Juan Cole

Gang Fight in Karbala over Elections Al-Karbala’i: Voter Registration Cards Fall Short Al-Hayat: The first victim of the electoral campaign in Iraq fell on Saturday in Karbala after a shouting match deteriorated into a knife fight between followers of Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani and the cleric, Mahmud al-Husaini. Al-Husaini, who studied with Muhammad Sadiq al-Sadr […]

More on Massad Case There is now another petition site for Professor Joseph Massad of Columbia University. Darryl Li of Harvard sends in the following: “Friends and Colleagues, Many of you are probably aware of the campaign against Joseph Massad, an assistant professor in the Middle East studies department of Columbia University, by a pro-Israel […]

24 Dead in Samarra Guerrillas in Samarra detonated three car bombs on Friday, killing some 24 persons and wounding dozens. The guerrillas targeted national guards’ outposts, policemen, and US troops. Samarra had been the target of a US military assault similar to that now being undertaken against Fallujah. The US had given assurances that it […]

Annan Condemns US Assault on Fallujah It seems to me that Kofi Annan’s letter attempting to forestall a US levelling of Fallujah puts the Allawi caretaker government, which rejected it, in a potential dilemma. The caretaker government was appointed by an envoy of Mr. Annan, so if he lacks the standing to speak out on […]

Al-Qubanji: Give us Indepencence AFP/ Ash-Sharq al-Awsat: Sadr al-Din al-Qubanji, a Friday prayers leader in Najaf, called on Persident George W. Bush on Friday to keep the promises he had made to the Iraqis, of “independence and the return of sovereignty.” He demanded, at the same time, that Iraq not be turned into an arena […]

Levine Guest Editorial: “We’re all Israelis Now.” We’re all Israelis Now By Mark LeVine, History, University of California, Irvine Author of Why they Don’t Hate Us: Globalization in a Post-9/11 World. Three years ago, as the pungent odor of what was left of the World Trade Center slowly pervaded my neighborhood, I wrote a piece […]

Meet Bubba Readers argued with me about this during the Democratic primary, but I maintained then that I thought it would be very difficult for a non-Southern Democratic candidate to get any southern state, and that without any of the South it would be difficult to win the election. Since Jack Kennedy was shot in […]

1 US Soldier Killed Guerrillas employed a roadside bomb to kill a US soldier near Salman Pak on Wednesday, and wounded one other. Ash-Sharq al-Awsat reports that guerrilas used a car bomb, which exploded on the road, killing or wounding 8 in the southeast corner of Bahgdad. AP summarizes the two incidents Thursday morning: ‘ […]

Fallujah and Allawi’s Fate Tom Lasseter of Knight Ridder reviews the pros and cons of the coming US attack on Fallujah for caretaker Prime Minister Allawi. If the attack is swift and successful, Allawi will be strengthened. If it is prolonged, the protests within Iraq and in the Arab world could mount and cause a […]