Juan Cole

Muqtada Asks Militiamen to Leave Najaf Creates Party for January Elections Az-Zaman: Muqtada al-Sadr asked his supporters who had headed to Najaf to fight the Americans to now leave the city and return to their own cities only hours after US President George W. Bush announced that the United States does not oppose a political […]

Someone Tell Cheney The 9/11 commission says that there was no link between Iraq and September 11. Duh. But someone tell Dick Cheney, please. He apparently doesn’t read the newspapers, either. Anyone who followed September 11 knew that the money trail went back to Afghanistan via the UAE and Pakistan, and that not a dime […]

Iraq’s Oil Exports Nixed by Basra Sabotage US Commits $2 billion of Past Iraq Oil Revenues

John Kerry for President

Poll: 55% of Iraqis Would feel Safer without US Troops 67% Support Muqtada al-Sadr Associated Press reports a Coalition Provisional Authority poll of Iraqis taken in the middle of May that had only been used internally by the CPA and not released to the US public. The numbers do not reflect well on Bush administration […]

21 Killed, 62 Injured Three big bombs went off in Iraq on Monday. One, in Baghdad, targeted foreign civilian contractors. The 13 dead from that bombing included 1 from the US, 2 from the UK, 1 from France, and 1 from the Philippines. Three worked for General Electric at power plants, and 2 were their […]

Bush’s European Allies Punished by their Publics J. Sean Curtin argues that Bush’s European allies have paid a heavy political price for supporting his Iraq war. Labor did extremely poorly in the European Union voting. Berlusconi’s Forza Italia party also did poorly in that election, as well as suffering losses in local elections. Bush’s friend […]

Marines Visit Fallujah, Cut Deal Az-Zaman: US Marines went into Fallujah on Monday, meeting with General Muhammad Latif, commander of the Fallujah Brigade, and the head of the local governing council, Saadu’llah al-Rawi. They signed an agreement on mutual confidence, with the US undertaking to release 50 Iraqis from Fallujah now in CPA prisons. The […]

Sistani to Consult with Kurds US Seeks Direct talks with Muqtada Az-Zaman: Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani has decided to send a representative to Kurdistan to discuss the differences between him and the Kurdish leadership over Kurdish desires for a loose federalism that would give them substantial autonomy within Iraq. Sistani’s spokesman said that he wanted […]