Juan Cole

Controversy over 45 Minute Claim Nick Theros is denying stories that appeared in Newsweek and theThe Guardian that claim to demonstrate how expatriate networks suckered the United States and Tony Blair into believing exaggerated claims about Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction capacitities. Here’s the story: Patrick Theros (an Ann Arborite) is a former US ambassador […]

Mahatma Sistani? From a European peace worker in Iraq, a week or so ago: “I have heard that Sistani has promoted among his followers the Gandhian method of disobedience against the occupation power, if the situation seems to go out of hand [i.e. if the US rejects direct elections].” If this report is correct, it […]

6 US Soldiers killed over Weekend, Over a Dozen Wounded; 2 Iraqi police dead, dozens wounded; Helicopter Crash The low-grade guerrilla war against the US military continued at a heated pace over the weekend.. On Sunday, a soldier died of wounds inflicted by a rocket-propelled grenade attack near Beiji, north of Baghdad.. In a separate […]

Sunday Times Alleges Torture, Kidnapping in Basra The Sunday Times carried a story that members of the Badr Brigade of the Shiite Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq are being used as a sort of secret police in Basra with the permission and even oversight of the British authorities there. The article says that […]

The Question of Elections in Iraq In the past week, two significant demonstrations were launched by Iraq’s Shiites, including one on Monday 1/19 that involved an estimated 100,000 in the streets of Baghdad (including, from all accounts, some Sunnis who support open elections). The other, on Tuesday, was smaller and drawn from the poorer, more […]

Kay, Powell, Backtrack on WMD It seems to me that David Kay’s resignation as weapons inspector in Iraq and his open admission that there simply are no “weapons of mass destruction” in Iraq of any significance, has settled the issue. Kay snarkily went out suggesting that there may have been “programs” (read: vague plans and […]

3 US soldiers Wounded in Mosul Blast AP is reporting that “A roadside bomb exploded Wednesday near the northern city of Mosul, wounding three U.S. soldiers and seven other people, the military and local police said. The explosion occurred as three American vehicles were passing, but the force of the blast hit two civilian cars […]

5000 Sadrists March in Baghdad The Financial Times reported that the demonstrations in Baghdad on Tuesday were smaller than the approximately 100,000 who came out on Monday, and that they were also poorer. That is; they seem to have been mainly followers of Muqtada al Sadr. They not only marched in favor of free and […]

The Independent reports that 100,000 demonstrators marched through the streets of Baghdad on Monday, as part of Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani s bid to put pressure on Kofi Annan and the United Nations to certify that free and fair elections can be held: This situation reminds me more and more of Algeria; where mass protests […]