Juan Cole

Bush and the Caliphate Karl Vick of the Washington Post does his readers an enormous favor by explaining the idea of the Sunni Muslim caliphate, its history, and why many Sunnis want it revived. The article also contains a critique of Bush’s recent speech in which he warned of the caliphate ideology of al-Qaeda, saying […]

US Strike on al-Qaeda Safe House on Afghanistan Border ABC News is reporting that a US air strike on a village at the Pakistan-Afghanistan border may have killed 5 high-ranking al-Qaeda figures, including the organization’s #2, Ayman al-Zawahiri. On CNN, Wolf Blitzer speculated that since Zawahiri has been releasing video tapes (one just a week […]

Sunnis Insist on Trying to Change Constitution US Military Torture Investigations cut Short Only Agence France Presse among Western news agencies carries the Sunni Arab response on Thursday to Wednesday’s remarks by Shiite cleric Abdul Aziz al-Hakim rejecting any changes in the constitution. The Sunni Arabs were promised an opportunity to try to change some […]

Iraq Bloggers Souring? Sheldon Rampton of The Center for Media & Democracy kindly writes: “In case this hasn’t crossed your viewfinder, you might want to check out recent developments with your old pals at Iraq the Model. Apparently they’re not very happy with the recent election results. Here’s an excerpt from Omar’s January 5 blog […]

Sharon as Jailer: Cole at Salon.com My article on Ariel Sharon’s “gated community” approach to Israeli-Palestinian relations is out at Salon.com. Excerpt: “Even as Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon stirs fitfully from his coma, in the aftermath of a massive stroke and several operations, Gazan militants with a bad aim have fired several Qassam rockets […]

British General Blasts US Military on Iraq Counter-Insurgency Brigadier Nigel Aylwin-Foster has a trenchant critique of the US military’s failures at counter-insurgency and doing ordinary politics in Iraq. He says that he found attitudes toward the Iraqis among US officers to border on the racist. (The article is the first listed at the moment, and […]

Al-Hakim warns Sunni Arabs on Changes to Constitution Shiite clerical leader Abdul Aziz al-Hakim on Wednesday warned Sunni Arabs not to attempt to make substantive changes in the new Iraqi constitution. The charter was narrowly approved in an October 15 referendum, but was rejected by all three Sunni-majority provinces. US ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad worked out […]

Guest Blogger: Sheridan on Dubai Between Oil and Consumerism Irish blogger Gavin Sheridan was moved by the recent death of Dubai emir Sheikh Maktoum to comment on the situation of the emirate, which he visits often. Gavin kindly writes: ” ‘History Rising’ says the massive billboard as you ride along in a taxi on Sheikh […]

20 Arrested in Spain Spanish police broke up three recruiting cells for Iraq volunteer fighters in Spain, arresting 20 persons. The cells had connections to groups in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Algeria, Morocco, Turkey, Syria and Iraq. AP is saying that one of the Spanish cells may have been behind the attack on Italian troops […]