Juan Cole

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 […]

Conference on Human Rights and the Environment A conference on Human Rights and the Environment was held in Kut on Wednesday. (al-Sharq al-Awsat). Here is where I think the positive should be underlined in Iraq. My teacher, Saad Eddin Ibrahim, went to jail in Egypt for running a human rights organization. And Egypt is one […]

Shiite Militias Clash at Karbala A bloody clash took place in the Shiite holy city of Karbala on Tuesday between Muqtada al-Sadr’s army of the Mahdi and militiamen loyal to Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani. Al-Sharq al-Awsat is reporting at least five dead, and 21wounded. Sistani’s forces repulsed the Sadrists, and the Bulgarian forces surrounded Karbala […]

CPA charges Muqtada in Bombings The Coalition Provisional Authority is charging Muqtada al-Sadr with being behind many of the recent suicide bombings and assassination attempts, including the bombing of the Baghdad Hotel on Sunday and even the Aug. 29 bombing in Najaf. I think the CPA must know that the Najaf bombing in particular was […]

Petroleum Minister, Governor of Diyala Narrowly escape Assassination The Interim Petroleum Minister, Ibrahim Bahr al-`Ulum and an aid to Interim Governing Council member Ahmad Chalabi narrowly escaped being assassinated in Baghdad on Sunday, according to al-Zaman. It gave no details The Governor of Diyala province in the east escaped an assassination attempt when guerrillas detonated […]