Juan Cole

Protesters Pelt US Troops in Baghdad: Rally by the Army of the Mahdi Protesters from the Sadrist “Army of the Mahdi” gathered again Wednesday at a Shiite mosque in southwest Baghdad, demanding the release of two clerics, Moayad al-Khazraji and Jalil al-Shumri, who had been arrested Tuesday by US troops for “crimes against the coalition.” […]

Khamenei Calls for Sunni-Shiite Unity in Iraq: SCIRI: no Separation of Religion and State Abdul Aziz al-Hakim of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq met with Iranian Supreme Jurisprudent Ali Khamenei, and Khamenei offered him his support. He also warned against Sunni-Shiite conflict in Iraq (apparently he fears that a religiously divided Iraq […]

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 […]