Juan Cole

Wave of Assassinations in Basra Dozens of prominent Iraqis have recently been assassinated in Basra, according to az-Zaman. The paper says that a few of these may be reprisal killings of former Baath officials. But many of those being mown down are just physicians or technocrats with no obvious Baathist past. Other assassinations may be […]

Hundreds demonstrate in Sadr City Against US American troops appear accidentally to have killed a municipal leader of a neighborhood in East Baghdad whom they themselves had put in power. In response, outraged Iraqis staged a demonstration of several hundred activists.

Islamic Party puts hopes in Syria Muhsin Abdul Hamid, leader of the Islamic Party of Iraq, gave an interview to al-Hayat about his meetings in Damascus with Bashar al-Asad. A member of the US-appointed Interim Governing Council, Abdul Hamid said his group had chose “peaceful opposition” to the US occupation. (It always takes me aback […]

US Ignorance Created the Quagmire in Fallujah Journalist Hazim al-Amin reports in al-Hayat that Fallujah and Ramadi strike him as almost identical in most ways. The same extended clan networks dominate both cities, both are Sunni, etc. Yet Ramadi hasn’t given the US nearly as much trouble as Fallujah. He thinks the difference is that […]

US Clashes with PKK in Iraq; Turks Complain of Lack of Influence Turkish Chief of Staff Hilmi Ozkok has complained that the US is showing favoritism to Iraqi Kurds. He said in an interview with Radikal, “The United States favours the group in the north a little too much. We don’t know what shape Iraq […]

Israel Connections to the Iraq Occupation Delinda Hanley charges that there is a strong Israeli connection to US plans for Iraq, citing three developments. One is the Israeli demand that an oil pipeline be built from northern Iraq to Haifa. The second is the opening in Baghdad of an office of MEMRI, an Israeli propaganda […]

Muqtada’s Softer Side A more extended analysis of Muqtada al-Sadr’s recent softening toward the US presence and his turn to playing ordinary politics instead of appealing to a kind of radical politics of theater and, to be frank, thuggery, has appeared by Hamza Hendawi. He argues that Muqtada is now reaching out to other Shiite […]

Klein: Not Just “Troops Out Now” but “Contractors Out Now” Journalist Naomi Klein says, “It’s too late to stop the war, but it’s not too late to deny Iraq’s invaders the myriad economic prizes they went to war to collect in the first place . . Bring Halliburton home. Cancel the contracts. Ditch the deals. […]

Iraq faces Bitter Winter without enough Kerosene Iraq will need half a billion liters of kerosene this winter, according to a Reuters report, but only has managed to accumulate a quarter of a billion. The US has the responsibility to ensure the welfare of the Iraqi people, and the Coalition Provisional Authority is making arrangements […]