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Shiite Militias Clash at Karbala A bloody clash took place in the Shiite holy city of Karbala on Tuesday between Muqtada al-Sadr’s army of the Mahdi and militiamen loyal to Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani. Al-Sharq al-Awsat is reporting at least five dead, and 21wounded. Sistani’s forces repulsed the Sadrists, and the Bulgarian forces surrounded Karbala […]

CPA charges Muqtada in Bombings The Coalition Provisional Authority is charging Muqtada al-Sadr with being behind many of the recent suicide bombings and assassination attempts, including the bombing of the Baghdad Hotel on Sunday and even the Aug. 29 bombing in Najaf. I think the CPA must know that the Najaf bombing in particular was […]

King Abdullah II Asks Turkey not to Send Troops King Abdullah II of Jordan called on countries neighboring Iraq not to send troops. (-al-Zaman) The plea was clearly directed at Turkey, the only neighbor now planning to do so. Abdullah II is echoing what the US-appointed Interim Governing Council itself has said, but since he […]

One US soldier killed, two wounded; Four British soldiers wounded Guerrillas killed an American soldier and wounded two others in Tikrit on Monday with a grenade attack around one pm local time. Guerrillas lightly wounded four British troops on the outskirts of Basra with a roadside bomb on Monday, as well.

Petroleum Minister, Governor of Diyala Narrowly escape Assassination The Interim Petroleum Minister, Ibrahim Bahr al-`Ulum and an aid to Interim Governing Council member Ahmad Chalabi narrowly escaped being assassinated in Baghdad on Sunday, according to al-Zaman. It gave no details The Governor of Diyala province in the east escaped an assassination attempt when guerrillas detonated […]

Petroleum figures for Iraq Here is what informed readers said about the issue of the figures released by the Coalition Provisional Authority on petroleum production and income: Ed Morse: “Experienced oil men don’t necessarily share their heads over the numbers. The numbers are transparent and accurate. The problem is that what can be produced cannot […]

90% of Iraqi Public opposes Turkish Troops: New Iraq Opinion Poll “IRAQ INSTITUTE for DEMOCRACY Press Release : Monday 13th of October 2003 Fikri Center, the Opinion Poll department at the Iraq Institute for Democracy, based in Baghdad, Iraq, has conducted, last week, one opinion poll in Baghdad, Mosul and Dohuk. Opinion poll conducted beginning […]

Explaining Why the Bush Administration Went to War in Iraq – Juan Cole [From the current Boston Review, “The Iraqi Shiites: On the history of America’s would-be allies”:] The ambitious aim of the American war in Iraq—articulated by Richard Perle, Paul Wolfowitz, and other neoconservative defense intellectuals—was to effect a fundamental transformation in Middle East […]

Bombing: Iraqis Angered by US Failure to Provide Security Some reports have the dead in Sunday’s bombing outside the Baghdad hotel at 8, with 40 wounded. About 10 of those are security guards, and 6 police, according to al-Zaman. Ten of the wounded are in serious condition, many having lost limbs. The bomber was stopped […]