Juan Cole

Jaafari slams Hilary Stephen Farrell reports for the London Times that a minor tiff occurred last week between Senator Hilary Clinton and prime ministerial candidate Ibrahim Jaafari: ‘ Last week Hillary Clinton, the New York senator, visiting Baghdad, said that there were “grounds both for concern and for . . . vigilance” about Dr al-Jaafari’s […]

Chalabi is Prevailed upon to Withdraw It turns out that the other members of the United Iraqi Alliance prevailed on Ahmad Chalabi to drop his bid to become candidate for prime minister. It is not clear if Jaafari, the winner, promised him anything in return for stepping down. AP suggests he might be a deputy […]

Breaking News: Jaafari PM Candidate for UIA Well, the United Iraqi Alliance just announced that Ibrahim Jaafari has won out against Ahmad Chalabi. Jaafari’s victory is not a surprise, since he was backed by the two core parties in the UIA, the Dawa Party and the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq. [I had […]

3 US Troops Dead, 8 Wounded 18 Iraqis Killed Wire services reported that ‘ Twenty-two people including four US soldiers have died in a series of attacks in Iraq since Sunday evening, while a journalist, her son, and three men working for the US military have been kidnapped, according separate security sources and a statement […]

UIA Will Hold Secret Ballot Chalabi, Allawi Still in Running for PM The Shiite religious coalition, the United Iraqi Alliance, will hold a secret ballot within the list to decide on a prime ministerial candidate, according to AP. This move is a sign that neither Ibrahim Jaafari nor Chalabi could win by consensus. Jaafari should […]

Basra Council Dominated by Fundamenatlists Ash-Sharq al-Awsat: The results have been announced for Basra province. The city of Basra alone has 1.2 million inhabitants, so this is a major province, and is largely Shiite. Fundamentalist Shiite parties gained 85 percent of the seats. The United Iraqi Alliance won 20 seats, or 49 percent. The Islamic […]

Back Channels The US military has established back-channel negotiations with some of the leaders of the Sunni Arab guerrilla war, according to Time magazine. Earlier on, the US had refused such negotiations. Ahmad Chalabi was clearly angered by these talks, and said on US television on Sunday that the new Iraqi government would not be […]

Abu Ghraib in Brooklyn Larry Cohler-Esses of the New York Daily News reveals that Abu Ghraib has been going on in the United States itself. Five Israeli suspects and dozens of Muslim ones apprehended after September 11 were subjected to humiliation, stripped, left in the cold, and generally treated with cruelty. None of the arrestees […]

How Many Methods Are There to Enact a New Constitution in Iraq? Guest Editorial by Andrew Arato Many commentators keep repeating a fundamentally erroneous statement, namely that Sunni part of the population unrepresented in the National Assembly is to an important extent protected in the Iraqi political process because a new constitution can be adopted […]