Juan Cole

Has the Shrine been Looted? The shrine of Ali was not only a tomb with an attached mosque. It was also a museum. Since being built in its modern form in the seventeenth century, the shrine has been the recipient of bejewelled swords, glittering gems, and other priceless gifts from Muslim monarchs and notables from […]

Threats to Academic Freedom This important article on the current assaults on academic freedom is a must read.

Continued Violence in Iraq Major violence wracked Najaf again on Saturday. Mahdi militiamen launched mortar shells at US military positions, and they fired back, starting a battle that lasted for about 45 minutes. AC-130s fired their cannons at Mahdi Army positions in the sacred Valley of Peace cemetery near the holy shrine of Ali. There […]

Class, Generation and Neo-Khomeinism Khaled Yacoub Oweis of Reuters has an excellent piece today in which he points out that even if the U.S. can force Muqtada al-Sadr and his men out of the shrine of Ali, they won’t have made a dent in his movement. (Muqtada’s followers are not from Najaf in the main, […]

Explosions in Najaf: Situation Unsettled Reuters is reporting four loud explosions in Najaf early Saturday morning. Heavy fighting continued in both the south and the north of the city until Friday afternoon. Reports Friday that the Mahdi Militia had turned the keys to the shrine of Ali over to aides of Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani […]

Breaking News: Mahdi Army Departs Shrine Al-Jazeerah and the American cable news shows are reporting that Mahdi Army fighters handed over the keys of the Imam Ali shrine in Najaf to a representative of Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani and departed it overnight. Iraqi police are said to have entered the shrine. However, the Mahdi militia […]

Could Najaf Cost Bush the Election? Even though the crisis at the Shrine of Ali seems to have passed, the U.S. military actions in the holy city of Najaf have been deeply unpopular with American Muslims. A politically signficant demonstration was held by Shiite Iraqi-Americans in Dearborn, Michigan, last week. (Despite its size, its leadership […]

US Attacks in Najaf, Sadr City Al-Hayat: The US military launched a two-pronged attack on the Sadrists on Thursday. They attacked in Najaf, but also in East Baghdad or Sadr City. This newspaper speculates that the US realizes that if Muqtada is forcibly removed from the Shrine of Ali, there will be a social explosion […]

What does Muqtada al-Sadr Want? Tom Engelhardt asks hard questions at the indispensable Tomdispatch.com about journalistic language concerning the Iraq crisis. How do we characterize Muqtada al-Sadr? Our military operations in the country? What words to journalists use and how does that affect perceptions? Meanwhile, the Associated Press expresses confusion, both its own, and that […]