Juan Cole

US Troops Accused of Using Excessive Force A new report suggests that US troops in Iraq have used excessive force and inflicted unnecessary casualties on civilians. To be fair, the US military has been put in an impossible position by Bush, Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz. It is occupying Iraq, trying to act as enforcer of the […]

Kurds uneasy in New Iraq The Kurdish minority in Iraq fought enthusiastically alongside US troops to overthrow Saddam Hussein. Its two simple demands are that Iraq become a loose Federation in which there is a consolidated Kurdish province (the Kurds are now largely scattered through four separate provinces), and that it be free from intereference […]

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 […]