Juan Cole

19 Dead in Violence Walkout in Parliament over Shiite Ringtone The Iraqi civil war took at least 19 lives on Wednesday, including especially in the Baqubah area of Diyala province. Five of Iraq’s most dangerous guerrillas fled the Susa Prison in Kurdistan yesterday. that a Sadrist member of parliament had set her cell phone ringer […]

Cole in Salon.com My article, “Saving Iraq: Mission Impossible,” is out in Salon.com. Excerpt: ‘ Hopes for a breakthrough hinge on the assumption that al-Maliki will be able to act more decisively than his failed predecessor, Ibrahim Jaffari, in crucial areas: putting together a government acceptable to all the parties, restoring a state monopoly on […]

Europeans offer Iran Deal Iranians say Program Peaceful Over Bush’s initial objections, the Europeans are going to try offering Iran further incentives to abandon its civilian nuclear energy research program. The attempt comes in part through the mediation of the Russians. Bush’s inability to get the Russians and Chinese to agree to condemn Iran has […]

Tal Afar Bombing Kills 20, Wounds 70 Did Coalition Ship 200,000 Guns to Guerrillas? Guerrillas killed 11 persons on a busnear Baqubah Wednesday morning. At least 30 Iraqis died in the civil war on Tuesday. Some 14 corpses showed up on the streets in Baghdad and Kut, according to al-Zaman. Guerrillas killed at least 20 […]

MESA/ISIS Letter on Behalf of Ramin Jahanbegloo For more on this case see this article and Eurasia.net. May 8, 2006 Ayatollah Ali KhameneiSupreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iranc/o H.E. Javad ZarifAmbassador Extraordinary and PlenipotentiaryPermanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United NationsFax: 212-867-7086 Your Excellency: We write to you on […]

Ahmadinejad as W.’s Penpal Ebadi warns of another Iraq Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad wrote a letter to W., in which he insisted on Iran’s right under the Non-Proliferation Treaty to conduct scientific research on uranium enrichment. The NPT does in fact allow such research, but it is Bush administration policy to abrogate that right and […]

13 Dead, 33 Wounded; GI killed Bali Bombers Sought Revenge for Iraq An armed group raided a prison at Tikrit north of the capital and killed an inmate. (Presumably to keep him from saying what he knew about the other guerrillas.) There were more bombings in Baghdad, with that and other violence leaving a 13 […]

Close: ‘Don’t Send US Soldiers into Iran to Spy’ The question of US intelligence on Iran is now coming to the fore. Veteran CIA Middle East analyst Ray Close reacts to rumors that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld may send Special Operations forces into Iran on intelligence missions. (One clarification: in popular parlance we speak […]

Proposal: A Covenant with America Here are my suggestions for a new covenant with America that could be adopted by politicians running for Congress this fall. 1. The American people do not want their courageous intelligence personnel endangered by politics at a time when international terrorism remains a real threat. If elected we will strengthen […]