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6 US Soldiers wounded in 24 hours Wire services quoted by al-Jazeerah report that guerrillas wounded three US soldiers with rocket-propelled grenade fire Thursday night near Tikrit. On Friday morning, guerrillas in Tikrit lightly wounded another two US troops in a bom blast. A third soldier was seriously wounded in an attack on his convoy […]

Islamists on IGC Defeated on Islamic Law Provision Raghida Dergham reports in al-Hayat that the representatives on the Interim Governing Council of the Islamist tendency suffered a political defeat on Friday when the IGC abrogated Directive 137, which it had issued in late December, and which put personal status law in the jurisdiction of religious […]

Abdul Hamid Confronted over his Allegation that the Shiites are a Minority The Kuwaiti newspaper al-Qabas reports that it had a further confrontation with Muhsin Abdul Hamid, leader of the Iraqi Islamic Party and February’s president of the Interim Governing council. Al-Qabas and other news sources reported recently that Abdul Hamid maintained that Shiites constituted […]

Army of the Helpers of the Sunnah a Major Insurgent Group Al-Hayat newspaper in London says it has gotten hold of many memos and videotapes concerning Jaysh Ansar al-Sunnah and pointing to its relationship with the Kurdish radical Islamist group, Ansar al-Islam. The memos say that the Army of the Helpers of the Sunnah (AHS) […]

Explosions in Baquba, Baghdad AP reports that ‘ In Baqouba . . . an explosion occurred Thursday in the city center and witnesses said three police cars were on fire. ‘. It continues, ‘ The U.S. command said [a] fuel truck, assigned to the 1st Armored Division, was hit by a roadside bomb in the […]

We may as Well Just Record all our Telephone Calls and send them to Maryland Philip Knightley and Kim Sengupta describe how the US National Security Agency and the British Government Communications Headquarters eavesdrop on the whole world. The NSA is forbidden from listening in on Americans without a warrant, but the US government circumvents […]

Cole Interviews with Chicago Public Radio’s Worldview Those of you with RealAudio can listen to two interviews I did with Chicago Public Radio’s Worldview program, hosted by Jerome McDonnell. The interviews are listed under February 26. One treats the Americana in Arabic Translation Library. The other is on the issue of transitional government in Iraq. […]

Sistani Reaffirms demand for Elections by end of Year The NYT reports that Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani has again said the UN needs to set a date certain for direct elections in Iraq, which Kofi Annan said could plausibly be held in December or January if preparations begin being made now. He clearly wants those […]

Sunni Clerics Fail to Secure Release of 150 Imprisoned Women (AFP/az-Zaman): Sunni clerics meeting with US officers failed to secure the release of 150 Iraqi women imprisoned by the American forces. A US spokesman said he had no immediate knowledge of the condition of the jailed women. Cleric Muhammad Bashshar al-Faydi said, “The Americans must […]