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Archives for October 2008

Uncategorized
Economy in Free Fall, Politics of Personal Destruction

Economy in Free Fall, Politics of Personal Destruction

Juan Cole

Graph of world markets in free fall. Obama predicted the Republican smear strategy against him last July, in every detail. They will try to paint him as “risky.” Reply: “It is too risky not to change.” Obama: “I can take 4 more weeks of McCain’s Attacks But America Can’t Take 4 More Years Of Failed […]

Uncategorized
GI Killed; Sadrist Politician Assassinated

GI Killed; Sadrist Politician Assassinated

Juan Cole

A US GI was killed on Tuesday in Mosul while answering a distress call Assailants killed Sadrist parliamentarian Salih al-`Ukayli with a roadside bomb near Sadr City in East Baghdad. Al-`Ukayli has been a supporter of civil politics, expressing happiness that the Mahdi Army has stood down. Al-Hayat reports in Arabic that members of the […]

Iraq
Suicide Bomber Kills 11 in Baquba; Turks to Continue Strikes on Iraq

Suicide Bomber Kills 11 in Baquba; Turks to Continue Strikes on Iraq

Juan Cole

A female suicide bomber detonated her belt bomb on Wednesday near some Iraqi army humvees in front of a courthouse in Baquba, killing at least 11 persons and wounding 20. Five Iraqi soldiers were killed, including 2 Majors. Baquba, the capital of Diyala Province, is 35 miles northeast of Baghdad. It is riven by conflicts […]

Omar Khayyam
Reprint Edn.: Barack Hussein Obama, Omar Bradley, Benjamin Franklin and other Semitically Named American Heroes

Reprint Edn.: Barack Hussein Obama, Omar Bradley, Benjamin Franklin and other Semitically Named American Heroes

Juan Cole

The below is reprinted from From February 27, 2008, because the [non-] issue is coming back up. At Cincinnati, Bill Cunningham, according to the LAT, who “introduced presidential candidate John McCain at a rally here today accused Barack Obama of sympathizing with ‘world leaders who want to kill us’ and invoked Obama’s middle name — […]

Uncategorized
Unreal Debate

Unreal Debate

Juan Cole

In the real world of political ads, McCain and his surrogates are shouting ugly insults at Barack Obama. He is accused of saying that US airstrikes have killed innocents. This is true and McCain said it, too. They say he was on a committee with a professor who used to be a Weatherman 40 years […]

Uncategorized
Factcheck: McCain on Taliban

Factcheck: McCain on Taliban

Juan Cole

Fact checking the debate: ‘MCCAIN: Now, let me just go back with you very briefly. We drove the Russians out with — the Afghan freedom fighters drove the Russians out of Afghanistan, and then we made a most serious mistake. We washed our hands of Afghanistan. The Taliban came back in, Al Qaeda, we then […]

Uncategorized
Turkish Planes Pound Iraqi North; Condi: Iraq is Hard

Turkish Planes Pound Iraqi North; Condi: Iraq is Hard

Juan Cole

Turkish war planes pounded northern Iraq on Monday, seeking to punish members of the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK) who are implicated in bombings and other attacks inside Turkey. Secretary of State Condi Rice said Monday that the Iraq War has been “harder, longer, and more difficult than I personally imagined” and she warned that victory […]

Uncategorized
McCain in 1992: Christianity and Oil Drive US Wars in Middle East

McCain in 1992: Christianity and Oil Drive US Wars in Middle East

Juan Cole

From “Larry King Live,” August 3, 1992: McCain gave two reasons for US military involvement in the Middle East. We are a “Judeo-Christian nation” [so it really is a Crusade?] and “as long as the world’s energy resources come from that part of the world . . .” ‘ [Larry] KING: Quickly – El Paso. […]

Uncategorized
McCain 1991: Unwise for US to Invade Iraq

McCain 1991: Unwise for US to Invade Iraq

Juan Cole

On CNN’s Larry King Live, April 23, 1991, Sen. John McCain opposed invading Iraq to overthrow Saddam Hussein on the grounds that 1) we’d turn Saddam Hussein into a hero; 2) we could not do it with air power and would need to commit ground troops; 3) we wouldn’t be able to tell Sunnis from […]

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