Juan Cole

Retired Generals Besiege Rumsfeld Retired Major General John Batiste said Friday of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, “We went to war with a flawed plan that didn’t account for the hard work to build the peace after we took down the regime . . .” and added, “We also served under a secretary of defense […]

65,000 Displaced in Iraq 52 Killed and Another Shiite Shrine Blown Up Major violence in Iraq on Thursday: *Guerrillas set off three bombs in Baqubah, destroying the dome of the Imam Rida Shrine in that city. It honors the 8th of 12 Shiite Imams or divinely appointed vicars and relatives of the Prophet Muhammad. The […]

Kiriyenko: Iran’s Method “Unfeasible” for Fissionable Material Here is what a nuclear official who has no interest in getting up a war on Iran says about Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s claims earlier this week to have slightly enriched a small quantity of uranium: ‘ MOSCOW (AP): Russia’s nuclear chief on Thursday said Iran is far […]

65 Killed, including at a Shiite Mosque Pachachi calls Parliament A car bomb killed 30 and wounded 70 near a Shiite mosque in Huwaidir, near Baquba northeast of Baghdad (-KarbalaNews.net). Shiite tempers are at the boiling point. Guerrillas set off three car bombs in Baghdad, killing 8, and other violence, including near Mosul, killed 14. […]

Poll: Bush Can’t be Trusted on Iran The good news is that a majority of Americans does not trust George W. Bush to deal with Iran and its nuclear program. The bad news is that 2 in 5 Americans want to attack Iran if it continues its nuclear energy program. Former Iranian president and current […]

Top Reasons You Wouldn’t Want a Mobile Biological Weapons Lab Not only did Bush and Cheney and Libby tell bare-faced lies about the alleged “mobile biological weapons labs” in Iraq, the idea of such never made any sense anyway. 1. How could you have a clean room in a mobile biological weapons laboratory? 2. Petrie […]

50 Dead in Violence Jaafari Refuses to Step Down Robert H. Reid of AP reports on deaths in Iraq on Tuesday: * The US announced the deaths of 5 US soldiers, 3 killed by a guerrilla bomb on Tuesday and another two on Sunday. * Guerrilla violence killed 23 Iraqis on Tuesday. Reid writes, “A […]

Iran Can Now Make glowing Mickey Mouse Watches Despite all the sloppy and inaccurate headlines about Iran “going nuclear,” the fact is that all President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Tuesday was that it had enriched uranium to a measely 3.5 percent, using a bank of 180 centrifuges hooked up so that they “cascade.” The ability […]

3 US troops Killed; Muqtada al-Sadr’s Bloc backs alternative to Jaafari The Pentagon announced Monday that 3 US soldiers had been killed. Sunni Arab leaders in Iraq affirmed again on Monday their opposition to Ibrahim Jaafari as candidate for prime minister from the Shiite fundamentalist United Iraqi Alliance. The Kurds said much the same thing […]