Juan Cole

Dozens Kidnapped at Higher Ed Ministry; Other Killings leave 117 Dead Western news organizations were able to identify 117 killings in Iraq’s civil war on Monday, though one suspects they only scratched the surface. Reuters surveys the carnage. ‘ BAGHDAD – A car bomb ripped through a crowded market area in Rasheed Street in central […]

Civil War Violence Kills 100; Abizaid Meets Maliki; Olmert Thinks Iraq is Stable Guerrillas attempted to assassinate Iraqi Vice President Adil Abdul Mahdi on Monday, but only succeeded in killing two of his bodyguards. The gunmen attacked the vice presidential convoy. Abdul Mahdi was narrowly defeated for the position of prime minister last spring, and […]

3 GIs, 4 British Killed Guerrillas Slay over 100 al-Maliki shuffles Cabinet The Democratic Congress will pass a resolution in January asking that troops start coming home by mid-2007 in a phased withdrawal. Three US troops were announced killed in Iraq on Sunday, some dying of wounds incurred earlier. Shiite guerrillas, most likely, used an […]

Sunnis Kill 10, Kidnap 50 Shiites; GIs face Sniper Fire CBS News and the Associated Press report that on Saturday: ‘(CBS/AP) Sunni gunmen ambushed a convoy of minibuses at a fake checkpoint on the dangerous highway south of Baghdad, killing 10 Shiite passengers and kidnapping about 50. Across the country at least 52 other people […]

Sistani Aide: Americans Bomb both Sides 4 US GIs killed on Friday Al-Sharq al-Awsat reports that Ahmad al-Safi, a representative of Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, preached a Friday prayers sermon in the mosque attached to the shrine of Imam Husayn, the revered martyred grandson of the Prophet. He said he hoped Saddam Hussein would be […]

Democratic Senate Ponders Iraq Massive Bombings Shake Shiite districts in Baghdad Since the Democrats now have a majority in the Senate, Barbara Slavin writes, they are poised to have a major role in Iraq policy. She says some analysts doubt that such a partnership is likely, given that the new Congress intends to investigate Bush […]

Prosterman Guest Editorial: Where is Ike? WHAT THIS COUNTRY NEEDS IS A PRESIDENT WITH IKE’S INTEGRITY AND COURAGE SUEZ & BUDAPEST – 50 YEARS LATER H. Scott Prosterman Last week marked the 50th Anniversary of the aborted Hungarian Revolution of 1956. Coincidently, it also marks the 50th Anniversary of the failed tripartite invasion of the […]

Al-Zaman: Good Riddance to Rumsfeld Osman: Abu Ghraib scandal should have required his Resignation The Times of Baghdad [al-Zaman] editorializes in the third person on the resignation of US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld on Wednesday thusly: ‘ The political editor of Al-Zaman welcomes the resignation of the American Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. He […]

What does it Mean for Iraq? The fourth popular revolution of the twenty-first century (after the Ukraine, Lebanon and Kyrgyzstan) swept America on Tuesday, as voters engaged in the moral equivalent of storming the Bastille. The United States of America has roundly repudiated the Bush Administration and Republican Party dominance of all three branches of […]