Juan Cole

Knight-Ridder Questions Saddam-al-Qaeda Links Warren Strobel et al. of Knight Ridder have looked at the case for Saddam-al-Qaeda links and found them lacking. 1. Although it is true that Abdul Rahman Yasin, a suspect in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, was attempting to hide out in Iraq, Saddam offered to turn him over to […]

Haykel on Zarqawi Letter US Officials are denying the allegation by Sunni radicals in Iraq that Abu Mus`ab al-Zarqawi was killed during the US invasion of Iraq in April of 2003. They say they have proof that Zarqawi was active in Iraq later that spring. Meanwhile, wire services report that Zarqawi’s mother died in Jordan. […]

Mosul Police Station, US Base Take Mortar Fire Al-Hayat reported a large explosion in Baghdad on Wednesday, but no word of any casualties. Reuters reports that guerrillas launched five mortar rounds at a police station and a mosque in the northern city of Mosul, wounding at least three persons. AP also reported that the 4th […]

CPA Official Launches False Allegations against Iran In a desperate attempt to redirect anger away from the Coalition Provisional Authority, one of its officials told the newspaper az-Zaman that he believed Iranians were behind the attacks. This allegation strikes me as completely implausible, and, indeed, as almost certainly a lie put out by a CPA […]

The Aftermath AP reports that Shiite and Sunni clerics jointly led a big procession from East Baghdad to Kazimiyah on Wednesday, attempting to emphasize communal harmony in the face of the Ashura’ bombings. Since the perpetrators were almost certainly Sunni Arabs, there was some danger of anguished Shiites lashing out at Iraqi Sunnis. Shiite leaders, […]

Rooting for the Company The Washington Post also has an interesting article by Dana Priest on why the 300 CIA case officers in Iraq haven’t been able to prevent events like that on Tuesday. As someone who cares about the welfare of my Shiite and other Iraqi friends, I have to say I wish the […]

US Allies: Iraq War Increased Terror Threat Not only are Shiites in Iraq upset with poor US provision of security, but the publics in major US allies and neighbors are now afraid that the Iraq war as increased the terrorist threat in the world, according to an AP poll.. The report says, ‘ The AP […]

Sectarian Strife in Iraq? AP’s Hamza Hendawi has a good piece today on the way in which the Ashura bombings “strain the Iraqi social fabric.” He quotes me as saying that I don’t think civil war is likely, but that urban turmoil could break out. My point is that in Lebanon, where I saw the […]

Al-Hakim: “Fix Date for Elections!” az-Zaman: Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, leader of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) has said that the date for elections in Iraq should now be fixed. He preached on the holy day of the 10th of Muharram, which commemorates the martyrdom of the Imam Husayn, grandson of the […]