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Archives for May 2008

Iraq

Thousands of Sadrists Protest Security Pact With US; Sistani Aide Demands Parliament Vote

Juan Cole

Thousands of followers of Shiite leader Sayyid Muqtada al-Sadr peacefully protested across southern Iraq on Friday, according to McClatchy. They prayed and then stood silently in solidarity against the security agreement being negotiated by PM Nuri al-Maliki with George W. Bush. Sadrists Demonstrate in Kufa. Courtesy Amara.net, a Sadrist site. (On both the Iraqi and […]

Iraq
Suicide Bombers Kill 20, Wound Dozens in North; Firefight with Jihadis in Tikrit; VP Abdul Mahdi Praises IranP

Suicide Bombers Kill 20, Wound Dozens in North; Firefight with Jihadis in Tikrit; VP Abdul Mahdi Praises IranP

Juan Cole

At least 35 persons died in political violence in northern Iraq on Thursday. Suicide bombers killed 20 persons and wounded dozens in three attacks on police and recruits, with the largest attack at Sinjar. In Tikrit, Awakening Council tribesmen armed and paid by the US shot to death 15 jihadis in a tanker headed for […]

Iraq

Haeri Fatwa Against Security Agreement; Al-Alam: Basra Pols Oppose Security Agreement with US

Juan Cole

The USG Open Source Center translates the fatwa of Ayatollah Kadhim al-Ha’iri (Haeri) condemning any security agreement between Iraq and the United States (Via BBC Monitoring). Haeri, an Iraqi, lives in Qom because he refuses to reside under foreign military occupation. He is sometimes called Iraq’s ‘fifth grand ayatollah.’ The other four live in Najaf […]

Iraq

Sadr demands Referendum on SOFA; Sistani said to Support Referendum

Juan Cole

CNN is reporting that Shiite leader Sayyid Muqtada al-Sadr is demanding that any US-Iraqi security agreement be submitted to a national referendum. Al-Hayat reports in Arabic that he is in good company: ‘ Sources close to the office of the Shiite Supreme Exemplar, Ayatollah Ali Sistani, told al-Hayat that he called on the Iraqi prime […]

Iraq

Sunni Arabs Pull out of Talks with al-Maliki; Bush Benchmark in Doubt; Marines Proselytize Sunnis with Gospel

Juan Cole

On Wednesday, the Sunni fundamentalist Iraqi Accord Front (IAF, Tawafuq) withdrew from talks on rejoining the government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki of the Shiite fundamentalist Islamic Mission Party (Da’wa). Despite the confidence of Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi, a Sunni, that his bloc would eventually rejoin the government, the development was a blow to […]

Uncategorized

Halliburton and Iran

Juan Cole

The moral of the below: If you can’t join them, beat them. Reddit readers have dug up an article by Jason Leopold alleging that Halliburton, of which Dick Cheney was CEO in 1995-2000, and which did business in Iran until 2007, supplied Iran with equipment that could have been useful to its nuclear program. Among […]

Iraq

McClellan: Bush in Permanent Campaign Mode, Less than Forthright on Iraq

Juan Cole

Former White House press spokesman Scott McClellan has come to the realization that Bush’s presidency veered badly off course and that the Bush White House was in “permanent campaign mode”– by which he appears to mean that the honesty and transparency necessary to govern were foregone in favor of constant propaganda of the sort it […]

Iraq

Sadr Threatens Weekly Demos; The Forgotten Refugees; Same old Retired Guys on the Take, on TV

Juan Cole

Muqtada al-Sadr is urging Iraqis to hold weekly demonstrations after mosque prayers on Fridays against the proposed security agreement being negotiated by the al-Maliki government with the US. Sadr fears al-Maliki will give up too much of Iraq’s sovereignty. McClatchy says that Bush wants to give $600 million for the Iraqi police; but he wants […]

Uncategorized

Cole in Salon: John McCain’s Arab-American Problem

Juan Cole

My fortnightly column in Salon.com is now out: “John McCain’s Arab-American Problem“. Excerpt: ‘ Arab-Americans do, however, have some distinctive concerns in common. They are more likely to care about the Iraq war and the Arab-Israeli peace process than other Americans. They are also particularly sensitive to racial profiling and assaults on civil liberties. That […]

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