Juan Cole

Basra Province Boycotts British, demands Danish Withdrawal Thousands of Islamist Kurds demonstrate against Caricatures Guerrillas at Balad, a largely Shiite town north of Baghdad, killed a local clan leader and his family at his farm on Tuesday, leaving 8 dead. There were other killings in various places. The elected provincial government of Basra has ended […]

Plame Wilson Had worked on Iran Anti-Proliferation Valerie Plame Wilson and her team at the CIA were working on Iran counter-prolifetation efforts, according to Larisa Alexandrovna of Raw Story. It has been known for some time that she was involved in anti-proliferation activities, but that her main concern was Iran is new. Plame Wilson was […]

Guerrilla Violence Kills 26, Wounds 47 Negotiations on New Government Begin A suicide bomber detonated his belt at a line of persons in Shiite East Baghdad waiting for government checks on Monday, killing at least 15 and wounding 30. Guerrillas shot to death 5 members of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq in […]

Hunting Accidents Oooops.

Jaafari Wins on Basis of Dawa, Sadrist Vote Some Question Stability of United Iraqi Alliance in Aftermath Al-Zaman/AFP reports that the internal vote of the fundamentalist United Iraqi Alliance that elected Ibrahim Jaafari their candidate for prime minister in the next government was conducted by secret ballot. It appears that the two MPs who ran […]

Jaafari Prime Minister 2006-2010 But is not Allowed on US Television Breaking news: The United Iraqi Alliance, a coalition of Shiite fundamentalist parties, has chosen Ibrahim Jaafari to be prime minister of Iraq for the next four years. The UIA had hoped to avoid going to an up and down vote, but was forced into […]

Bombings, Assassinations Continue As Political Process Stalls A bomb rigged to a motorcycle exploded outside a restaurant in Baghdad on Sunday morning, wounding at least 9 persons. Political assassinations and bombings were carried out by guerrillas on Saturday in Basra, Baghdad, Baquba, Balad and Fallujah, among other places. Army and police figures were the main […]

18 Dead, 60 Wounded in bombings Sunni Mosque Targeted Al-Zaman/ AFP reports that on Friday guerrilla violence left 18 Iraqis dead and 60 wounded. The first car bomb in the Dora section of southern Baghdad killed at least 11 and wounded 38, according to Iraqi medical sources. Guerrillas then detonated a car bomb in Dora […]

Cheney Authorized Libby to Disclose Classified Documents Once upon a time, a former agent of Italian military intelligence named Rocco Martino, who had had some experience in the African country of Niger, came into possession of some forged, fraudulent documents. These alleged Iraqi purchases of yellowcake uranium in 1999. In fact, the signatures were of […]