Juan Cole

Bush Sets Preconditions for Iran, Syria; Senators Critique ISG At a news conference with Tony Blair, George W. Bush basically blew off the Iraq Study Group’s recommendation that he talk to Syria and Iran without preconditions. Excerpts: ‘ “Having an international group is an interesting idea,” Bush said. “We have made it clear to the […]

10 US Troops Killed, Dozens of Iraqis While US politicians were mesmerized by the Iraq Study Group report, the Iraqis went on with their bloody civil war. See the next entry for the hyperlink. AFP reports on responses to Baker-Hamilton by Iraqi politicians. The main concern seems to be a) that the US will pressure […]

Arab Reaction to the ISG Report The USG Open Source Center translates and analyzes the pan-Arab media on the Baker-Hamilton report: ‘ FYI — Pan-Arab Media Treatment of Baker-Hamilton Study Group Report on IraqMiddle East — OSC ReportWednesday, December 6, 2006 T19:38:34Z Doha Al-Jazirah Satellite Channel Television in Arabic, independent television station financed by the […]

Reprint Edn.: 10 Things Congress Should Demand on Iraq In the light of the issuance of the Iraq Study Group report, I thought readers might be interested in comparing it with the 10 suggestions I made in August of 2005 for a course change in Iraq. Alas, I no longer think that the US military […]

Regional Conference Prepared Iraqi Military to Assume control within a year Gates Confirmed The US now has a secretary of defense who knows that we are not winning in Iraq, who wants to do something about it, and who doesn’t think nuking Iran is just a dandy idea. Although his involvement in Iran-Contra dogged Robert […]

Al-Hakim: US Troops Should Stay; Urges harsher Measures against Sunni Guerrillas Al-Zaman reports in Arabic that Iraqi Shiite cleric Abdul Aziz al-Hakim for the first time expressed his opposition to the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq, after his meeting with US Secretary of State Condi Rice. He said that the Iraqi government wants US […]

Talabani, Hakim Reject Int’l Conference 9 GIs Killed The US military announced that Sunni Arab guerrillas have killed 9 GIs in Baghdad and al-Anbar over the weekend. AP says that 71 bodies were found in Baghdad and other cities on Sunday. AP also reports that President Jalal Talabani, Foreign Minister Barham Salih, and leader of […]

Rumsfeld’s Shocking Memo; Over 100 Dead in Sectarian Violence The NYT has gotten hold of a memo by Donald Rumsfeld detailing options on Iraq. Several things struck me about it: 1. Rumsfeld doesn’t understand the magnitude of the crisis or the tightrope the US is walking in the Gulf. His attitude is almost lackadaisical. Doing […]

Bus Stop Massacre Kills 20; Sistani Aide Warns against Violence, Blames Arab T.V. On Saturday morning, an empty fuel trucker slammed into people waiting at a bus stop in al-Wahada, 22 miles south of Baghad, killing twenty persons and wounding 15. In his Friday prayers sermon, Shaikh Abdul Mahdi al-Karbala’i, a key aide to Grand […]