Juan Cole

US Air Power to Replace Infantry in Iraq; Distant President Trapped in Utopianism Veteran journalist Seymour Hersh is reporting in the New Yorker that the Bush administration has decided to draw down ground troops in Iraq. Knowledgeable observers strongly suspect that this step would produce a meltdown and possibly even civil war in Iraq (which […]

Rubaie: US will Withdraw Completely from Some Areas Muqtada offers National Pact Al-Sharq al-Awsat: Muwaffaq al-Rubaie, national security adviser to the Iraqi government, said Saturday that “The American forces will soon turn over complete and total responsibility for security in a number of areas of the country to Iraqi forces.” He said that a joint […]

Al-Qaeda Plot Against Tourist Hotels in Morocco Busted Up 2 Suspects had fought in Iraq Al-Zaman/ AFP: Moroccan security agencies said Saturday that they had foiled a attempt by al-Qaeda to attack buildings belonging to the government as well as hotels frequented by foreign tourists. Two of the plotters had Belgian citizenship but were of […]

Iraqi Guerrillas Made Key Demands of CIA at Cairo Conference Al-Hayat says that [Arabic URL] informed sources maintained to it that the intelligence services of the Arab states, of Iraq, of the guerrilla movement in Iraq, and of the US, conducted discussions on the sidelines of the National Reconciliation Conference for Iraq held recently in […]

Ministry of Interior Moles Busted Wave of Kidnappings, Killings in Mosul, Tikrit Al-Zaman: American forces killed Shaikh Abdullah al-Ani, the preacher at the mosque in the town of Qaim, near the Syrian border. [This killing of a respected cleric will be causing us trouble for years to come.] DPA: Iraqi authorities announced that they had […]

Britain: Israel Breaking Law, Spreading Terrorism by Jerusalem Policies The British government presented a secret report to the European Union in which it accused Israel of violating international law and its obligations to the Roadmap by its aggressive annexationist policies in Jerusalem. The Guardian got hold of the document and reports: “A confidential Foreign Office […]

Cruel Thanksgiving in Iraq Over 50 Dead Over 50 Iraqis were killed and 47 wounded in separate attacks on Thursday. In Mahmudiyah just south of Baghdad, a bomber detonated his payload outside a hospital, killing some 30 persons and wounding 27. Among the wounded were 4 US GIs. AFP reports, “Also, the US military reported […]

White Phosphorus Round-up George Monbiot of the Guardian weighs in on the current state of the debate on the US military’s use of white phosphorus at Fallujah. I think he is too categorical about many ambiguous issues. Long-time readers know that I am from a military family, and I want to be very careful about […]

Dulaim Chief’s Murder Splits Iraqis Guerrillas detonated another bomb in Baghdad on Tuesday, killing 2 and wounding another 2. The murder of Khadim Sarhid al-Hamaiyim, leader of a branch of the Dulaim tribe, on the outskirts of Baghdad, has been interpreted in different ways by Iraq’s ethnic groups. The hard line Sunni Association of Muslim […]