Juan Cole

Saddam Blames Bush The brief appearance of Saddam Hussein in the courtroom on Wednesday was marked by his arrogance and intimidating style of speech. He ran circles around the 40-year-old prosecuting judge who tried to take his deposition. Saddam said that the whole proceeding was aimed at helping Bush win the elections in November. He […]

Iraqi Reaction to “Transfer of Sovereignty” The Al-Ahram Weekly, the leading Egyptian organ of news and opinion in English, has published a special issue in which it asked Iraqi writers and intellectuals to respond to the events of this past week. The American press almost never gives us canny, informed Iraqi voices like these, and […]

11 US Troops Wounded; Car Bomb in Samawah The Associated Press reports that guerrillas pounded a U.S. base near Baghdad airport with mortar shells, wounding 11 US soldiers. The shelling started a fire on base that burned for an hour. In the southern city of Samawah, guerrillas detonated a car bomb outside the police HQ. […]

The New Improved Iraq My essay about the so-called transfer of sovereignty in Iraq is now available online at In These Times. An excerpt: The so-called transition to sovereignty for Iraq set for June 30 [actually held on June 28] has been trumpeted as a turning point by the Bush administration. It is hard to […]

Rashid Khalidi’s talk at UCLA, “Government Attacks on Area Specialists Called Disservice to U.S. Middle East Policy,” is absolutely essential reading. Khalidi covers the group-think at the Pentagon, the exclusion and intimidation of State Department Middle East experts, the willful disregard by the Rumsfeld/Wolfowitz/Feith crew of Middle East expertise generally, and the recent attempt to […]

3 US Marines Killed, 2 Injured; 2 Police Officers Killed in Continued Iraq Violence on Tuesday The Associated Press reports: Guerrillas killed three U.S. Marines and wounded two others with a roadside bomb in southeast Baghdad on Tuesday, damaging their Humvee. Also in Baghdad, guerrillas attacked a US patrol in the upscale Sunni Azamiyah district. […]

US Soldier Kept Hostage by Guerrillas is Killed The killing of Spc. Keith Matthew Maupin by guerrillas in Iraq marks the potential beginning of a new tactic in the Iraq war. For the most part, it is hard for the guerrillas to wreak much real damage on US troops in the country, who are well […]

Bremer Flees Iraq Two Days Early Paul Bremer suddenly left Iraq on Monday, having “transferred sovereignty” to the caretaker Iraqi government two days early. It is hard to interpret this move as anything but a precipitous flight. It is just speculation on my part, but I suspect that the Americans must have developed intelligence that […]

Fallujah Nir Rosen’s brave and essential reporting from Fallujah in the New Yorker is a must read. A taste: ‘ A young boy from Najaf wearing a pressed white shirt tucked neatly into bluejeans walked up to the lectern, and the microphone was lowered to accommodate him. The boy raised his right arm, pointing his […]