Juan Cole

Kofi Annan May visit Iraq; Tells Sistani Direct Elections Impractical Kofi Annan is seeking a Jan. 15 meeting with the countries involved in Iraq and with the Interim Governing Council, so as to determine what the UN role will be in that country. The UN was not mentioned in the November 15 agreement setting a […]

Should Saddam be Executed or Exhibited in Stocks and Spit on? Shiites Debate The Associated Press reports on the debate in the Shiite holy city of Karbala on what should be done with Saddam. Many residents of the city, which was brutally repressed during the 1990s, with thousands killed, want Saddam executed. AP says that […]

So this is Liberation? One of the prime messages the Bush Public Relations team has attempted to project to the US public is that the War on Terror, and the War on Iraq, were good for women’s rights in the Muslim world. Desperate for the votes of the “security moms” (soccer moms worried about al-Qaeda […]

Abdul Aziz al-Hakim Recognizes Justice of Reparations to Iran Reuters reports that Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, the current president of the Interim Governing Council, has admitted that Iran has a just claim on Iraq for reparations for the Iraq-Iran War of 1980-1988, in which Saddam had ordered Iraqi armies to seize Iran’s oil-rich Khuzistan province but […]

Convalescence for the Iraqi Psyche Needed: Sunni-Shiite Clashes in Wake of Saddam Capture Maureen Fan of Knight-Ridder observes that the capture of Saddam by the Americans has exacerbated tensions between Sunnis and Shiites in Iraq: “The day after Saddam’s capture was announced, Shiites from Kadhimiya crossed the bridge and started dancing in the street in […]

Several US Troops Wounded in Mosul and near Kirkuk; Assassination and a Bomb in Baghdad AFP reports that 3 US soldiers were wounded in separate rocket and mortar attacks in Mosul on Wednesday. Iraqi police reported that guerrillas fired rocket-propelled grenades at US troops and wounded 2. An eyewitness said the assailants got away on […]

The Trials of Trying Saddam Veteran Middle East journalist Helena Cobban reflects on a host of issues presented by the task of trying Saddam Hussein.

Economic Revival in Basra accompanied by Crime Wave Alisha Ryu argues in a report for the Voice of America that the southern city of Basra’s economic efflorescence, and the more laid-back style of community policing used by British troops, make it a better model for Iraq’s future than US-dominated Baghdad. She is forced to admit, […]

Is the Capture of Saddam Bad News for Bush? William Pfaff argues in the International Herald Tribune that there are lots of reasons that Saddam’s capture could be bad news for Bush. It has already enraged and humiliated a lot of Sunni Arabs. It may embolden the Shiite leaders, who no longer fear that Saddam […]