Juan Cole

Mahdi Army Takes Police Station in Najaf Fighting continued in Najaf on Thursday, though US troops stayed out of it and let the Najaf police chief handle the situation. The Mahdi Army appears to have done severe damage to the police station. There was attendant fighting in Sadr City between the US and radical Shiites […]

Chirac Politely takes on Bush AFP reports that on a number of occasions French president Jacques Chirac exhibited independence from the Bush agenda. He wore a coat and tie at Sea Island, Georgia, despite President Bush’s request for informality. He refused to see NATO troops sent to Iraq. On NATO, according to AP he said […]

Violence in Iraq Insurgents killed 12 Iraqi soldiers of the Fallujah Brigade in Fallujah on Wednesday. This is the first time that insurgents targeted the indigenous Iraqi brigade. It has now been revealed that 10 US troops were wounded in carbomb attacks on Tuesday. Likewise, Mahdi Army irregular attacked Najaf police on Wednesday and Thursday.

Kurdish Anger Rising Update: Although the New York Times alleged Thursday morning that Prime Minister Iyad Allawi had tried to defuse the crisis with the Kurds by committing his government to the TAL or interim constitution, all was still not well in Kurdish-Shiite relations. Deputy PM Barham Saleh got in a snit and went home […]

Political Obituary for the Neocons Paul Richter of the Los Angeles Times has done another political obituary of the neoconservative movement, which has fallen on hard times. He notes that it is highly unlikely that Congress would now confirm Paul Wolfowitz or Douglas Feith for higher office (Wolfowitz had once been rumored as a candidate […]

Torturegate Sources The Wall Street Journal story that set off the furor about White House counsels advising Bush that he could torture people if he wanted to (indeed, that he can do whatever he damn well pleases because he is the king-emperor), is now on the Web. Information wants to be free.

Torturegate, G8, and the Greater Middle East The Wall Street Journal’s revelation of White House counsels’ memoranda permitting what most people would consider torture– on the basis of the president’s position as commander in chief in wartime– is among the most chilling things we have seen from a Bush administration not lacking in chills for […]

UN Resolution Passes Unanimously Sistani the Big Winner; Kurds Furious The United Nations Security Council on Tuesday unanimously approved a new resolution on Iraq granting legitimacy to the caretaker government of Iyad Allawi. The resolution gives the new Iraqi government substantially more sovereignty than had been envisaged by the US in the initial draft, and […]

16 Killed, 144 Wounded in Iraq Violence az-Zaman estimates that 16 persons died in bombings and attacks on Tuesday, and 144 were wounded. Among the dead was a US soldier in Baquba and another in Anbar province. The bombings and attacks took place in Baquba (reported here yesterday), Mosul and Kirkuk. AP’s estimates were somewhat […]