Juan Cole

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 […]

Shaikh al-Nasiri demands seat on Interim Governing Council A conference was held in Nasiriya of religious and tribal leaders on Sunday. They demanded that the drafters of the new Iraqi constitution be elected. Shaikh Muhammad al-Nasiri, an Object of Emulation for some Iraqi Shiites, said that there should be a representative from al-Nasiriya on the […]

Blast Kills 6-7, wounds dozens at Baghdad Hotel Two cars full of explosives raced toward the Baghdad Hotel early Sunday in Baghdad. The hotel, where many Westerners stay, was protected by security barriers, and Iraqi guards fired at the cars, killing the drivers and setting off the explosives some distance from the hotel itself. Between […]

Masoud Barzani confirms that the Interim Governing Council’s Consensus is against Turkish Troops Masoud Barzani, leader of the Kurdistan Democracy Party and prominent member of the American-appointed Interim Governing Council in Iraq, told an audience in Kuwait on Saturday that a consensus exists among the Iraqi people that troops from neighboring countries, including Turkey, should […]

Mahdi’s Birthday Celebrated by 1 Million Shiites in Iraq; Muqtada promises shadow government Hundreds of thousands, perhaps a million and a half Shiite worshippers crowded into the shrine city of Karbala on Saturday, to begin commemorating the birth of the Twelfth Imam (in the Western calendar it was 2 August 869 AD). The Polish commander […]

Iraqi Hospitals still not Functional US spokesmen keep insisting that Iraq’s over 200 major hospitals are back to functioning normally. This statement is manifestly not true, given what reporters have revealed of the situation on the ground. For another such report, see the report of the BBC’s Martin Asser: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/ hi/world/middle_east/3184326.stm