Juan Cole

Coalition Battles Sadrists in East Baghdad, Amara, Basrah The Sadrist movement deliberately attempted to provoke the British on Saturday in Amara and Basra. Their provocative actions appear to me likely to be calculated. I think they are hoping that if the British feel insecure in the South, or feel that the Americans are endangering them […]

Some Senior Officers in Iraq Say: We’re Winning Battles, Losing the War George W. Bush’s elective decision to besiege Fallujah in revenge for the killing of four Western private commandos produced revulsion throughout Iraq. It is an example of how the US can win the battles but lose the war. And, some senior officers are […]

NATO to Bush: You Broke it, You Own it Paul Richter of the LA Times reports that NATO has had second thoughts about coming in to play a role in Iraq this summer. The ongoing insurgency, the overwhelming unpopularity of the American war in Iraq with the European public, and (probably) the breaking prison torture […]

Ongoing crisis around Muqtada al-Sadr Muqtada al-Sadr taunted US troops who are seeking to arrest or kill him. In his Friday prayers sermon in Kufa. Muqtada said, “What sort of freedom and democracy can we expect from you [Americans] when you take such joy in torturing Iraqi prisoners?” asked Sadr, demanding that the US guards […]

The Mideastization of the US, or: Rumsfeld Must Resign The Bush administration keeps talking about bringing democracy to the Middle East, but a key element in democracy is always the accountability of public officials to the public. That is why we have elections, that is why we have a division of powers, that is why […]

Cole on Wolf Blitzer’s 5 PM Newshour, CNN If current plans hold, I’ll be a guest on Wolf Blitzer’s show sometime 5-6 pm EST on CNN. Readers have asked for a heads up about these things. Oops, Rummy’s hearing went long and knocked us off.

US Troops Assault Sadrists in Three Shiite Holy Cities Al-Hayat: Special UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi had to delay his return to Iraq because the Bush’s decision to besiege Fallujah and kill 600 there in revenge for the killing of 4 private commandos. Now Brahimi is back in the country, working to save Bush’s skin, and […]

Brahimi under Fire The Bush Administration is putting a great deal of faith in UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi’s ability to establish a caretaker government by June 30. But the idea of the UN, represented by a Sunni Arab, and Paul Bremer appointing the Iraqi government is being attacked by the current appointees, the Interim Governing […]

Israeli Connection with Abu Ghuraib Torture? Many readers have written to suggest that there is an Israeli connection of some sort to the Abu Ghuraib prison scandal, because the techniques used seem so similar to what Palestinians report. One noted that Joe Ryan, the Abu Ghuraib blogger, had some training with Israeli specialists on such […]