Juan Cole

23 Dead in Violence Sunni Arabs Threaten Popular Uprising over Constitution Al-Hayat: Guerrilla violence left 23 Iraqis dead on Tuesday, among them 16 policemen. In addition. guerrillas bombed an American-Iraqi [military] Coordination Center in the northeastern city of Baqubah, leaving 2 Americans dead and as many as 9 other persons wounded. Reuters has some details […]

Coup in Baghdad Unfinished Constitution Presented, vote Delayed According to the interim constitution, the permanent constitution should have been presented to parliament and passed by August 15. There should have been two readings of it, two days apart, before the vote. Otherwise, parliament should have been dissolved and new elections called. Parliament avoided this fate […]

Achcar on Cole Proposals for Withdrawal of US Ground Troops ‘ Dear Juan, As a regular reader and occasional contributor to your blog, which I believe is doing a real service to all those concerned with the situation in Iraq, and as an activist in the antiwar movement, I feel it necessary to comment on […]

Ten Things Congress Could Demand from Bush on Iraq The Washington Post notes that the Democratic Party is deeply divided between those who want US troops out now and those who fear the consequences and think it best to stay the course. The article might as well have noted that the Republicans are also divided […]

Another Constitution Cliffhanger Muqtada urges Followers to Register to Vote Al-Zaman: Informed observers close to the negotiations on the constitution are saying that it is likely parliament will be asked for another one-week extension because some issues are still unresolved. Al-Jazeera says that Adil Abdul Mahdi, the first vice president and a member of the […]

Whither Foreign Investment in Iraq under Islamic Law? Doug Ireland covers how the US media covered the story that the Bush administration acquiesced in enshrining Islamic canon law in the Iraqi constitution. What is amazing to me is that no one has brought up the issue of commercial law. Islamic law has three parts: 1) […]

More on Iran and Iraq Or, Part 13 of the Rumsfeld Follies Anna Badkhen of the San Francisco Chronicle, who has reported from southern Iraq, examines the claims by US officials that Iran is sending bombs to Iraq to be used in the Sunni guerrilla insurgency. The claim, by Rumsfeld and others, is so ridiculous […]

Sufis condemn Killing of Innocents Al-Zaman: The Legal Rulings Office of the Central Council for Sufi Orders issued a fatwa or legal ruling on Sunday that forbids the killing of unarmed innocents from among the children of the Iraqi people. The fatwa or legal ruling clarified, “The gunmen’s shedding of the blood of the people, […]

The Prospect of Islamic Law in Iraq A secular Muslim reader writes on the reactionary implications of implementing Islamic canon law in Iraq: ‘ Unfortunately Sharia as we know it is implemented to punish the down trodden and the powerless, whose hands are cut off or who are pelted with stones or lashed in public […]