Juan Cole

I’m at a conference in Anchorage of all places. I’ll try to make some entries later Friday, but am having trouble getting internet access, or time to post. The Guardian has an excellent article today on how the billion and a half dollars Congress cut from the approximated $20 bn. Bush administration request for Iraq […]

Historians Dispute Analogies to Germany, Japan, with Iraq The Bush administration has continually compared the situation of post war Iraq with that of Germany and Japan under occupation after WW II. At one point, administration spokesmen even alleged that US troops in Germany had faced attacks by “Werewolves” or former SS men. This allegation is […]

AFP: Some Translators Quitting after Death Threats AFP is reporting that some translators working for the Coalition have received death threats accusing them of being collaborators, and have quit their jobs as a result. The US civil and military administrators in Iraq seldom know Arabic and lack of Arabic has been a major contributor to […]

Najaf Strikes in Protest The holy city of Najaf announced a general strike for Thursday to protest the collapse of security that allowed such events as the assassination of the town’s most prominent judge. The announcement came after hundreds of protesters came out onto the streets Wednesday to protest the assassination of Muhan Jabr al-Shuwaili, […]

CBS Cancels Reagan Miniseries For further proof that the First Amendment only protects free speech from the US government (mostly), but not from the large corporations, CBS has caved to rightwing pressure to shelve their miniseries on Ronald Reagan. It was a relatively negative portrayal. But the presidents don’t belong to the right wing, they […]

Two Coalition Troops Killed, two Wounded Guerrillas exploded a roadside bomb in Baghdad late Monday night, killing one US soldier and wounding two others. A Royal Marine corporal had been killed last Friday, British authorities disclosed, while detailed to a special services unit operating outside the British sphere of responsibility. The unit was part of […]

Saddam is a sinful Aggressor and the American Forces are Guests in Iraq: Muqtada Trans. J. Cole The prominent Shiite Iraqi leader Muqtada al-Sadr called upon the American troops in his country to spare lives, and called them to unity and brotherhood with the Iraqi people. He affrimed that “Saddam Hussein and his followers are […]

Bremer: Students, Faculty may Travel Freely Abroad US civil administrator of Iraq Paul Bremer abrogated all restrictions on the travel abroad of students and faculty at Iraq’s universities on Tuesday, informing them that they were now free to go abroad whenever they had the proper travel documents. The Saddam regime used to forbid such travel […]

Gonul: We can Go in Anytime Turkish Minister of Defense Vecdi Gonul said Tuesday that Turkey retains the right to send reinforcements for its troops deployed near Northern Iraq to deal with threats from what he called Kurdish rebels. That included incursions into Iraqi Kurdistan. It now seems increasingly unlikely that Turkey will send troops […]