Juan Cole

The War with al-Qaeda The war with al-Qaeda has many dimensions. There is the war with the organization itself. There is the struggle against its offshoots and copycats. There is cooperation with Muslim governments and communities in derailing the threat. There is the question of the strength of Sunni fundamentalist parties that might support al-Qaeda. […]

US “Defeated Politically” in al-Anbar: Marine Report 1 US Soldier, 42 Others Dead in Violence 58% of Americans say the Iraq War has not been worth the loss of American lives. A confidential Marine Corps intelligence report on al-Anbar Province concludes that there are no functioning governmental institutions there, that the vacuum is filled by […]

US Military Numbers brought into Question 40 Dead in Saturday Violence Al-Hakim Demans 8-Province Region The McClatchy News Service has cast doubt on the numbers of killed in Baghdad for August as announced by the US military. The report finds that the “count” of declining “murders” in Baghdad for August had been intended to exclude […]

36 Killed in Civil War Violence Al- Karbala’i Backs Militias The small foreign Salafi terror group in Iraq had called on Thursday for more attacks on Americans in Iraq. Many Iraqi Sunni sermonizers distanced themselves from that call at Friday prayers. In Baghdad, a traffic ban was instituted to forestall car bombings of mosques while […]

Cole in Salon.com on Shiite-on-Shiite Violence My article, “Shiite vs. Shiite,” is out in Salon.com. excerpt: ‘ Among the best-selling jewelry items in Iraq today is a pendant consisting of a whole map of the country. It’s the symbol of a national unity many Iraqis see slipping away, because now even the majority Shiites are […]

The Iraqization of Afghanistan A massive suicide car bomb very near the US embassy embassy in Kabul has left at least 3 dead, including Coalition soldiers. The resurgent Taliban in Afghanistan have begun actually taking and holding territory from time to time in the south. On Monday, Taliban had deployed a bomb that killed 17 […]

Al-Qaeda Gloats over 9/11 A new videotape surfaced on Aljazeera Thursday showing Usamah Bin Laden with Ramzi Bin al-Shibh [al-Shibihah], Wa’il al-Ghamdi and other 9/11 hijackers. Bin Laden is shown urging followers to pray frequently for these martyrs, as a way of accelerating the progress of their own souls. The tape is a way of […]

1500 Dead in August Sunnis in Parliament Complain about Shiite confederacy plan. Two US troops were announced killed on Thursday. The (Sunni) Speaker of Parliament complained bitterly Thursday that he had not been presented with a copy of a draft law on regional confederacies submitted by the Shiite coalition, the United Iraqi Alliance. In other […]

40 Killed in Bombings, Shootings Al-Hakim Seeks Shiite Federal Region Abdul Aziz al-Hakim’s United Iraqi Alliance laid out plans Wednesday in parliament for the creation of a nine-province regional confederacy in the south. AFP reports that die-hard Sunni opposition to the plan appears to be fading. They seem to have been given representations by al-Hakim’s […]