Juan Cole

Growing Numbers of Iraqis Watch al-Jazeerah Reuters reports that about a third of Iraqi households now have access to satellite television channels, and that 62 percent of them get their news primarily from al-Jazeera and another Arabic channel critical of the US. (Reference below).

Afghani Constitution Mandates Women’s Seats in Parliament The announcement that the new draft Afghanistan constitution recognizes Islam as the religion of the state has provoked a great deal of discussion in the West. But lots of Western countries have a state religion. The UK does, in the form of Anglicanism, and the British monarch is […]

References Najaf http://www.hipakistan.com/en/ detail.php?newsId=en43874&F _catID=&f_type=source Basra http://www.guardian.co.uk/ worldlatest/story/0,1280, -3341695,00.html Satellite tv: http://www.gulf-news.com/ Articles/news.asp?ArticleID=102013

3 Americans Killed in addition to the dead from the Helicopter Attack Guerrillas killed a soldier of the 1st Armored Division with an improvised explosive device in Baghdad Sunday. In Fallujah, guerrillas set off a roadside bomb as two civilian contractors passed by, killing both. They were working for the US Army Corps of Engineers. […]

Foreign Ministers of Neighboring Countries Meet in Damascus The six neighbors of Iraq (with the addition of Egypt) met in Damascus over the weekend, and issued a joint statement condemning terror attacks against civilians and NGOs. They also asked that a timeline be announced for the return of sovereignty to the Iraqi people. Turkey had […]

Guerrillas Bomb Northern Pipeline The pipeline from Kirkuk to the Dora refineries of north Baghdad was cut by an explosion near Mashruh al-Therthar, southwest of Samarra. Guerrillas tossed hand grenades at the pipeline, according to AFP. Eyewitness Hassan Messarhad remarked, “I heard a powerful explosion in the evening, and I saw huge flames coming out […]

51% of Americans Disapprove of Bush’s Iraq Policy An ABC News-Washington Post poll released Sunday: Percentage of Americans who disapprove of Bush administation policy in Iraq: 51 Percentage who approve: 47 Percentage who think Bush has made the US more prosperous: less than 10 Percentage who say Bush cannot understand their problems: 58 Percentage who […]

Mudarrisi: Avoid Conflict Ayatollah Muhammad Taqi Mudarrisi modified his recent demand that US troops leave the country immediately, according to al-Sharq al-Awsat. The cleric said that the Coalition troops would not stay long in Iraq, since that was neither something the Iraqi people want nor something in the interests of the Coalition. In the meantime, […]

Talabani Pledges Militias will Join Iraqi Army Jalal Talabani, head of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and current president of the Interim Governing Council, pledged that his paramilitary forces would be melded into the national Iraqi army eventually, In an interview with al-Zaman, he again urged a Federal system on Iraq, such that both provincial […]