Juan Cole

Iraqi Police Arrest 527 in Dragnet Sistani calls for National Unity Al-Zaman: Iraqi police swept the al-Rusafah quarter of Baghdad on Tuesday, arresting 527 persons suspected of having committed violent crimes or of having been involved in weapons smuggling. They also made arrests of foreigners in the Bab al-Shaikh Quarter. This set of mass arrests […]

60% of Iraqi Historical Records Gone Valentinas Mite of Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty tells us more about the destruction of a substantial portion of Iraq’s archives. Saad Iskandar, Director of the Iraqi Archives, is quoted as saying, ‘ “We lost about 60 percent of our state records and documents — they were either burned […]

Abu Ghuraib Shelled; Roadside Bombs in Baghdad Wire services report that Guerrillas fired mortar rounds at Abu Ghuraib prison outside Baghdad on Monday, lightly wounding a civilian “contractor” (likely a private security guard or translator, but the report is not specific). This attack marked the sixth time the prison has been attacked in this way. […]

Voice of America Imperilled Alan Heil, author of an important history of the Voice of America, sends along dire news about the service. For Arabic broadcasting, this development is rather as if the government abolished National Public Radio and replaced it with Mr. Pattiz’s Westwood One pablum and top 40 list. Americans should please communicate […]

Iraqi Economy: Setser Replies Reader and economist Brad Setser responded to my comment on the Financial Times article on the Iraqi economy last weekend. I . . . have tried to follow Iraq closely (both the debt restructuring forgiveness debate, the use of oil revenues, the loans v. grants debate and more generally the pace […]

3 US Troops Killed, 4 Wounded Guerrillas near Samarra detonated a roadside bomb as a US convoy passed on Sunday, killing two US soldiers and wounding 3 others. In Mosul, guerrillas set off another roadside bomb, killing one US soldier and injuring another, along with an Iraqi civilian. US troops killed one guerrilla in response. […]

Demonstrations over Saddam in Baqubah, Baghdad Al-Hayat reports that hundreds of Iraqis demonstrated in the eastern city of Baqubah on Sunday in favor of Saddam Hussein. They carried placards ridiculing his trial as “staged.” Some in the crowd were masked gunmen. They chanted, according to the BBC, “We will never give up on Iraq or […]

Shiites and the US Army in Karbala and Sadr City Ken Dilanian of Knight Ridder has a piece on how the 37th Armored Regiment’s 1st Battalion fought an ideal battle in the Shiite holy city of Karbala against the Mahdi Army, defeating them without damaging the shrines of Imam Husayn and Abu’l-Fadil Abbas. The article […]

Al-Haeri Breaks with Sadr An informed reader writes from London: Sayyid Muqtada Al-Sadr has now been officially renounced by Ayatullah Kadhim Al-Haeri. He has been stripped of his “wukala”(representation) and also denied the right of accepting and using any religious dues on behalf of his father as well as Ayatullah Haeri. This is a big […]