Juan Cole

Arguing with Bush The Middle East portion of Bush’s State of the Union address was a real disappointment. Here is some of the text, with my comments. ‘ In 1945, there were about two dozen lonely democracies in the world. Today there are 122. And we are writing a new chapter in the story of […]

How to Tell if Bush is Serious about Ending US Dependence on Foreign Petroleum Bush said last night he wanted to end the dependence of the United States on foreign petroleum. That is not the right goal, since if we just burned coal and ran electric cars we could be independent. But we’d accelerate global […]

14 Bodies in Baghdad US Talks with Guerrillas Halted Altogether 14 dead bodies showed up in the capital of Baghdad on Tuesday, all shot in what were probably sectarian reprisals. Four Iraqi troops were killed in a clash with guerrillas. A British soldier was killed. A new poll shows that nearly half of Iraqis approve […]

Top Ten things Bush won’t Tell you About the State of the Nation 1. US economic growth during the last quarter was an anemic 1.1%, the worst in 3 years. 2. The US inflation rate has jumped to 3.4 percent, the highest rate in 5 years. 3. The number of daily attacks in Iraq rose […]

Bombings of Churches Bush and Blair Plotted to Ignore Security Council Who woulda thunk it? Bush and Blair plotted to go to war against Iraq even if the UN Security Council declined to authorize it. The Scotsman summarizes findings of Phillipe Sands: “Prof Sands’ book, entitled Lawless World, claims that president Bush had earlier displayed […]

Beeman Guest Editorial: US to Blame for Iranian Nuclear Program United States Instigated Iran’s Nuclear Program 30 Years Ago William O. BeemanBrown University ‘ The White House staffers, who are trying to deny Iran the right to develop its own nuclear energy capacity have conveniently forgotten that the United States was the midwife to the […]

Over 30 Killed in Guerrilla Violence Sadrists Demand any Prime Minister Call for US Troop Withdrawal AP reports on the ambitions of the Shiite religious parties to retain control of the Ministry of the Interior security forces (analogous to the US FBI and Secret Service.) AP also reports that some 22 died in Iraq as […]

Achcar on Hamas: Guest Editorial ‘First Reflections On The Electoral Victory Of Hamas by Gilbert Achcar; January 27, 2006 1. The sweeping electoral victory of Hamas is but one of the products of the intensive use made by the United States in the Muslim world, since the 1950’s, of Islamic fundamentalism as an ideological weapon […]

Iraq Round-Up Al-Zaman/ AFP report that [Ar.] the fundamentalist Shiite United Iraqi Alliance is awaiting the arrival in Baghdad of Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani at the beginning of the coming week for discussions concerning the formation of a new government. A source within the UIA told al-Zaman [the Baghdad Times] that the party had formed […]