Juan Cole

Riots in Baghdad Rioting continued for the third day in Baghdad, this time by nearly 2000 former members of the Iraqi secret police, who want their jobs back. In southwestern Baghdad, a thousand Shiites staged a sit-in at the Ali Kazem al Bayai mosque to protest the arrest of their prayer leader, Shaikh Moayad al-Khazraji, […]

Three US soldiers Killed, 3 wounded in Iraq; Mortar at Foreign Ministry Guerrillas killed one US soldier and wounded another near Ramadi west of Baghdad on Monday. Guerrillas killed two other US soldiers, along with their translator, and wounded several more, at al-Haswa south of Baghdad. At Habaniya, a US helicopter was forced down. Guerrillas […]

Waxman, Corporations Angry about Tender Process in Iraq The American-Iraqi Chamber of Commerce, the ambassador to the US of Qatar, several US companies, and Henry Waxman are all angry about the lack of transparency and the appearance of cronyism in the tendering of contracts for Iraqi reconstruction. Sam Kubba of the chamber of commerce said, […]

Iranian Factions divided on which Iraqi Shiites to support According to al-Sharq al-Awsat, reformist president Ali Khatami of Iran is supporting Abdul Aziz al-Hakim of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, and had invited him to Iran. It says the reformists had refused to meet with the radical Muqtada al-Sadr on his visit […]

Turkish Troops Rejected “Unanimously” by Iraqi Governing Council The complete powerlessness and irrelevancy of the so-called Interim Governing Council was demonstrated Wednesday when the US welcomed the Turkish parliament’s offer of peace-enforcing troops for Iraq. The American-appointed IGC, which supposedly oversees Iraqi government ministries, has repeatedly said it does not want troops in Iraq from […]

Najaf Religious Authorities Rebuke IGC on Nationalities Law The Interim Governing Council issued a new law on Iraqi nationality in September, allowing dual citizenship. A number of the IGC members have dual citizenship, which was prohibited under the Baath regime, and holders of dual nationality were forbidden to hold office. The new law also allows […]

Al-Hakim Calls for Iranian Role Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, member of the Interim Governing Council and head of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, called in a statement distributed to politicians and clerics in Iran for that country to play a major role in Iraqi reconstruction. Al-Hakim said that Iran had stood with the […]

Attacks on US, Bulgarian Troops in Kirkuk and Karbala; Firefight in Beiji Guerrillas fired grenade launchers at Bulgarian troops in Karbala and at US troops in Kirkuk on Monday. Early Monday morning grenades fell on a city square where US troops were deployed in the northern, largely Kurdish city. The US took no casualties in […]

Turkish Troops for Iraq The US may get 10,000 or so Turkish troops for Iraq, if the Turkish parliament approves the step. The US military desperately needs the help, but this move is likely to deeply complicate US relations with the Iraqi Kurds. So far the Kurdish areas have been relatively quiet, with the exception […]