Juan Cole

13 Dead in Pilgrimage Bombing, 40 wounded Maliki Reconsiders US Troops’ Immunity Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki pledged Wednesday to reconsider current Iraqi policy, of allowing US GIS to enjoy a form of extraterritoriality and to be tried by the US for crimes commited while in uniform in Iraq. His remarks were sparked by public […]

Maliki’s Basra Security Initiative Fails 25 Bodies Found in Baghdad, Basra Al-Zaman/ AFP say that a firestorm of protest is building in Iraq over the alleged rape and killing of a 15 year old Iraqi girl in Mahmudiyah, and the murder of her family, by a US GI. MP Safiyah Suhail, a woman representative from […]

al-Hakim: Amnesty for Guerrillas who Killed US Troops Civil War Violence Kills 50 Iraqis, with 29 Bodies Found AFP reports an interview with Iraqi Shiite clerical leader Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, in which he urged that amnesty be extended to Iraqi guerrilla fighters who have attacked US troops. Al-Hakim is the leader of the Supreme Council […]

Fourth of July Puzzle Our game for the 4th is to identify how many of the complaints Thomas Jefferson and his colleagues directed against Britain and King George in the Declaration of Independence could either: 1. be directed by the current American public against the Bush Administration or 2. be directed by ordinary Iraqis against […]

Sunni Bloc Withdraws from Parliament AMS Condemns US over Rape Adnan Dulaimi of the Iraqi Accord Front (Sunni Arab fundamentalist) announced Sunday that his bloc had suspended its participation in parliament in protest against the kidnapping of one of its members. Taysir al-Mashhadani, a woman MP from Baqubah, was captured by gunmen on Saturday. The […]

Israelis Bombard Palestinian Prime Minister’s Offices Israeli war planes attacked the offices of Palestinian Prime Minsiter Ismail Haniyah of the Hamas Party early on Sunday morning, setting them afire. This looks so little like a rescue effort for missing Israeli serviceman, and so much like a war, that I am persuaded now of the theory […]

Massive Bomb in Sadr City Kills 74, Wounds 114 Bin Laden Warns on Shiite Militias Guerrillas detonated a massive car bomb at a market in Sadr City (Shiite East Baghdad). Late reports spoke of 74 dead [Ar.] and nearly 200 wounded, with the numbers likely to rise. The massacre came as Usamah Bin Laden issued […]

Poll: Iraq could cost Republicans in November Election Muqtada: US must Set Withdrawal Timetable A new poll shows that Bush is so disliked that for 36 percent of the public, his endorsement of a candidate would be a negative. Less that half that would view it as a positive. And although American men are evenly […]

Iraq War Broke Back of US Counter-Terrorism: Experts Fresh bombings and assassinations, and the discovery of 18 bodies brought the death toll in Iraq on Thursday to some 34. A new poll of counter-terrorism and national security experts finds that 84 percent of them believe the US is not winning the war on terror, and […]