Juan Cole

36 US troops Wounded in Mortar Attacks Guerrillas launched some six mortar rounds at Logistical Base Seitz west of Baghdad on Wednesday, wounding 36 US soldiers. (Reuters initially gave the toll as 35, but a late report in the Financial Times said 36). The U.S. military said that in the latest attack on Wednesday night, […]

Iranians more Favorable on Iraq The Financial Times reports that Britain’s special representative in Iraq, Jeremy Greenstock, has said that he finds a big change in the Iranian attitude toward the Iraq situation. Ever since the US announced the November 15 accord that promises a sovereign Iraqi government by July 1, the Iranians have been […]

Sistani, Kofi Annan, Consult by Phone Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan had a telephone conversation Wednesday about the transition to an Iraqi government this summer, according to sources close to Sistani, as reported by the Baghdad daily az-Zaman. Sistani has renewed his call for general elections this spring instead of […]

Kurdish official Calls for Campaign of Civil Disobedience Nushirvan Mustafa, the number 2 man in the Kurdish Patriotic Union, has demanded that the Interim Governing Council recognize Kurdish plans for a loose federation and a Kurdish super-province by February. If it refused to do so, he called on the Kurdish leadership to announce a campaign […]

Clark Blames Cheney, Sees Bush as Cipher From Greg Pierce’s Inside Politics “Wesley Clark, interviewed by Chris Matthews on MSNBC’s “Hardball,” was asked, “Tell me what you think about the performance of Dick Cheney, vis-a-vis the president. Is he calling the shots, or is the president calling the shots?” Clark replied: “Well, my information, and […]

Pigeonholing Cole I’ve been concentrating in this Web Log in recent months on Iraq, though I continue to follow al-Qaeda, Pakistan, Iran and other big Middle East developments. I’ve noticed that others in Blogistan are sometimes puzzled at where exactly I stand on matters. This puzzlement derives in part, I think, from the analytical nature […]

2 Frenchmen Shot; 4 Protesters Die Four Iraqi protesters were killed by Iraqi police in Basra. They were veterans demonstrating because they had not received their monthly stipends, promised by the CPA. Two civiian French contractors were shot near Fallujah when their car broke down. American nationalists who dislike the French so much may be […]

Syria, Turkey agree on Kurds Syria’s Bashar al-Asad, in Ankara for talks with the Turkish government, has come out strongly against Kurdish autonomy from Iraq or the break-up of the country. Syria, Turkey and Iran all have Kurdish populations, and the three have been drawn together by the prospect of semi-autonomy for Iraq’s Kurds. Bashar […]

New Opinion Poll Results in Iraq: 48% View US Positively The results of an opinion poll done in 5 of Iraq’s provinces (Baghdad, Basra, Diwaniyah, al-Hillah, Kirkuk), with 1300 respondents late fall, 2003, have been announced by a Baghdad social research institute and reported in az-Zaman newspaper. Some results: 80% of Iraqis believe that bringing […]