Juan Cole

Sistani-Linked Groups begin Popular Campaign Against Interim Constitution AFP/az-Zaman On Sunday, Shiite clergymen, cultural figures and notables began an organized campaign against the newly signed interim constitution. It is believed that they are supported in this movement by Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani. They are encouraging Iraqis to reject the document, and to sign petitions that […]

Spain’s voters Reject Aznar’s Popular Party I was struck by the comment of a Spaniard in Charles Sennot’s Boston Globe piece on the Spanish elections. He quoted a voter who was disturbed by the way Aznar had manipulated information and public opinion, accusing him of lying about the threat posed by Iraq. He said that […]

Seeds of Gridlock in Iraq My op-ed, “How the US is sowing gridlock in Iraq” is available online at the San Jose Mercury News. I worry in it about the Rube Goldberg executive in the Basic Law or interim constitution, with its three presidents and a prime minister (the presidents have to make all decisions […]

Hundreds of Students Strike in Baghdad, Najaf and Mosul ash-Sharq al-Awsat: Hundreds of universty students organized protests Saturday against the Basic Law or interim constitution, in accordance with the call of Shiite cleric Shaikh Muhammad Ya`qubi of the Virtue Party. Some students gathered in front of al-Mustansiriyah University in Baghdad, carrying placards. Those in Najaf […]

3 Moroccans and 2 Indians Arrested in Spain Bombing Al-Qaeda is increasingly emerging as the chief suspect in the Madrid bombings, against which 12 million persons protested on Saturday. The LA Times points out that the Spanish cultural center in Casablanca was targeted by an al-Qaeda affiliate in May of 2003. John Davies also surveys […]

Iraq’s Divided Loyalties and Bremer Walls Phil Smucker writes perceptively from Baghdad in The Scotsman about the discontents of Iraqis and their ethnic divisions. I thought his characterization of the difference between US and British patrol strategies interesting, and also had not heard the neologism “Bremer walls” for the concrete barricades behind which Americans have […]

Black on Iraq, One Year Later Eric Black of the Minneapolis Star Tribune contributes among the better entries in the “War in Iraq: One year later” genre of which we will see so much this week. (Truth in advertising: I’m quoted). Black writes ‘ “The ability of these Shiite leaders to quickly demonstrate that they […]

Muhsin Abdul Hamid: The Sunnis are the Majority ash-Sharq al-Awsat: The leader of the [Sunni] Iraqi Islamic Party, Muhsin Abdul Hamid, gave a long interview in Cairo in which he reiterated his allegations that Sunnis have been unfairly “marginalized” in Iraq by the US occupation authorities. He maintains that if you count all Sunni Arabs, […]

Threat of Hyper-Inflation The Guardian reports that the British head of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Basra, Patrick Nixon, is warning about the dangers of inflation. The economy is heating up. Rents and housing costs in Basra are way up. Unemployment in Basra has fallen to 15%, in Baghdad to 30%, and in the country […]