Juan Cole

Is it Bin Laden Again? I believe the recently released Bin Ladin tape is authentic. I could only hear snippets in the background of the CNN report, but it certainly sounded like Bin Laden to me. He has a slightly strange diction, with vague threats always implied, and I heard what I thought were some […]

Now the rumors are that the Pakistan Muslim League (Q) (which is loyal to General Pervez Musharraf) along with several smaller parties, may make a coalition with the fundamentalist United Action Council to form a government. Earlier attempts to work something out with the Pakistan People’s Party fell through, perhaps because Musharraf is unwilling to […]

Iraqi Parliamentarians condemn UN Security Council Resolution in Opening Debate Asharq al-Awsat says that the foreign affairs committee of the Iraqi parliament has recommended against accepting the UN Security Council resolution 1441 passed last Friday, insisting on the resumption of weapons inspections. Yesterday, Saadoun Hammadi, the Speaker of the Iraqi Parliament, threw into doubt whether […]

Iraq is complaining about repeated Turkish incursions into its airspace, and is taking the matter to the Arab league. Given that there is a no-fly zone in the northern, Kurdish areas near Turkey and that Iraq does not even control its airspace up there, this particular complaint seems bizarre on the face of it. But […]

Amnesty International Appeal for Dr. Aghajari PUBLIC AI Index:MDE 13/022/2002; UA 330/02 – 7 November 2002 Threat of execution/medical concern IRAN – Dr Seyyed Hashem Aghajari (m), aged 45, writer and academic Prisoner of conscience Dr Seyyed Hashem Aghajari, a history professor at Tehran’s Tarbiat Modares University, is at threat of execution. He was arrested […]

Jordan declines to Join in Iraq War (Again) Jordan’s Foreign Minister Marwan al-Mu`ashir continued to maintain today that its territory could not be used in any U.S. attack on Iraq. He said that the US understands he constraints on his government. He may have been referring to the anti-American fatwas issued at a recent gathering […]

Deal struck for Government in Pakistan? Rumors are swirling in the Pakistani press (“informed sources say . . .”) that a deal has finally been struck under U.S. pressure that will allow the formation of a national unity government including both the Pakistan People’s Party and the Muslim League (QA) along with a number of […]

Predator strike against al-Qaeda in Yemen The strike on Abu `Ali al-Harithi and his companions near Marib was carried out by a Predator controlled from Langley because past attempts to use conventional forces in this regard had failed. Last December, the Yemeni government sent in its special forces to search for al-Harithi and others. The […]

Are Arabs Anti-American? On a list I am on, we have been discussing Barry Rubin’s article on the roots of Arab anti-Americanism in the current Foreign Affairs. Several of us feel his arguments are vitiated by recent polling data that demonstrates the love Arabs and Muslims have for American values such as democracy and freedom […]