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Archives for December 2003

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More Hurdles For Iraqi Democracy Neocon

More Hurdles For Iraqi Democracy Neocon

Juan Cole

(More) Hurdles for Iraqi Democracy The Neocon idea that a post-war, US-dominated Iraq would become a beacon of democracy faces more and more hurdles. The increasingly strident and increasingly controversial Kurdish demand for a consolidated Kurdish super-province with relative autonomy from Baghdad could well derail the new Iraq. The demand is not acceptable to Turkmen […]

Uncategorized
Alawi Saddam Will Be Tried In Secret

Alawi Saddam Will Be Tried In Secret

Juan Cole

Alawi: Saddam will be Tried in Secret; Withdrawal Timeline for US Troops to be Negotiated Saddam’s trial is unlikely to be public, according to Iyad Alawi, member of the Interim Governing Council and head of the Iraqi National Accord (mainly ex-Baathist officers who cooperated in 1990s CIA plots against Saddam). Alawi made the remarks in […]

Uncategorized
Ken Macleods Blog And Iraq As Many Of

Ken Macleods Blog And Iraq As Many Of

Juan Cole

Ken MacLeod’s Blog and Iraq As many of you know, I’m an old time science fiction fan, having grown up on Asimov, Heinlein, Herbert, Delaney, Moorcock and the other greats. (I don’t care about divisions between the old Campbell stable and the New Wave of the late 1960s; I read it all). I subscribe to […]

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Shiite Issues In News Thousands Of

Shiite Issues In News Thousands Of

Juan Cole

Shiite Issues in the News Thousands of Shiites gathered in Najaf to mourn the 1999 assassination of Ayatollah Muhammad Sadiq al-Sadr and other Shiite figures martyred by Saddam. The ayatollah’s followers tend to be puritanical and anti-American, but this gathering appears to have been peaceful and relatively devoid of politics. The ayatollah’s son, Muqtada al-Sadr, […]

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10 Us Soldiers Wounded 6 Other

10 Us Soldiers Wounded 6 Other

Juan Cole

10 US soldiers Wounded, 6 other Coalition Troops Killed, 36 wounded; Governor of Karbala Hospitalized with 80 other wounded Civilians Guerillas launched four massive car bombings on Saturday in the Shiite holy city of Karbala. Although Western news reports said that Karbala has been relatively quiet, in fact Coalition troops had on numerous occasionas come […]

Uncategorized
Bam Earthquake Kills 20000 Enormity Of

Bam Earthquake Kills 20000 Enormity Of

Juan Cole

Bam Earthquake Kills 20,000 The enormity of 20,000 persons being suddenly wiped out by an earthquake is just hard for me to fathom. There is an old custom in the Middle East and South Asia of seeing such incidents as a sign of God’s displeasure. That way of thinking strikes me as sick (even though […]

Uncategorized
Bremer To Blair No Weapons Labs Cover

Bremer To Blair No Weapons Labs Cover

Juan Cole

Bremer to Blair: No Weapons Labs The cover story of the Bush administration about the reasons for the Iraq war has become so full of holes that it is even confusing major officials and allies now. The Bushies started out saying that the war was about Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction. When it turned out […]

Uncategorized
Al Hakim Calls For Un Involvement In

Al Hakim Calls For Un Involvement In

Juan Cole

Al-Hakim Calls for UN Involvement In a news conference in Baghdad, Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, temporary president of the Interim Governing Council, said that when in Europe he had lobbied heads of state for more United Nations involvement in the transfer of sovereignty to an Iraqi government this summer. He said he pressed this request on […]

Uncategorized
Gang That Couldnt Shoot Straight

Gang That Couldnt Shoot Straight

Juan Cole

The Gang that Couldn’t Shoot Straight Although Baghdad was shaken by a series of six rocket attacks on Thursday, the guerrillas managed to do very little damage. They targeted the HQ of the Coalition Provisional Authority, two major hotels favored by Western journalist, and the German, Iranian and Turkish embassies. Although the explosions appear to […]

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