Juan Cole

Split among Shiites on Elections 9 Iraqis Killed in Bombings, Shootings A suicide bomber killed 7 persons at Siniyah near Baiji, five of them national guardsmen. Another national guard was found dead near Fallujah, a warning pinned to his body against cooperating with the US. Clashes and desultory fighting continued in Samarra north of Baghdad […]

Bush Responds to Criticism on Tsunami The Bush administration scrambled to repair the diplomatic damage done by the relative insouciance with which it had confronted the massive tsunami of last Sunday. The administration raised the aid now promised to an initial pledge of $350 million, and Bush arranged to send his brother Jeb with Secretary […]

Tsunami toll rises above 125,000 On very early Friday morning, Reuters was reporting that the death toll in Sunday’s tsunami had now climbed to 125,000. I have a feeling that it will mount yet higher. Some are saying that the toll in Indonesia alone may be 80,000 or more. As relief workers reach some coastal […]

Death and Death Threats in Iraq Some 15 Iraqis were killed in various violent incidents on Thursday, and two Lebanese businessmen were kidnapped. Dawn reports: “Three border policemen were gunned down in Baquba, north of Baghdad, while on leave, and the son of local police chief was kidnapped. In the capital, an Iraqi army officer […]

Pipes Favors Concentration Camps That the Revisionist-Zionist extremist Daniel Pipes has fond visions of rounding up Muslim Americans and putting them in concentration camps isn’t a big surprise. That a mainstream American newspaper would publish this David-Dukeian evil is. Of course, this is also a man that President Bush appointed to a temporary vacancy at […]

Platform of the United Iraqi Alliance The Iraqi newspaper “al-Adalah” published on Dec. 23 the platform of the United Iraqi Alliance, the mainly Shiite coalition sponsored by Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani. It was translated by BBC World Monitoring. Since this party very likely will dominate parliament, it is worth looking at the platform. First, the […]

Christian-Muslim Violence in Egypt In upper Egypt, a Muslim young man is dead after clashes between Muslims and Christians in a village in Minya province. There are said to be 20,000 Muslims and 500 Coptic Christians in Dimsha Hashim, and the Christians have to travel a couple of miles to the nearest church. Apparently one […]

Clashes in Mosul, Samarra The massive bomb in Baghdad that killed 30 persons and wounded 25 the night of Tuesday- Wednesday turns out to have been an ambush. Guerrillas contacted the Iraqi police, told them the house was a safe house, and when the police approached, they blew it up. They also flattened ten houses […]

Bush and the Tsunami The transcript of President George W. Bush’s remarks on the Tsunami is now available. After days of silence and invisibility, Bush finally came out on Wednesday to address perhaps the greatest natural disaster of our times. He said he had called four heads of state to express his condolences and was […]