Juan Cole

*A US soldier was reported killed Monday of “non-hostile gunfire,” presumably a firearms accident. *Angry crowds about 2,000 strong filled the streets of Najaf Monday for a funeral procession for the bodyguards killed on Sunday by a bomb meant for Grand Ayatollah Muhammad Said al-Hakim. They vowed revenge, and some were overheard blaming young Shiite […]

*Ayatollah Muhammad Sa`id al-Hakim was slightly wounded in the neck by flying glass on Sunday when a bomb went off outside his offices in Najaf shortly after he finished his prayers. Three of his bodyguards who went to investigate the bomb were killed, and ten of his aides were wounded. Sa`id al-Hakim is one of […]

*Gunmen killed three British soldiers in the southern port city of Basra on Saturday. Details are contradictory and sketchy. Some reports say they had a bomb tossed at them, others wonder if their unmarked car just came to be targeted by car thieves. *Ethnic violence near Kirkuk as Shiite Turkmen clashed with Sunni Kurds over […]

*It is with great sadness that I report that a friend of Informed Comment, Naval Reserve Lt. Kylan Jones-Huffman (31), was killed Thursday near al-Hilla. The wire services said: “BAGHDAD: A US serviceman on duty with a Marine unit was shot dead south of Baghdad, the US military said today, as the UN prepared to […]

*Guerrillas in Iraq killed one 1st Armored Division soldier and wounded two others with an improvised explosive in Baghdad just before midnight Wednesday. In Afghanistan, Taliban forces killed a US Special Operations officer in Orgun in Paktia province. *CENTCOM commander Gen. John Abizaid, a straight shooter, is admitting that 140,000 US troops may be in […]

*Three guerrillas fired AK-47s and rocket-propelled grenades at a US military convoy near Tikrit, killing a US citizen working as a translator, and wounding two US soldiers on Wednesday. *Still no firm clues in the truck bombing of the UN HQ. Now there is some question about whether it really was a suicide bombing, or […]

For my reaction to the tragic bombing of the UN Headquarters in Baghdad, see the breaking news item below. *Bahraini officials met with Iraq Interim Governing Council President Ibrahim Jaafari on Tuesday (- Al-Sharq al-Awsat). They expressed their support for the IGC (not the same as recognizing it as a legitimate government) and for Iraq […]

*Breaking News. A suicide bomber set off an enormous truck bomb at the Canal Hotel in Baghdad, which was serving as the United Nations Headquarters, beneath the office of UN special representative Sergio Vieira de Mello. De Mello and 17 others are confirmed dead, with 100 or more injured, and much of the front of […]

*Guerrillas killed a US soldier in Baghdad on Monday with a bomb. In a separate incident, guerrillas attacked a US Army convoy with rocket propelled grenades east of Tikrit, wounding two American soldiers. *Paul Bremer admitted that sabotage was costing American-administered Iraq billions, but told CNN: “I think these bitter-enders that we are faced with […]