Juan Cole

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 […]

Breaking News: Gunfight in Karbala For twelve hours from Thursday night into Friday early morning, US military police engaged in a gunfight with Shiite militiamen guarding the home of Ayatollah Mahmud al-Hasani (Mahmoud al-Hassani) in Karbala, near the shrine of Abbas. The MPs are said to have come into Karbala to enforce a curfew. The […]

Bombings and Attempted Bombings in North Iraq; Pipeline Hit The northern pipeline was bombed again Thursday, setting back US hopes that exports would resume from the northern fields. A lot of the petroleum pumped around Kirkuk just has to be reinjected into the ground nowadays. A car bomb hit a police station in Kirkuk. An […]

UN Resolution on Iraq a Sign of Bush Administration Desperation The widespread interpretation of Thursday’s successful US-backed UN Security Resolution on Iraq, that it was a victory for the Bush administration, is all wrong. The Bush administration showed nothing but contempt for the UN last spring when it went to war unilaterally (or bilaterally if […]

US Army Arrests Sadrists in East Baghdad The US military went into East Baghdad on Thursday with tanks, which stood guard while the soldiers took control of a municipal building and arrested several supporters of Muqtada al-Sadr. The building had been used by a local city council, but al-Sadr’s supporters had invaded it and taken […]

Al-Qaeda Takes Credit for bombing of Baghdad Hotel Guerrillas raked the front of the Baghdad Hotel with gunfire on Wednesday. It had been the target of a bomb on Sunday. Al-Qaeda has claimed credit for that suicide bombing that targetted the Baghad Hotel, according to al-Asharq al-Awsat. Many US contractors are at the hotel, and […]

Barzani Warns Again on Turkish troops Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani gave an interview to al-Sharq al-Awsat in which he warned again of the severed dangers posed to Iraqi security by the US plan to invite Turkish troops into the country. Asked if he thought the US was ignoring the Interim Governing Council on this issue, […]

Former State Department Analyst: Powell Exaggerated at UN Greg Thielman, a former State Department weapons analyst says that he watched Colin Powell’s performance at the UN in February with dismay, aware that the US Secretary of State was grossly overstating the threat from Saddam. Thielman called it the “low point” of Powell’s career. A UN […]

Mihri: Muqtada’s thugs include former Baathists Muhammad Baqir al-Mihri, a Shiite clergyman, gave an interview to al-Sharq al-Awsat in Kuwait in which he condemed the movement of Muqtada al-Sadr, saying it has no connection to the various Shiite clerical establishments. He said it had departed from the circle of accepted Shiite practice by attacking other […]