Juan Cole

Reformers implore Sistani to Intervene in Iran Crisis Ali Nourizadeh of the Saudi newspaper ash-Sharq al-Awsat reports today that more than 400 Iranian writers and cultural figures, along with some members of parliament, have penned a letter to Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani of Najaf, requesting that he express his opinion on the “massacre of democracy […]

Sistani Aide: Loose Federalism not in Iraq’s Interests BBC Monitoring picked up a radio interview in Cairo on Sawt al-`Arab on Wednesday with an aide to Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani named Ayatollah Abu al-Qasim Bidali, conducted by Fawzi al-Jundi. Some brief excerpts: Bidali “With respect to the issue of elections, His Eminence Grand Ayatollah Al-Sistani […]

Tension in Najaf between SCIRI and Sadrists Hamza Hendawi of AP recently reported on the rising tensions between the followers of young radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and other Shiite factions in Iraq. In my own view, such tension is a side effect of the rise of the Shiites to political prominence. As the community becomes […]

1 US Soldier Killed, 1 Wounded, by Roadside Bomb; Kurdish toll rises to 100 BAGHDAD, Feb. 3 (Xinhuanet) — “A US soldier was killed and another injured on Tuesday by a roadside bomb in Iraq, the US military said in a statement. The roadside bomb exploded at about 10.30 a.m. (0730 GMT) when the US […]

Kerry Slams Bush on Iraq On winning 5 of 7 primaries on Tuesday, John Kerry immediately came out swinging at Bush over Iraq, Dean-style (without the growl): ‘“They obviously misused information and misled the American people,” said Kerry in an interview on MSNBC television. “The administration itself promised us they would build an international coalition, […]

United Nations will Decide on Election Mechanism for Iraq AP reported of Bush’s meeting with Kofi Annan Tuesday that, Kofi said, “The Iraqi Governing Council … indicated that they would accept the conclusions of the U.N. team, so we do have a chance to help break the impasse which exists at the moment and move […]

German Aid for Iraqi Higher Education Every indication is that as soon as they get their independence, the Iraqi politicians will immediately invite France, Germany and Russia into Iraq as investors and advisers, so as to offset American dominance. At that point it is difficult to see what the US could do about it, since […]

Supreme Council Denounces Terrorism In his sermon in Najaf for the Eid al-Adha, Sadr al-Din al-Qubanji of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) said that terrorism must be exterminated from Iraq, referring to the massive bombings in Irbil. “With regard to security in Iraq, we must battle and eliminate terrorism in order […]

Inquiry Must cover Cheney, Feith The Bush Administration will probably attempt to dump all the blame for the WMD fiasco on the CIA. As many are saying, this move is highly ironic. Every evidence is that Doug Feith and his Office of Special Plans in the Pentagon made an end run around the CIA and […]