Juan Cole

Iraqi Joke about the Capture of Saddam Ash-Sharq al-Awsat says the following is making the rounds in Baghdad: ‘Muhammad Said al-Sahhaf, the former Information Ministry spokesman [known in the West as Baghdad Bob], was reached for comment about the arrest of Saddam. Al-Sahhaf denied that the US had captured the former Iraqi leader. “The man […]

Rumors of Iran Connection to Arrest of Saddam Questioned Ali Nourizadeh, writing in the London-based Saudi daily, ash-Sharq al-Awsat, reports that rumors have swirled in Iraq that Iranian intelligence played a role in ferreting out the location of Saddam Hussein. Nourizadeh discounts these reports, because, he says, Iranian security is in the hands of the […]

Reflections on the Capture of Saddam Hussein Seeing a captive, disheveled Saddam on television this morning released a cascade of memories for me. I remembered the innocent Jews brutally hanged in downtown Baghdad when the Baath came to power in 1968; the fencing with the Shah and the Kurds in the early 1970s; the vicious […]

20 Die in Car Bomb at Khaldiya Police Station Guerrillas exploded a car bomb at an Iraqi police station in Khaldiya, west of Baghdad, on Sunday morning. Early reports gave the number of Iraqis killed as 20. On Saturday the US military confirmed that one US soldier was killed and three wounded by a roadside […]

Continued Opposition to the US Fiat in Iraq The possibility of a United Nations Commission that would decide whether early elections should be held in Iraq continued to be discussed in Shiite circles on Saturday. In Najaf, Ammar al-Hakim, son of Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, said after a meeting with Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani that “The […]

3000 Iranian Pilgrims a Day foreseen for Iraq According to AFP, another son of SCIRI leader Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, Muhsin al-Hakim, announced that he had negotiated a deal with the Interim Governing Council and the Iranian government to allow 3,000 Iranian pilgrims to enter Iraq every day. If the negotiated number of pilgrims actually came, […]

Sunnis Gear up to Resist Shiite Rule Meanwhile, Rich Potter of the Toronto Star reports that the resistance to the US occupation in Falluja is Sunni Arab nationalist in character, and is rejecting both Saddam and the prospect of majority-Shiite rule. One has the impression that some people in Falluja may be blowing up things […]

Sistani Calls for UN Decision According to the Gulf Daily News, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani stands by his ruling that Iraq should go to early general elections on a one-person, one-vote basis. According to IGC member Muwaffak al-Rubaie, however, Sistani has indicated that he would back down on one condition. If Kofi Annan appoints a […]

1 US Soldier Killed, 14 wounded Three guerrillas drove a car filled with explosives near the Champion US Army Base at Ramadi on Thursday and blew themselves up, killing one soldier, wounding 3 badly enough to be taken to a combat field hospital, and lightly wounding 11 others (they got hit by flying glass and […]