Juan Cole

Sachedina Interview by Cobban: Sistani is Trying to Bring in the UN Helena Cobban’s interview with Shiite thinker Abdulaziz Sachedina of the University of Virginia is a must-read contribution. Sachedina has recently been to Iran and moved among the Shiites. Interestingly, he seems to think that there is more support for Muqtada al-Sadr than for […]

Bush: Saddam posed grave threat to US Bush maintains that despite the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, Saddam Hussein posed “a grave and gathering threat to America and the world.” This allegation simply is not true, however much a monster Saddam may be. Let’s look at the issue Harpers style: US […]

Breaking News: Kerry Wins New Hampshire Caught Kerry’s victory speech on CNN. With 73% of precincts reporting, he still has 38% of the vote, a 12-point lead over Dean. The race for third place is still tight, with Clark at 13% to Edwards’s 12%. [As you know, that is about where it ended, save that […]

Breaking News: Same as Headline Below Still watching CNN. With 30% of precincts reporting, Kerry has a very impressive lead over Dean still. Kerry is getting in the high 30s, Dean only in the 20s. Blitzer began by saying CNN exit polls were showing a tight race, but unless it is the upper middle class […]

Breaking News: Kerry Leads, Dean close second, Edwards and Clark tied for Third I’m watching CNN. With just 13% of precincts reporting, Kerry has the lead over Dean in New Hampshire. The exit polls seem to show that the race is much closer than Kerry supporters had hoped. Edwards and Clark both have 13% of […]

Annan Will Send UN Election Team to Iraq Kofi Annan will send an election commission to Iraq, the Washington Post reports. This United Nations commission was the idea of Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, and initially the Coalition Provisional Authority headed by Paul Bremer was said to be “deeply offended” by the Iraqi attempt to involve […]

Bombs Rock Baghdad on Monday Powerful explosions rocked downtown Baghdad at 10:35 pm local time on Monday, as a rocket also landed in a parking lot near the American headquarters. It is where Coalition Provisional Authority head Paul Bremer and his aides park, but no casualties were reported. Sirens went off and US officials at […]

Kerry, Edwards surge in New Hampshire; Health Care beats Iraq as Concern Only 10 percent of the voters in New Hampshire think Iraq is the most pressing issue in the campaign. I was surprised to find that 22 percent put health care as an issue first, as opposed to 16 percent who focused on the […]

Iraqi Women’s Rights Imperiled Sarah el Deeb of the Associated Press explores the implications for Iraqi women of the US tendency to appoint men to high office, to exclude women, and to bow to vocal patriarchalists whenever challenged. Western commentators, including George W. Bush, who think women’s rights have actually improved in Iraq since the […]