Juan Cole

17 Dead, Dozens Wounded as Iraqi South Erupts 2 US Troops Killed, 5 Wounded in Najaf Alex Berenson of the New York Times reports that the young radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has called for a jihad or holy war against Coalition troops. Heavy fighting broke out between Mahdi Army fighters in Najaf, where the […]

Clinton on the Five Threats Facing US Bill Clinton said in a radio interview on Thursday that the Bush administration had made a grave mistake by turning US security with regard to al-Qaeda over to Pakistan while concentrating its own efforts on a low-level threat like Iraq. The former president listed the security threats to […]

Presbyterians Against Settler Colonialism The Presbyterian Church’s stance against companies that contribute to suffering in Israel and Palestine is among the most admirable and hopeful signs I’ve seen in American civil society for some time. It is usefully read in conjunction with Israel flouts road map with new settlement in The Guardian: “Israel has announced […]

2 Marines Killed, 4 Wounded Near Qaim 14 Iraqis Killed, 48 Wounded in Mosul Warfare Jackie Spinner of the Washington Post writes that guerrillas detonated roadside bombs near Qaim close to the Syrian border on Wednesday, killing two Marines in separate incidents and wounding 4. US forces engaged, wounded or captured several guerrillas at Tall […]

Brown excludes Iraqi Group as “Dangerous” in Memphis AP reports from Memphis that a Memphis councilman barred a visiting Iraqi delegation on a State Department tour of the United States from city hall. The seven Iraqis, who are meeting elected officials in Washington, Los Angeles and Chicago, were supposed to meet Memphis councilman Joe Brown […]

Coalition Troops Damage Babylon Reuters reports the outrage of Iraqi Minister of Culture Mufid al-Jazaeri at the damage he said is being done to the site of the ancient city of Babylon by Polish troops and equipment. Heavy equipment, helicopters and other machinery used by Polish-led forces based at Babylon, 100 kilometres south of Baghdad, […]

Jones-Huffman Prize It’s been nearly a year since Naval Reserve Lt. Kylan Jones-Huffman was killed at al-Hilla in Iraq. He had studied Middle Eastern languages and was a Naval Academy graduate and reservist who had planned to begin a Ph.D. in Middle East History at George Washington University in fall of 2003. In January of […]

4 US Troops Killed; Blasts & Attacks Kill and Wound in Baghdad, Baquba, Mosul AP reports that guerrillas killed four US troops in separate incidents in Baghdad and al-Anbar province on Monday and Tuesday. Guerrillas detonated a roadside bomb on the western outskirts of Baghdad, killing two US soldiers. In al-Anbar, guerrillas employed mortar rounds […]

Hostage-Taking, Demonstrations in Najaf and Karbala In the holy city of Najaf, Shiite militiamen of Muqtada al-Sadr’s Mahdi army took 18 policemen hostage, in hopes of forcing them to release jailed colleagues of theirs. The hostage-taking is probably also meant to remind local Iraqi security forces that it is dangerous for them to cooperate with […]