Juan Cole

New Word: “To libby” It seems to me that we may have the makings of a new lexical entry, what with the indictment and resignation of Irving Lewis “Scooter” Libby. It strikes me that “Libby” is close to “fib.” So “to libby” would have the connotations of “to tell a falsehood.” But it is also […]

Sunni-Shiite Warfare breaks out in Southeast Baghdad Sadr Joins United Shiite Coalition Al-Hayat: Exhibit A in the case for seeing what is going on in Iraq as a low-intensity civil war: On Thursday, Sunni Arab guerrillas from the Nahrawan district of southeast Baghdad kidnapped a member of the Mahdi Army of Muqtada al-Sadr . When […]

All the Vice President’s Men My article on the Neoconservatives running Vice President Richard Bruce Cheney’s foreign policy shop is out today in Salon.com. An excerpt: All the vice president’s men The ideologues in Cheney’s inner circle drummed up a war. Now their zealotry is blowing up in their faces. By Juan Cole Oct. 28, […]

Larry Johnson on the Plame Scandal I think this interview by Wolf Blitzer with Larry Johnson on CNN’s Situation Room on Wednesday is extremely important and worry that it may be missed. I’m quoting some excerpts below. I was struck by the information that Plame Wilson has had death threats from al-Qaeda, and that the […]

Cockburn Misrepresents Cole Alexander Cockburn says in his piece in The Nation: ‘Cole says to The Nation Institute’s Tom Engelhardt that for the United States to “up and leave” Iraq would be to become an accomplice to genocide. He counsels the heightened use in Iraq of “special forces and air power.” In other words, assassinations […]

Sunni Arabs Launch Political Campaign to Kick US Out Three small Sunni parties formed a coalition list on Wednesday. The Iraqi Islamic Party, the National Dialogue Council and the People’s Gathering will join forces to contest the December 15 elections. Before anyone gets too excited about this development, it should be noted that Reuters goes […]

More on Niger-gate Part One of an article in La Repubblica about the Niger uranium forgeries has been translated and made available. Part two has been made available here. And this is Part 3. Laura Rozen has been on this story for a couple of years now, and her remarks are important. Scroll down. The […]

The Amazing Shrinking Donkey Arianna Huffington nails it: the Democratic leadership is continuing to make a big mistake on the Iraq issue by refusing to provide the alternative voice that the American public truly wants. Ironically, Republicans like Chuck Hagel are taking the more courageous stance. If 2008 came and it were Hilary with her […]

A Shining Beacon on a Hill Iraq and Israel/Palestine The Neoconservatives promised us that an American-dominated Iraq would become a model for the rest of the Middle East. Iraq has been turned, by the mismanagement of Bush and the Neoconservatives at the Department of Defense, into a hellhole of suicide bombings and subterranean campaigns of […]