Juan Cole

Why Breaking up Iraq is a Very, Very Bad Idea Leslie H. Gelb, president emeritus of the Council for Foreign Affairs and a former NYT editor and columnist, argues in today’s NYT that the US should reconcile itself to Iraq splitting into three countries. I don’t entirely understand why he is pushing this agenda, and […]

How We Denied Democracy to the Middle East Robert Fisk’s essay, “How we denied democracy to the ME,” coming in response to Bush’s new policy statement, is worth reading. I think it is certainly the case that in the Cold War the US and Britain often did things to destroy democracy in the Middle East […]

Nightline on Iraq 11-24 Those of you in North America who can stay up late may want to watch Nightline tonight. It is on the Coalition Provisional Authority’s about-face and plans for elections in Iraq in May. Because of Monday Night Football, I fear the program won’t get on until 12:30 or 1 am. I’ll […]

Shaping the Iraqi Electorate The election now envisaged by the Americans in Iraq this spring will not be a democratic, one person one vote, affair. The electorate itself will be town notables hand-picked by the US and the US-appointed Interim Governing Council. But how? An independent Shiite member of the Interim Governing Council, Ahmad Shiya` […]

Iraqizing Security Al-Hayat reports that the US is pressuring the Interim Governing Council to speed up the transfer of responsibility for security to the Iraqi Interior Ministry. Hamam Baqir Hamudi of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq says that it will be necessary to appoint officials approved by each of the major parties […]

US arrests Newspaper Editor The US forces in Mosul have arrested Dhunun Yunis, the editor in chief of a local weekly newspaper, on charges of cooperating with Baath remnants and with using the newspaper to serve the interests of the former regime. Col. Tariq Hamid of the Mosul police said that Yunis confessed to the […]

3 Turks, 307 other Foreign Fighters in Custody The Kurdish militias say they have arrested three Turks, with Turkish passports and cellphones, whom they believe responsible for recent bombings in Kirkuk that killed 5, in front of headquarters of Kurdish parties. (al-Zaman). Meanwhile, a US military spokesman said that it had 307 foreign fighters in […]

Civilian Flights in and out of Baghdad Airport Halted As a result of the missile attack on the DHL plane this weekend, Coalition authorities have decided to halt civilian flights in and out of Baghdad airport, according to al-Zaman and Deutsche Press Agentur. DHL had already decided to cease its flights. Royal Jordanian Airlines’ subsidiary […]

Lebanon’s Hizbullah in Iraq The NYT’s James Risen has an article about the Lebanese Shiite group, Hizbullah, “infiltrating” Iraq. If one reads the article carefully, it is clear that 1) there are only thought to be 90 or so Hizbullah agents in Iraq, and they all came last April-May; and 2) they haven’t attacked Americans […]