Juan Cole

Muqtada to Allawi: Resign! In a press conference on Friday, Muqtada al-Sadr called on the caretaker government of Iyad Allawi to resign: “I advise the dictatorial, agent government to resign … the whole Iraqi people demands the resignation of the government … they replaced Saddam (Hussein) with a government worse than him.” Muqtada seemed to […]

Kadhim on the Najaf Crisis Abbas Kadhim, an Iraqi Shiite scholar who knows Najaf intimately, has published an op-ed that questions the common wisdom about the movement of Muqtada al-Sadr. He points out that, despite the claims of some politicians in the Allawi government, Iran is not in fact implicated in the Sadr movement. ‘ […]

Muqtada Wounded by US Bombing Muqtada al-Sadr was wounded by US bombardment of Najaf on Friday morning, according to Reuters. Sadr spokesman Ahmad al-Shinabi told Reuters, “Sayyed Moqtada was wounded in American bombing. He suffered three injuries to his body.” The wounds are not considered life threatening, and are being treated at the Imam Ali […]

223 dead, 500 wounded in clashes across Iraq US marines launch major assault on Najaf The headline, which is perfectly serviceable, is ripped off from a Pakistani newspaper mainly based on Agence France Presse reporting. The story was put to bed before a lot of the Arab newspapers came out Friday morning, so it underestimates […]

Endgame in Najaf? From Arabic and English radio and television broadcasts, including al-Jazeerah: The Marines have completely surrounded Najaf and cut off all the roads leading into the shrine of Imam Ali (Shiite Islam’s St. Peter). US warplanes bombarded positions in the vast Valley of Peace cemetery (2 million graves) again today. At one point […]

Fierce Fighting in Amara Marines Prepare for final Push in Najaf Fresh explosions and machine gun fire rocked Najaf early Thursday morning. On Wednesday, fighting in 5 Iraqi cities (excluding Najaf) left 35 dead and 219 wounded. Amara British military forces attacked Mahdi Army positions in Amarah, killing 20 persons and wounding 78. Fighting raged, […]

Kerry and Bush on Iraq War Bush asked Kerry if he would still have voted for the Iraq War if he had known in fall of 2002 everything he knows now about the non-existence of weapons of mass destruction. Kerry said “yes,” but that he would have handled things differently from Bush, giving the weapons […]

Correction to the NYT re: Sistani Alex Berenson’s otherewise fine article on the situation in Najaf contains an important error. This mistake may well not be Mr. Berenson’s fault. We professional writers know that between the time we submit something and it appears in press, it is massaged, edited and copy-edited, and with all the […]

Mahdi Army Fights on in Najaf, Sadr City The US military pounded Mahdi Army positions in the vast cemetery of Najaf again on Tuesday, with artillery and aerial bombardment. The Americans also began asking the civilian population (ordinarily nearly half a million strong) to leave the city, spurring fears that the US planned another massive […]