Juan Cole

Craig Murray on Manufacturing Terror Oil, Lily Pad Bases and Torture The Bush administration has been about “the Greater Middle East” (including Central Asia). It has been about basing rights in those areas. It says it is fighting a “war on terror” that is unlike past wars and may go on for decades. It has […]

Plot to Bomb Iraqi Gov’t in Green Zone Plan to Declare Islamic Emirate in Diyala Saudis to Build Security Wall, Fear Civil war Al-Hayat reports [Ar.] that the Iraqi government the curfew in Baghdad succeeded in preventing a rumored “suicide car bombing conspiracy” in the capital with its sudden imposition of a one-day curfew. The […]

Kabul Bombing Kills at Least 10 Zawahiri Condemns Pope At least 10 are dead and 54 wounded in a bombing at the Ministry of the Interior on Saturday in Kabul. (Update: The death toll is rising. Karzai blamed it on foreign elements. For those who want to read more about what has gone wrong in […]

Sudden Curfew in Baghdad The Iraqi government has imposed a curfew on Baghdad. Some reports say it is for 24 hours. This one maintains that it is for 3 days. For those who haven’t lived through them, it is worth noting that such curfews can be huge inconveniences. If you haven’t stocked enough food and […]

100 Dead in Iraq on Thursday; Including 60 Bodies found in Baghdad Reuters reports almost 40 persons killed in political violence as a result of Iraq’s civil war on Thursday. Guerrillas set off several bomb attacks and fired mortars inside Baghdad, accounting for a number of the deaths. In addition, Police found 60 bodies in […]

3 GIs Killed; Over 80 Dead in Violence; Poll: Iraqis want US out Now WaPo reports on new polls in Iraq that find that a clear majority of Iraqis want US troops to leave, and to leave by the end of the year. Even among Sunni Arabs, who have begun to feel vulnerable to attacks […]

Some 60 Dead in Country-Wide Violence Najaf Assassinations Called Personal, Not Terrorism al-Hayat reports that [Ar.] the police chief of the Shiite shrine city of Najaf is admitting a high rate of assassinations in the city. But he says that after investigation, they mostly appear to be a matter of personal feuds and score-settling and […]

Partially Declassified NIE Bush became indignant on Tuesday during his news conference with Afghan President Karzai over the leaking of passages from the National Intelligence Estimate on trends in terrorism to the press. He said that in response he was going to have some of its key judgments declassified. I want to make 4 basic […]

Generals: Iraq War Has Fueled Terrorism; Iraqi Politicians Attack Talabani For his Call for US Bases Prominent retired US general bitterly criticized the conduct of the Iraq war by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld on Monday at an open meeting sponsored by Congressional Democrats. Excerpts: ‘ The Iraq conflict, which began in March 2003, made […]