Juan Cole

Should Cheney be Fined $275,000? Vice President Dick Cheney shouted “go fuck yourself!” at inoffensive Senator Patrick Leahy, Democrat of Vermont, at a photo opportunity on the Senate floor earlier this week. On Friday he told Fox Cable News, “I expressed myself rather forcefully, felt better after I had done it.” Now, it seems to […]

US Kills 20 in Fallujah Bombing Muqtada condemns Thursday’s Terrorism The US air force bombed Fallujah again on Friday, hitting a safehouse of the al-Tawhid and al-Jihad organization of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and killing 20 fighters. Some reports, apparently based on aerial surveillance, suggested that they just missed Zarqawi. I’m not sure, though, how you […]

Jack Ryan Withdraws from Race Illinois Senate candidate Jack Ryan withdrew from the race on Friday. It had become increasingly clear to him that the allegations he pressured his then wife, actress Jeri Ryan, to attend sex clubs in the 1990s, would dominate the campaign if he tried to remain in it. Former senator from […]

Jaafari: Iraqis Must be in Control Emergency Laws a Possibility Interim Vice President of Iraq, Ibrahim Jaafari, said Friday that emergency laws might be implemented if the security situation demanded it. Jaafari is a leader of the extremely powerful but under-reported al-Dawa Party, a covert Shiite organization organized by cells. AP’s Tarek El-Tablawy is to […]

107 Killed, Including 3 US Soldiers: 321 Hurt in 6 Iraqi Cities Edmund Sanders of the LA Times and AP report that within a six-hour period, guerrillas launched bombings, ambushes and small arms fire in six cities in the Sunni heartland. Three US soldiers were killed, along with 104 others, and 321 were wounded. Those […]

Iraq Allawi Threatened; Attacks at Ramadi Sadr Refuses to Attend National Congress Guerrillas targeted police stations all around Iraq on Wednesday and early Thursday, killing and wounding tens of Iraqis. Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab Zarqawi threatened to assassinate caretaker Iraqi prime minister Iyad Allawi, calling him an “American agent.” Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr announced […]

Religion and Ethics 7 of 9 and the Paris Orgy Science fiction is in the real-world news big time these days. The actress Jeri Ryan, former wife (1990-1998) of currently embattled Republican senate candidate Jack Ryan of Illinois, played the Borg babe 7 of 9 in Star Trek Voyager. For the uninitiated, the plot of […]

2 US Troops Killed; Airstrike on Fallujah; Korean Hostage Killed The Associated Press reports that guerrillas attacked a US military convoy near Balad north of Baghdad, killing two US troops and wounding another. After the body of a Korean hostage was found, the US air force launched yet another air attack, allegedly on a safe […]

British Sailors Held by Iran The Scotsman reports “Foreign Office fury” at Iran’s capture of 8 British sailors when they strayed over to the Iranian side of the Shatt al-Arab. The Shatt is a mile-wide body of water created by the union of the Tigris and Euphrates, which then flows into the Persian Gulf. The […]