Juan Cole

King Abdullah II Asks Turkey not to Send Troops King Abdullah II of Jordan called on countries neighboring Iraq not to send troops. (-al-Zaman) The plea was clearly directed at Turkey, the only neighbor now planning to do so. Abdullah II is echoing what the US-appointed Interim Governing Council itself has said, but since he […]

90% of Iraqi Public opposes Turkish Troops: New Iraq Opinion Poll “IRAQ INSTITUTE for DEMOCRACY Press Release : Monday 13th of October 2003 Fikri Center, the Opinion Poll department at the Iraq Institute for Democracy, based in Baghdad, Iraq, has conducted, last week, one opinion poll in Baghdad, Mosul and Dohuk. Opinion poll conducted beginning […]

Petroleum figures for Iraq Here is what informed readers said about the issue of the figures released by the Coalition Provisional Authority on petroleum production and income: Ed Morse: “Experienced oil men don’t necessarily share their heads over the numbers. The numbers are transparent and accurate. The problem is that what can be produced cannot […]

Barzani urges Arab League to Support Exclusion of Turkish Troops from Iraq In Cairo, IGC member Massoud Barzani urged the Arab League to support the Interim Governing Council in rejecting the stationing of Turkish troops on Iraqi soil. He warned that sending troops to Iraq from any neighboring country would only increase tensions. The Kurdish […]

Bombing: Iraqis Angered by US Failure to Provide Security Some reports have the dead in Sunday’s bombing outside the Baghdad hotel at 8, with 40 wounded. About 10 of those are security guards, and 6 police, according to al-Zaman. Ten of the wounded are in serious condition, many having lost limbs. The bomber was stopped […]

Explaining Why the Bush Administration Went to War in Iraq – Juan Cole [From the current Boston Review, “The Iraqi Shiites: On the history of America’s would-be allies”:] The ambitious aim of the American war in Iraq—articulated by Richard Perle, Paul Wolfowitz, and other neoconservative defense intellectuals—was to effect a fundamental transformation in Middle East […]

One US Soldier Dead, 7 wounded; Iraqi policeman dies in Kirkuk, another wounded Guerrillas near Tikrit set off an exposive device at 2:10 pm Sunday between two US humvees. The explosion lightly wounded three soldiers. Guerrillas set a land mine near Baiji north of Baghdad, which was struck by a US Bradley fighting vehicle on […]

US Figures on Iraqi Oil Production Challenged The Independent charged on Sunday that the US civil administrators in Iraq have often overstated the amount of petroleum Iraq is able to export under their rule, and have downplayed sabotage and other bad news. It says that experienced oil men “shake their heads” at the oil statistics […]

Karbala Pilgrim attracts Hundreds of Thousands; Muqtada explains Shadow Government Hundreds of thousands if not over a million pilgrims crowded into Karbala on Sunday to commemorate the birth of the Twelfth Imam, who is expected to return as a messiah one day by Shiites. It was the first time in decades they could celebrate the […]