Juan Cole

Zawahiri Letter The other thing that struck me as odd about the Zawahiri letter was that at the end he raises the question of whether a non Iraqi should be leading the insurgency. This is odd for several reasons. Al Qaeda does not think in terms of nationality but of the umma or Muslim community. […]

Referendum on Constitution The Iraqis are voting Saturday in a referendum on the new constitution. It was again endorsed by Shiite preachers and clerics on Friday. Sunni preacher were more divided. Sunni Arabs in the west of Iraq are complaining about a lack of polling stations in their areas. Many wish to vote against the […]

Zawahiri Letter to Zarqawi: A Shiite Forgery? The Arabic text of the recently released letter alleged to be by Zawahiri (al-Qaeda’s number two man) to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in Iraq raises questions for me as to its authenticity. Update A lot of Muslim and Arabist readers have written to say that my argument below (now […]

Grand Ayatollahs urge “Yes” Vote Sunni Iraqi Islamic Party attacked Over its acceptance of Constitution Guerrillas managed to launch a few attacks on Wednesday and Thursday as the country began being locked down and cut off from the outside world in preparation for the referendum on Saturday. Mortar fire wounded 8 policemen in Sunni Adhamiyah […]

More WMD Pie in the Sky According to Douglas Jehl of the New York Times, , in a January, 2003 conversation with Tony Blair, George W. Bush said that he “wanted to go beyond Iraq in dealing with WMD proliferation, mentioning in particular Saudi Arabia, Iran, North Korea and Pakistan.” What is odd about this […]

Miller and the Neocons My article on Judith Miller and the neocons is out in Salon.com. Excerpt: ‘ Miller began to uncritically parrot even some of the neocons’ loonier claims. On CNN’s “American Morning With Paula Zahn” for May 14, 2002, Miller explained the controversy that had broken out about allegations that Cuba had a […]

Albin Guest Editorial: From a Japan Model to a Decent Interval Roger Albin of the University of Michigan Medical School writes: ‘ Gilbert Achcar gives the Bush administration too much credit. This is not a divide and rule effort. The initial Bush plan (if you can call anything formulated so poorly a plan) was modeled […]

Iraq Anarchy Grows Constitution Deal May attract IIP Veteran British reporter Robert Fisk, according to the Independent, finds much of Iraq to have significantly deteriorated since his last visit and to be in a “state of anarchy” and found it bizarre for the Western press to focus on procedural matters like the referendum on the […]

46 Killed in Guerrilla Attacks Compromise on Constitution accepted by IIP 46 persons were killed by guerrilla bombings and attacks on Tuesday and dozens wounded. A big bombing at Tal Afar killed 30 and another 10 were killed in Baghdad. The Shiites and Kurds have agreed that the newly elected parliament after December 15 will […]