Juan Cole

In my view the really big news today is the growing rapprochement between Pakistan and India. On Tuesday, Pakistani PM Zafarullah Jamali put forth six steps to promote confidence-building between the two countries, “including immediate resumption of air, rail and bus links and exchange of high commissioners between the two countries” (Dawn). India says it […]

*AFP is reporting that Jay Garner, head of the Pentagon’s reconstruction effort in Iraq, has appointed 5 Iraqi leaders as the core of a new Iraqi government. He is said to have named: Massoud Barzani from the Kurdistan Democratic Party, Jalal Talabani of the rival Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, Abdul Aziz al-Hakim from the Supreme […]

*Emile Lahoud, the president of Lebanon, rejected US Secretary of State Colin Powell’s demand that the Hizbullah militia in south Lebanon be replaced. He said that Hizbullah is a legal political party, and expressed satisfaction that its guerrilla actions had gotten the Israelis back out of south Lebanon after 18 years. The Israeli and Zionist […]

Size of reconsituted police force currently deployed in Baghdad: 3,000 Population of Baghdad: 5 million Days since new Baghdad police chief has resigned: 1 Size of police force in Chicago: 13,000 Population of Chicago proper: 3 million Number of days since Shiites in slums of East Baghdad have seen a US Patrol: 4 Number of […]

*A heavy exchange of fire took place between the volunteer Najaf police and an armed local clan on Friday morning. About ten men showed up, shooting off AK-47s in the area around the Imam Ali shrine. Two civilians were wounded in the skirmish. The attackers are also said to have thrown a hand grenade. Reuters […]

*Basra has a new governor, and it is Denmark’s former ambassador to Syria, a convert to Islam. Ole Woehlers Olsen will be put in charge by the British, who conquered the southern river port of 1.2 million. Apparently it is hoped that his being a Muslim convert will make him acceptable locally. The appointment is […]

*There was more trouble in Falluja yesterday, where US troops again fired on and killed civilians demonstrating against their presence. The troops allege that Baath loyalists fired at them from the protesting crowds, and they had to fire back. It is a very difficult situation. The troops can’t lose control of the situation, of course, […]

*Spokesmen for the Shiite Dawa Party and for the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution (SCIRI) in Iraq explained today why key religious leaders boycotted Jay Garner’s leadership meeting in Baghdad on Monday. Both rejected the idea of the US playing a mentoring role in setting up a new Iraqi government. SCIRI spokesman Hamid Bayati said […]

*Thousands of Iraqis demonstrated in Baghdad Monday morning against the leadership meeting held under American auspices. The demonstration was boycotted, however, by the powerful Sadr Movement led by Muqtada al-Sadr. They said they wanted to get involved on neither side. The Sadr spokesman, Adnan Shahmani, said that the Sadriyyun did not object to the US […]