Juan Cole

Wave of Assassinations, Bombings Oil Exports Halted Here’s the headline of The Times of Baghdad [al-Zaman] for Monday, October 24, 2005: Wave of Assassinations in Tikrit, Baqubah, Ramadi, and Mahawil; Oil Exports Halted from Basra & Ceyhan; Kidnapping of Director of Resources at Southern Petroleum Co.; A Sudanese Detonates a Car Bomb Near an American […]

Syria and the Fundamentalist Crescent? Some kind readers have requested that I say something about the report of UN-appointed German diplomat Detlev Mehlis concerning the assassination of Rafiq Hariri, the former prime minister of Lebanon. Mehlis is a careful and determined investigator and his findings, which fingered persons in the direct circle of Syrian dictator […]

Galbraith on Iraqi Army, Partition Former Ambassador Peter Galbraith wrote in response to a posting of last Thursday, and has kindly agreed to allow me to reprint the letter here: ‘ Dear Professor Cole: . . . You quoted today the Brattleboro Reformer’s account of my remarks last night to the Windham World Affairs Council. […]

Sistani Supports Conference for National Reconciliation Al-Hakim, Sadr Opposed Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani has thrown his weight behind the Arab League initiative for a national reconciliation conference in Iraq. Sistani has all along behind the scenes attempted to reach out to the Sunnis. He managed to convince a few to run on the United Iraqi […]

The Great Iran Crock, Blair and AEI Mahan Abedin demolishes the Blair government’s case for Iran giving bombs to Iran’s enemies in Iraq. By the way, this thing about the Lebanese Hezbollah really is just disinformation and lies. There are two organizations in southern Iraq called Hizbullah. One is a component of the Supreme Council […]

Four GIs Killed Khamenei Praises Iraq Constitution Guerrilla violence killed 4 US GIs on Friday, three west of Baghdad and one at Heet (Hit). Iran’s Supreme Jurisprudent, Ali Khamenei, on Friday praised Iraq’s constitution as “blessed,” praised the constitutional referendum, and looked forward to Iraqis going to the polls again on December 15. The Iranians […]

US Military Desecrates bodies of Afghans to Uproar Or, what in the World do they Think they are doing there? The burning and desecration of Taliban bodies as a technique of intimidation in Afghanistan by US troops has backfired big time. Afghanistan clergymen are hopping mad at the US, and opposition to continued US troop […]

Iran Rejects Rice Overture Arab League Mission in Iraq How mean do you have to be to fire mortar shells at a school and kill a child? A car bombing killed four Iraqis and wounded 14; there may have been American casualties. A lawyer defending a relative of Saddam was kidnapped. This is further evidence […]

Ninevah and the Constitutional Referendum A kind reader in Iraq writes: ‘ I was in Iraq during the recent elections . . . It is possible – probable – that the Kurdish authorities stuffed ballot boxes. The irony is that if they did this, it was probably unnecessary. The demographics of Ninevah governorate would make […]