Juan Cole

The Disaster of Destroying the Voice of America Arabic Service Corey Pein in the Columbia Journalism Review writes about the current state of play with regard to “Radio Sawa.” The real tragedy here in my view is that the Voice of America Arabic service was destroyed by Norman Pattiz of Westwood One. The VOA was […]

US Military Tied down by Afghanistan, Iraq The US troops in Afghanistan and Iraq pretty much exhaust the conventional army capacity of the US military (and then some– the reserves are being over-used). This according to Gen. Richard Myers. Washington spinmeisters scrambled to attempt to cover up the contradiction with President Bush’s recent assertion that […]

Jaafari Rethinks Debaathification 23 Killed in Violence Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari caused a major stir with a speech on Monday that seemed to back off the policy of debaathification or the exclusion from high office of former Baath civilian and military officials. Some Shiite parliamantarians were furious. At the same time, Jaafari has been under […]

41 Killed, 76 Wounded in Bombings Among Wounded: 5 US Soldiers The guerrilla campaign of mass violence continued unrelentingly on Sunday. Guerrillas in the far northern, largely Turkmen city of Telafar, sent a car bomb into the midst of a funeral for a just-assassinated local Kurdish leader. The bomb killed 30 mourners and wounded more […]

The Nuclear Option, Algeria and David Hume’s Perfect Commonwealth What has the Algerian Civil War of the 1990s got to do with the dictatorial way the US Senate Republicans have begun acting with regard to judicial appointments? The war pitted secular and religious forces against one another, killing over 100,000 persons in constant village massacres […]

11 Killed, 40 Wounded in Saturday Bomb Marathon Guerrillas detonated at least 5 bombs in Baghdad on Saturday, killing 11 and wounding 40 persons. It was the second day of mayhem in the capital. The Guardian writes, Minutes later, another suicide bomber ploughed into a civilian convoy outside the offices of the National Dialogue Council, […]

50 Killed, 114 Wounded in Coordinated Series of 17 Bombings 3 Americans Killed, 7 wounded The guerrilla movement pulled off a spectacular set of bombings in Iraq on Friday, as though responding decisively to President Bush’s news conference Thursday night in which he said, ” “I believe we’re making really good progress in Iraq . […]

Parliament Approves Cabinet Interior Ministry goes to Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq Al-Jazirah is reporting, early Friday morning, several car bombs in the al-Azamiyah and Salikh neighborhoods of Iraq, which killed at least 10 and wounded dozens. The new Iraqi government was approved by parliament on Thursday, by 180 of 185 MPs in […]

US Soldier, 4 Policemen Killed in Afghanistan by Neo-Taliban Resurgent Taliban forces attacked Afghan police and a US patrol on Wednesday, leaving one American soldier and 4 policemen dead. CNN says the US has 18,000 troops in harm’s way in Afghanistan as well as substantial NATO forces. Bin Laden and al-Zawahiri are at large. Parliamentary […]