Juan Cole

US HQ, Large Hotels in Baghdad Barricaded; the Rise of the Luxury Hotel Militias. Journalist Hazim al-Amin has returned to Baghdad for al-Hayat, and reports that there is a big difference between the ordinary Iraq “street” and the political “street” there now. He says that the markets are bustling now in a way they were […]

Barzani Greets Turkish Indecision on Troops In an interview with al-Sharq al-Awsat in the United Arab Emirates, Massoud Barzani greeted the Turkish government’s new state of indecision about whether to send troops to Iraq as a positive sign. Barzani, a member of Iraq’s US-appointed Interim Governing Council and head of the Kurdish Democratic Party, said […]

Two US Soldiers Killed, One injured at Kirkuk Guerrillas near Kirkuk fired on a US patrol with rocket propelled grenades and machine guns late Saturday, killing two US soldiers and wounding a third. 103 US troops have been killed by enemy fire since May 1. In Hawija, a US convoy came under fire and returned […]

Interim Council establishes Security Committee Iraq’s Interim Governing Council responded to the recent violence in the holy city of Karbala between a cleric’s militia and US troops by forming a new Security Committee. It condemned “bloody developments and lawlessness” in Karbala, adding, “The Governing Council invites the Iraqi people to maintain stability and prevent the […]

Economic Privatization and Liberalization in Iraq, Kuwait–maybe even Egypt The US is going ahead with privatizing 12 state owned enterprises, mainly services, in Iraq. This step is technically illegal in international law, despite UN resolutions of limited scope. The Hague Regulations of 1907 say that Occupiers may not change civil law, and the body of […]

Bin Laden Tape on Iraq The thing that always strikes me about Bin Laden is how hysterical he remains all the time in his pronouncements, which contrasts starkly with his calm personality. In the tape released Saturday via al-Jazeera, he said Iraq was the decisive battle against the West. But this is simple minded. Iraq […]

Turks May not Send Troops to Iraq Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said Saturday that Turkey has not made a “must go” decision about sending troops to Iraq, and that they will not be sent unless they are wanted. The Iraqi Interim Governing Council is unanimously opposed to their coming and opinion polls suggest that […]

Four US Soldiers Killed, 18 wounded In addition to the three US soldiers killed in Karbala on Friday–one of whom the Arabic press is calling a senior officer– (see below), another was killed by a roadside bomb set by a guerrillas in Baghdad (it wounded two others). Guerrillas set off a roadside bomb in Mosul […]

Demonstrations in Baghdad and Basra Against US by Shiites The aftermath of the gunbattle in Karbala between US troops and the tribal paramilitary of an obscure cleric named Mahmud al-Hasani (Mahmoud al-Hassani) was marked by demonstrations in Baghdad and Basra. All the indications are now that al-Hasani is a Sadrist. Knight-Ridder says that he was […]