Juan Cole

Google and Michigan’s Library Google books is an astonishing, epochal development. But I am tired of journalists who write about it ignoring the fact that the core of the digitized collection is the 7 million volumes at the University of Michigan. It is always mentioned that Harvard and Oxford are participating. Last I knew, Oxford […]

Naguib Mahfouz, RIP Nobel prize-winning Arabic novelist and short story writer Naguib Mahfouz is dead at 94. Do yourself a favor and read him. If you want a window on Arab culture, forget the posturing politicians (who mostly actually work in English and French), and the American pundits who interpret the Arab world to us […]

Bush Maintains ending US Occupation of Iraq will Infuriate Terrorists Bush says that ending the Iraq occupation will open America to a terrorist attack. I can’t imagine why he says that. If we weren’t occupying Iraq, how would that infuriate al-Qaeda and the Muslim radical fringe? Can you imagine the discussions in the cave in […]

Diwaniyah Ceasefire in Doubt Spike in Death toll Continues, with over 50 dead Dan Murphy of the CSM writes about the increasing fragmentation of Iraqi politics and militias at the local level. He argues that Muqtada al-Sadr and even the powerful Kurdish warlords are losing control to local militant groups that take the law in […]

Israeli War on Lebanese Civilians Continues A top United Nations humanitarian official, Jan Egeland, said he was shocked on inspecting southern Lebanon to find it littered with deadly unexploded cluster bombs. These were for the most part dropped in the last three days of the conflict, when it was foreseen that there would be a […]

Rumsfeld Accuses Critics of Appeasement of Fascists The LA Times reports that ‘ Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld on Tuesday compared critics of the Bush administration to those who sought to appease the Nazis before World War II, warning that the nation is confronting “a new type of fascism.” ‘ (Click here for explanation of […]

Americans bombed Diwaniyah 26 Bodies found in Baghad On Wednesday morning in Iraq, guerrillas set off a bomb outside a military recruiting center, killing 12 and wounding 38. Two more US troops were announced dead, one from action in al-Anbar, and one from a humbee accident. The initial story, conveyed in the press and by […]

Over 100 Killed in Iraq, 100 Wounded Mahdi Army Clashes in Diwaniyah Bombings Rock Turkey Two more US troops were announced dead on Monday, bringing the total dead among GIs for the weekend to 9. Vice President Richard Bruce Cheney doesn’t get it, as usual. The reason to draw down US ground troops in Iraq […]

Civil War Violence Explodes Throughout Iraq At Least 80 Dead, Dozens Wounded 6 US Troops Killed al-Zaman says that [Ar.] Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has been forced to make alterations in his cabinet only 100 days after its formation by two crises– the lack of fuel and the lack of loyalty. Sources told al-Zaman that […]