Juan Cole

Chalabi Arrest Warrants A three-judge panel on Sunday issued a warrant for the arrests of Ahmad Chalabi and his nephew Salem Chalabi. Ahmad Chalabi was in Iran as part of an Iraqi trade mission at the time of the announcement, and says he will come back to contest the charges. The timing is suspicious, however, […]

CNN Transcripts on Khan Case From CNN Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer, Sunday August 8: ‘ BLITZER: Let’s talk about some of the people who have been picked up, mostly in Pakistan, over the last few weeks. In mid-July, Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan. There is some suggestion that by releasing his identity here in the […]

CNN on Khan Scandal: Has it Prevented the Capture of Bin Laden? The story of how the Bush administration prematurely outed Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan, a double agent working for Pakistan against al-Qaeda, has finally hit cable television news. MSNBC picked up the story on Saturday. On Sunday at around 12:30 pm, Wolf Blitzer’s show […]

Bush Outing of Khan and the Faustian Bargain David Johnston of the New York Times tried to get further details of the Bush administration outing of Pakistani double agent Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan. But he was stonewalled when he called his Bush administration contacts: “American officials contacted on Saturday would not confirm that Mr. Khan […]

Continued Shiite Clashes with US Najaf Since the recent round of fighting began in Najaf, 5 US Marines have been killed and 12 wounded in Najaf governorate. AFP reports that hundreds of Najaf families streamed out of the city on Saturday, terrified of the heavy warfare being fought all around them. The US has aerially […]

Sistani’s Trip to the UK Fayyad Likely Successor Ma`d Fayyad of Ash-Sharq al-Awsat reveals some of the background to Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani’s trip to the UK. He says that it has been in the works for some time, and that British authorities knew about the plan for the ayatollah to come to London as […]

Did the Bush Administration Burn a Key al-Qaeda Double Agent? Simon Cameron-Moore and Peter Graff of Reuters reveal the explosive information that the Bush administration blew the cover Monday of double agent Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan. On Sunday August 1, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge announced a new alert against an al-Qaeda plot concerning fincial […]

US Attack “Uncivilized”: Jafari Fresh Violence in Sadr City 15 US Soldiers Wounded, 3 Dead in recent Fighting Before I go over the details, here is my reading of what is going on in Najaf. The truce between the Mahdi Army and US/ Iraqi forces broke down because they had different ideas of what the […]

Italians Battle Sadrists in Nasiriyah Late wire services on Friday afternoon in the US report that Nasiriyah was quiet after fighting earlier. Reader Anne Aldridge kindly summarizes a recent ANSA report from Rome on the situation earlier Friday: Intense combat is under way at Nasiriya between the Moqtada al Sadr militia and Italian military that […]