Juan Cole

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 […]

Process of Writing New Constitution Delayed Seemingly irreconcilable differences will delay the writing of an Iraqi constitution, says journalist Ahmad Mukhtar in Iraq Today. He says that the Shiites on the Interim Governing Council demand that the drafters of the constitution be elected. Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani suggested recently that a delegate be chosen on […]

References http://www.novinite.com/ newsletter/print.php?id=26801 Robin Wright on Iran and Iraq http://www.latimes.com/news/ nationworld/iraq/la-fg-usiran4oct04-1.story Delays in writing Iraqi Constitution http://www.iraq-today.com/ article.php?id=11 New Iraqi nationality law http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/ 2003-10/01/content_1108999.htm

Jordanian Islamists ask Government not to Train Iraqi Police Jordan’s Islamists asked the government of King Abdullah II not to train 30,000 Iraqi police, as is now planned. They said it was inappropriate given that Iraq is occupied, since it would just help the US consolidate its colonial position in Iraq. (-al-Sharq al-Awsat).

Israeli Attack on Syria Poses Dilemma to Old Guard in Damascus I heard the Israeli ambassador to the UN allege on Sunday that Israel’s attack on Syria on Sunday resembled the US attack on the Taliban in Afghanistan. This analogy is incorrect. The US was not sending US citizens to grab land and settle any […]