Juan Cole

Najaf: Muqtada, Myers, and Zapatero A spokesman for Muqtada al-Sadr, Qais al-Khaz’ali, said Sunday that his forces would extend their truce with the Coalition for two further days, Monday and Tuesday, in honor of the anniversary of the death of the Prophet Muhammad. He also said that the Army of the Mahdi was gradually withdrawing […]

An Attack on Najaf “Will be Zero Hour of a Massive Popular Uprising”: al-Khaz’ali ash-Sharq al-Awsat: Hundreds of members of Muqtada al-Sadr’s Army of the Mahdi rallied in the streets of Najaf on Saturday, carrying arms and chanting slogans of support for him. They thronged to his office so as to kiss his hand and […]

Najaf Crisis and International Implications Iran: US Will Pay a ‘Heavy Price’ Iran warned the American government that it would “pay a heavy price” if its forces attacked the cities of Najaf and Karbala. Ayatollah Muhammad Taskhiri, the representative of Supreme Jurisprudent Ali Khamenei, told al-Hayat, “The American forces will have committed the biggest act […]

Rantisi and Najaf The Sunday Herald correctly points out that the Israeli murder of Abdul Aziz Rantisi, the head of the political wing of the Hamas party, on Saturday, will cause further trouble in Iraq. With al-Anbar province tense and US troops surrounding Najaf, one could not imagine a worse time for Bush to give […]

Story of the Arrest Warrant for Muqtada More on the back story of the warrant for Muqtada’s arrest. ‘ According to the brief, Juhy has found an eyewitness who is willing to testify that Sadr, who saw Khoei as a threat to his ambitions, became aware of Khoei’s visit and planned with his associates to […]

Clashes outside Kufa; Situation Tense in Shrine Cities ash-Sharq al-Awsat: A series of explosions shook the city of Kufa on Friday, and eyewitnesses saw dozens of armed militiamen hurrying to various parts of the city. Reports spoke of clashes with the foreign troops. At least four troop transport trucks full of Mahdi Army fighters left […]

Muqtada’s Friday Sermon: Marines should Surrender Muqtada al-Sadr announced in his Friday prayers sermon at Kufa on Friday that “truce negotiations [with the American forces] are useless,” and that he will not dissolve the Mahdi Army. He called on the nations that have forces in Iraq to desert the United States “to battle by itself.” […]

Clergy of Najaf to Mahdi Army: Go fight outside the City ash-Sharq al-Awsat: The clerics of the Najaf seminaries have called upon the Army of the Mahdi to go fight the Americans outside the city if they must, so as to avoid the spilling of innocent blood. They called on the militia to pursue peaceful […]

Mortar Shells Kill 8 in Mosul Things are so bad in Iraq, and so many people have been killed lately, that what would once have been my headline for today was barely picked up by the wire services. ash-Sharq al-Awsat says that guerrillas in Mosul accidentally launched their mortar shells into a civilian crowd, when […]