Juan Cole

32 Killed in Separate Incidents, Dozens Wounded Foreign Ministry Security Chief Assassinated Wire services report that 32 Iraqis died in violence on Thursday. Guerrillas assassinated the chief of security for the Iraqi foreign ministry as he and colleagues traveled north from Baghdad toward Kirkuk. Two other officials were injured, as their car was sprayed by […]

Iraqi Boys Sodomized at Abu Ghuraib: Hersh Sy Hersh, the journalist who broke the Abu Ghuraib prison torture scandal, told an American Civil Liberties Union audience that film exists of young Iraqi men at Abu Ghuraib being sodomized by US troops. He said, “The boys were sodomised with the cameras rolling, and the worst part […]

Some 22 Killed, Dozens Wounded in Bloody Day in Iraq

How Clean has Blair Come? Although John Edwards argued Wednesday that President Bush had not taken responsibility for the intelligence failures about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction the way that Tony Blair had, there is some question as to how clean Tony himself has come. Bruce Anderson of the Scotsman suggests some ways in which […]

Sadr’s Mahdi Army Regrouping Ann Scott Tyson of the Christian Science Monitor has a fine piece today on how Muqtada al-Sadr’s militia is regrouping and continuing to engage in vigilante practices. There is also an allegation that Iranians are helping re-arm the militia, though the numbers mentioned in Najaf (80) don’t seem to me to […]

American Islam David Crumm, religion correspondent of the Detroit Free Press, has written a highly significant portrait of Sheikh Hasan Qazwini, a key Shiite cleric in Dearborn near Detroit. Qazwini comes across as a complex and innovative figure, struggling to mediate between his tradition (he was born in Karbala, Iraq) and contemporary Michigan modernity. Although […]

Arguing with Bush yet Again President Bush gave a speech on Tuesday in which he made specific claims about how the United States is safer as a result of his military action. I dispute assertions about particular Middle Eastern or South Asian countries. ‘ “The world is changing for the better because of American leadership. […]

7 Die in Green Zone Bombing Olympic Head Avoids Assassination Reuters reports that guerrillas killed at least 7 persons with a car bomb at the entrance of the Green Zone (which houses US and interim Iraqi government personnel. The head of Iraq’s Olympic committee, Ahmad al-Hajiya, barely escaped being killed by a roadside bomb in […]

Iraqi Police Arrest 527 in Dragnet Sistani calls for National Unity Al-Zaman: Iraqi police swept the al-Rusafah quarter of Baghdad on Tuesday, arresting 527 persons suspected of having committed violent crimes or of having been involved in weapons smuggling. They also made arrests of foreigners in the Bab al-Shaikh Quarter. This set of mass arrests […]