Juan Cole

Security Situation in Baghdad Sinking like the Titanic An observer in Iraq writes to me: “The situation has deteriorated in Baghdad dramatically today. Five neighborhoods (hay) in Baghdad are controlled by insurgents, and they are Amiraya, Ghazilya, Shurta, Yarmouk and Doura. It is very bad. My guys there report that cars have come into these […]

52 Dead, Dozens Wounded Guerrilla violence, including a massive car bomb, killed 52 Iraqis on Saturday. The biggest incident occurred at a market at Nahrawan, a town just east of Baghdad that is largely Shiite, where a car bomber killed 30 persons and wounded another 38. Another bombing took place at Baqubah, killing at least […]

More on Hitchens and Cole I’ve now seen a transcript showing that Christopher Hitchens in his debate with George Galloway said that I “claimed” to know “farsi” but had “never stepped foot in the region.” As I noted on Friday, these are bizarre things for him to say. To say that someone “claims” something, according […]

25 Dead, Dozens Wounded Sadrists in Tuz Khurmato Targeted At least 25 Iraqis were killed in guerilla violence on Friday and dozens wounded. The biggest incident was a huge bomb at a Turkmen Shiite mosque in the town of Tuz Khurmato south of Kirkuk, which killed 14 worshippers and wounded 28. The mosque is affiliated […]

Union Opposition to Petroleum Industry Privatization The General Union of Oil Employees in Basra has issued a strong statement against privatization of the Iraqi petroleum industry.: GUOE Position on Privatisation August 2005 – Statement by Union President Hassan Jum’a Awwad Al-Assadi, translated from Arabic by Dr Kamil Mahdi, University of Exeter In The Name of […]

32 Dead in Guerrilla Violence Al-Hayat: Some 30 policemen were killed in 3 suicide bombings Thursday, and 60 were wounded. Also killed was a Shiite religious leader. The body was discovered of a leader of the Dawa Party (the same fundamentalist Shiite party to which Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari belongs). The body of Shaikh Mahdi […]

Hitchens, Galloway and Cole I just haven’t had time to watch the Hitchens/ Galloway debate, and won’t have time to do it until this weekend. Kind readers are messaging me to say that they thought they heard my name come up. In response to Galloway’s citation of my article critiquing Hitchens’s defense of the ongoing […]

A Necklace of Bombs for Baghdad US Troops Attacked Sistani: No Civil War even if Half of Shiites are Killed Al-Hayat: After the 12 explosions that rocked Baghdad on Wednesday and left an estimated 160 dead and 200 wounded, religious leaders hastened to dampen the religious passions they threatened to provoke. In several cases Shiite […]

David Langness Reports on New Orleans My dear friend David Langness, who has long experience in the field of humanitarian relief work, reports: ‘Howdy, folks, Back from a difficult, gruesome and yet exhilarating week in New Orleans, so here’s the report: Of all the disasters I’ve delivered medical relief to, Katrina is easily the most […]