Juan Cole

Thousands of Shiites, Sunnis, March Against US in Baghdad Thousands of Shiites and Sunnis demonstrated in Baghdad after Friday prayers. I caught some of the demonstration on CNN, which reported 7,000 demonstrators, and some of them were carrying pictures of Muqtada al-Sadr. Interestingly, the rallies began at the shrine of Imam Musa al-Kazim in Kazimiyah, […]

Garner on Reasons for Delay in Returning Sovereignty to Iraq I can remember in April of 2003 when I complained on an email list about American plans to run Iraq for a while, when I got a protest message from a member of Jay Garner’s staff. Garner, the diplomat said, intended to turn sovereignty over […]

Can Iraq Embrace Democracy? Paul McGeough of the Australian newspaper, The Age wonders thoughtfully whether the US attempt to impose democracy on Iraq will succeed. He writes, ‘ The compound is just across the oozy waters of the Tigris River from downtown Baghdad, a commercial district that, superficially, has much of its old bustle back. […]

Women’s classes at Shiite Mosques Shiite women in Iraq are attending lessons in mosques, according to Ashraf Khalil, writing in Women’s eNews. Khalil does not know it, but there is a long tradition of women’s literacy based on religious classes in Iraq. Elizabeth Fernea discovered literate women actually leading other women in ritual commemorations in […]

Most of them are People who Come from the Area and have certain Sympathies . . . Barbara Ferguson reports that ‘ Major Jewish organizations are lobbying the Senate to approve a bill that would authorize federal monitoring of government-funded Middle East studies programs throughout US universities. ‘ Ori Nir of the Forward gives a […]

Our Oil is Sweet, but They Let the Terrorists Kill Us Newsday reports that 9 more Iraqi civilians were killed in attacks throughout Iraq on Thursday, including four dead at the hotel in Basra and a cameraman for al-Arabiyah satellite television who was killed by US troops by accident. It quotes an Iraqi, ‘ “The […]

Iraq One Year Later: Welcome to the Quagmire My essay “Welcome to the Quagmire” is at Salon.com today.

Attention: Readers of Soldiers of Fortune Magazine Walter Pincus writes for the Washington Post about a new contract being let by the US government for a private mercenary force to guard the Green Zone, the headquarters of the American administration of Iraq in Baghdad. ‘ The threats that the private security force will be asked […]

Zawahiri Cornered? I know that the mass media is concentrating on the firefight in Waziristan, where the Pakistani army has pinned down some 400 fighters, who are putting up fierce resistance. Although they are said to be al-Qaeda, I doubt it is known for sure who exactly they are. There is speculation that Ayman al-Zawahiri […]