reader writes, regarding the issue of an exit strategy from Iraq: ‘ First, most reasonable proposals run up against the immovable object of the Bush admin’s unwillingness to admit that it has been wrong about four things – its stated reasons for going to war, the evidence that it […]

Dulaimi to Iran: No attack by US from Iraq AMS Repudiates Call for Sunni Votes Al-Hayat reports that Iraqi Minister of Defense Saadoun Dulaimi is now in Iran for consultations with his opposite number, in preparation for the visit next week of Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari to Tehran. Sources close to Jaafari told al-Hayat that […]

Russia, China, Central Asia Call for US Withdrawal The members of something called the Shanghai Cooperation Council are trying to push the United States back out of Central Asia. The SCO consists of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, China, and Russia. The US essentially came into their territories or spheres of influence in 2001 to prosecute […]

Bahrain Diplomat Wounded in Baghdad Bombing Near Iran Embassy The Bahraini charge d’affaires in Baghdad was shot in the hand while he was on his way to work Tuesday morning. He was taken to Yarmouk Hospital. This was likely an assassination attempt by guerrillas. Guerrillas also set off a bomb that targeted a US convoy […]

British Operations in Southern Iraq A British reservist writes: With regard to your recent comment regarding the South of Iraq: “Most of that area has fallen into the hands of religious Shiite militias anyway, and I doubt the British get out of their barracks all that much.” I returned last April from Basra after serving […]

Legalistic War A US military reader in Iraq writes: You wrote “These incidents show a benefit to the guerrillas of their car bomb attacks on US convoys, insofar as they create an atmosphere in which US soldiers and marines tend to shoot first and ask questions later, alienating ever more Iraqis by killing innocents”. ‘ […]

Egyptian Envoy Kidnapped Sunni Arab Demonstrations against SCIRI in Tikrit, Baghdad The chief of mission of the Egyptian embassy in Iraq was kidnapped late Saturday when he drove out to buy a newspaper, by two carloads of guerrillas who pistol-whipped him and accused him of being an American agent. Egypt was pressured by the US […]