Juan Cole

Did the Elections Make things Worse? Hannah Allam of Knight Ridder raises the question of whether the January 30 elections made the situation in Iraq worse. Allam writes, “Two weeks of intense insurgent violence have made it crystal clear that Iraq’s parliamentary elections, hailed in late January as a triumph for democracy, haven’t helped to […]

Afghan Newspaper: US Must Apologize for Koran Desecration More Deaths in Demonstrations on Friday An Afghan newspaper has said that the US must apologize for the desecration of the Koran alleged to have happened at Guantanamo prison. This is correct. President Bush should just come out and say that this allegation appeared in Newsweek; that […]

Koran Protests Spread, Reach Indonesia Backed by Afghan Clerics Afghan clerics supported demonstrations against the alleged US military desecration of the Koran as a way of breaking radical Muslim prisoners at Guantanamo. They asked demonstrators, however, to avoid violence. Hundreds of Muslims protested in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta. There were also rallies in other […]

7 US Troops Dead Thursday Bombing Toll 21 Dead, 70 Wounded ON Thursday near Qaim, a US armored vehicle was hit by a bomb, which killed 4 and wounded 10. The Washington Post’s Knickmeyer gives a sense of what the deaths mean to a Marine squad, which has been devastated. Three other US troops were […]

Afghanistan, Pakistan Protests against US Koran Blasphemy Spread The NYT reports that protests in Afghanistan against the alleged US desecration of the Koran spread on Thursday. One student was killed and 4 were wounded in Chak, in Wardak, as police fired on protesters. There were other village demonstrations. A large group of Logiani tribespeople was […]

Brigadier Assassinated, Another Bomb in Baghdad The London Times Online reports that guerrillas detonated another bomb in a market in East Baghdad, killing 17 and wounding 80, catching up 8 cars and a bus in the huge blast. The explosion at a fertilizer plant in Basra, which also set an oil pipeline on fire, is […]

American Blasphemy Against Koran Sparks Riot, Protests in Afghanistan, Pakistan The Guardian reports that news (from Newsweek) that US soldiers desecrated the Koran–and at one point flushed pages of it down the toilet as a technique for humiliating and breaking detainees at Guantanamo–has provoked a second day of protests and then rioting in Jalalabad, this […]

76 Killed on Wednesday Alone in Iraq Huge Basra Blast The final death toll for victims of bombings in Iraq on Wednesday alone was 76, according to AFP. It adds: “In another incident, 45 people were hurt in a blast at a fertilizer plant near the southern town of Basra though it was not clear […]

50 Dead, 90 Wounded in Iraq Bombings on Wednesday Morning Qaim Campaign Continues On Wednesday morning, a suicide bomber in a car detonated his payload near a market in Tikrit, killing 27 persons and wounding 70. Reuters adds that guerrillas struck two further times early on Wednesday: “In the town of Hawija, southwest of the […]