Juan Cole

*Attacks on US forces continued Thursday and Friday. In Samarra, four mortar rounds were launched at a US military base late Thursday, and three of our boys were wounded in that attack. The base in Ramadi was luckier–it received two mortar rounds Friday morning, but no one was injured. As a result of the constant […]

*Three US troops were killed on Wednesday, according to a military spokesman. In Tikrit, assailants hit a US convoy, killing one soldier and wounding another. In Mahmudiyah (which lies to the south of Baghdad), two soldiers were killed in an ambush by small arms fire on Wednesday evening. This must be a one-day record since […]

*The US mounted an unprecedented house to house search in Azamiya and Karada, quarters of West Baghdad, on Wednesday, closing off streets and sealing the region, according to az-Zaman. Iraqi police helping in the operation engaged in a running battle with an armed force, which some reports described as looters. The police were supported by […]

*In a staccato burst of attacks on Tuesday, 7 US troops were wounded in Baghdad and Kirkuk. In Baghdad insurgents waited on a bridge until a US convoy was passing and then lobbed a homemade bomb at it. In Kirkuk, assailants fired a rocket propelled grenade at US military vehicles. In another incident in Baghdad, […]

*Two US soldiers and two Iraqis were killed on Monday as violence against the US-led coalition escalated . . . – (SA). And . . . At the same time, sabotage against Iraq’s oil and electric power grids is increasing, a British official in Iraq has said. Andrew Bearpark, director of regional services, asked for […]

Despite Paul Bremer’s earlier opposition to municipal elections, some form of urban self-government is being arranged by the British and American militaries. On Sunday it was reported by AFP that the Basra governing council of 31 delegates had elected a new interim mayor of Basra, Iraq’s second-largest city by secret ballot. The electee is Shiite […]

*Sunday evening witnessed another grenade attack on US troops in the Sunni belt, according to AFP: “Unknown assailants fired rocket-propelled grenades at a US patrol in the Iraqi town of Ramadi west of Baghdad Sunday night, witnesses said. Powerful explosions were heard in the town, located 100 kilometers (60 miles) west of Baghdad, said the […]

*The Mail on Sunday in the UK reports that the UK Foreign Office has concluded that there just weren’t any chemical or biological weapons in Iraq: ‘Senior Government sources have told The Mail On Sunday that the Foreign Office has given up hope of finding chemical and biological weapons in Iraq. The source said: ‘We […]

*One US soldier was killed by a sniper in Baghdad on the US Independence Day, and 17 were wounded by a mortar attack in Balad. A little later Iraqi insurgents ambushed a US convoy near Balad, and the US took out 11 of the attackers. The low grade guerrilla conflict thus continued unabated. Indeed, it […]