Juan Cole

Gutting VOA and Radio Sawa Some news reports from the Los Angeles Times and other newspapers this week have talked about the amazing success of Radio Sawa, the US government radio network that broadcasts on FM and AM in the Middle East. It plays music all day, mixing Britney Spears with local Arab pop stars, […]

Explosions near Kabul Airport There were three explosions near Kabul airport on Saturday, according to the Turkish commander of the peace keeping forces in Afghanistan. It is a bit startling that even at a key such installation in the capital, security has not been achieved by the 7000 American and the thousands of peace-keeping forces […]

Combatting extremism in Yemen Asharq al-Awsat reports that Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Salih has formed a council of senior Muslim clergymen to preach to Yemen’s youth, especially returnees from Afghanistan, about the dangers of religious extremism. They will conduct open discussion and dialogue sessions, both voluntary and with extremists in prison. Non-government sources estimate that […]

al-Qaida Funding Two contradictory reports are out. Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal says that his government has blocked $90 mn. from going to al-Qaida in the past few months. (That it was blocked is the good news. That Saudis still want to send that kind of money to al-Qaida is the bad news). The […]

al-Qaida in Iran Iran has denied a Washington Post report that two senior al-Qaida figures are hiding out in far eastern Iran near the Afghan border, saying it has a policy of not giving asylum to al-Qaida members. One thing no one has pointed out is that the southeast of Iran is very rugged and […]

Bin Ladin Back in Control? Al-Quds al-`Arabi, a London newspaper, is reporting that Bin Ladin is firmly back in control of al-Qa’ida and that the organization is digging in for a guerilla war against the US presence in Afghanistan.

No Security Council Resolution? The Los Angeles Times reported today that the Bush administration will likely not seek a UN Security Council Resolution authorizing war against Iraq. The report said that Bush fears a veto by Russia or China. Most US European allies, and even some in the Middle East, such as Kuwait, have said […]

Iraq and al-Qaida (Again) The attempts to tie Baathist Iraq to al-Qaida continue among the hawks in Washington, and they continue to be without logical or evidentiary foundation. Al-Qaida wanted to overthrow Saddam Hussein. It hates him. Bin Ladin was angry at the Saudi government in 1990 for not doing in Kuwait what was done […]

Whatever Happened to the Iraqi Airforce (Iran-Iraq relations) Someone asked of the 1990 pilot defections: >1) Were these defections spontaneously carried out by Iraqi pilots, >or were they part of an some kind of official Iraqi policy (perhaps t>o maintain a force-in-being in a neutral country)? Since Iraq had just fought a long and bloody […]