Juan Cole

Sistani Calls for Independent Slate AFP/ ash-Sharq al-Awsat report that a spokesman for Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani said Monday that the spiritual leader supports the formation of a committee of “independents” to form a party ticket to contest the elections scheduled for January. Hamid al-Khaffaf said at a gathering at the Sadr Center in Najaf […]

15 Dead, 52 wounded in Iraq Violence Al-Zaman says that violence killed 15 and left 52 persons injured in a series of explosions and attacks on Sunday and Monday, in Baghdad, Mosul, Baqubah, al-Hillah and Tikrit. AP reports that In Mosul on Monday, a car bomber ran into a civilian convoy, leaving one dead and […]

Over a Dozen Police Killed, Nearly 2 Dozen Wounded Reuters reports that guerrillas detonated a car bomb on Sunday near a Baghdad cafe frequented by Iraqi police, killing seven persons and wounding 20. The police were having their evening meal to break the fast during Ramadan. On Saturday, guerrillas had opened fire south of Baghdad […]

Tawhid Joins al-Qaeda On the internet site of Monotheism and Holy War (al-Tawhid wa al-Jihad), the group allegedly declared, “We announce that the Tawhid and Jihad Group, its prince and soldiers, have pledged allegiance to the sheikh of the mujahideen Osama bin Laden.” This pledge is a new development. Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and his group […]

Will Tested of Coalition of the Willing Between 20,000 and 75,000 protesters came out in London to march against US presence in Iraq. The Bush Administration appears to have asked the British to deploy some 650 troops up from relatively quiet Basra to the hot spot of Baghdad, where they would serve under a US […]

Suskind on Bush: “I can Fly!” Ron Suskind’s profile of George W. Bush reminded me eerily of Mao Zedong, the leader of the Chinese Communist Party. Suskind portrays Bush as filled with unwarranted certainty, sure that God is speaking and working through him, and convinced that decisive action shapes reality in ways that make it […]

Is Bush Shortchanging our Troops? The refusal of 19 reservists of the 43rd Quartermaster Company in Tallil to take fuel up to Taji north of Baghdad sheds significant light on issues that have come up in the presidential debates. As Eric Brunner-Williams notes, “It appears that they disobayed an illegal order, to conduct routine logistics […]

Jailed for Blogging I received this message from on an email network I subscribe to. ‘ Omid Memarian, Iranian writer and journalist, weblogger and social activist was arrested on Sunday. According to his brother, who provided a report to ISNA, Omid was arrested in his work place and then taken to his home, where his […]

More Bombs, and a Minor Mutiny Did they or didn’t they? Contradictory reports fly about the apparent mutiny of some troops in Iraq. Apparently they were ordered to take a convoy north with no air cover, and thought this was a very bad idea. Violence continued in Iraq on Friday, with a spectacular car bomb […]