Juan Cole

30 Bulgarians Refuse to Serve AFP reports that 30 Bulgarian soldiers in a 500-man battalion scheduled to go to Iraq have refused to serve there. A recent attack by guerrillas in Karbala wounded 64 Bulgarian troops and killed 4. AFP said, “Members of the replacement battalion on Friday demanded that a clause be written into […]

6 US troops wounded Weds.; Bomb blast in Baghdad Kills 8 Iraqis AP reported that on Wednesday, a bomb hidden in foliage outside a Baghdad restaurant exploded as a US army convoy passed. The guerrillas wounded 3 American soldiers and 3 Iraqi civilians, and killed an Iraq bystander. On Wednesday, as well, guerrillas set off […]

Top 5 Tasks Remaining in 2004 in the War on Terror US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld worried in a memo last fall that the US lacks a “metric” or a means of measuring success in the war on terror. If he does not have one, then I certainly do not. But as someone who […]

Bremer and CPA “Extremely Offended” at Call for UN Role A member of the Interim Governing Council, Mahmoud Osman, told al-Hayat newspaper that the Coalition Provisional Authority was extremely offended by the IGC’s call for the United Nations to play a role in the transition to Iraqi sovereignty. He said that Washington id not want […]

Ethnic Violence in Kurdistan Boils Over; 3 Dead on Thursday, 5 Dead on Wednesday On Thursday, Kirkuk Police Chief Turhan Yusuf said, “Unknown attackers stabbed two Kurds to death and threw their bodies near a bridge in the centre of the city.” This act was presumably in revenge for the shooting of 3 Arabs by […]

Ashcroft Appoints Special Prosecutor in Plame Identity-Disclosure Scandal Attorney-General John Ashcroft recused himself Wednesday in the investigation of the Valerie Plame case, saying he will appoint a special prosecutor. High Bush administration officials broke US law in July of 2003 by revealing to reporter Bob Novak that Valerie Plame, wife of Ambassador Joe Wilson, was […]

Basra: Massive Drug, Petroleum smuggling; Christians, Musicians Harassed Because the southern Iraqi city of Basra (1.3 million) is under British military occupation rather than American, it is little covered in the US press (does anybody else think this is odd?) There have been several British and Arab reports about the situation there recently. They indicate […]

More Iranians in Karbala than Iraqis? One finds these little gems in things like theCoalition Provisional Authority Briefing on Dec. 30, already on the Web. (Participating was Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, Deputy Director for Operations and Daniel Senor, Senior Coalition Provisional Authority Adviser.) The below passage is rich in what it says about how porous […]

Firefight with Ansar al-Islam in Mosul kills 3 US troops in Mosul fought with the Ansar al-Islam terrorist group in Mosul on Sunday, killing 3 and capturing several other members, according to US military spokesmen. Ansar al-Islam had operated in the American-policed no-fly zone of northern Iraq, and is alleged to have ties to al-Qaeda. […]