Juan Cole

Cole on Saudi Arabia in Salon My article, What Michael Moore (and the neocons) don’t know about Saudi Arabia is at Salon.com. The blurb goes, “The left and the right have both crudely demonized the desert kingdom. But the ascension of King Abdullah gives the U.S. a chance to solidify relations with this flawed but […]

Sharon: “Bloodthirsty Jewish Terrorist” A soldier in the Israeli military who deserted over the Gaza withdrawal went up to a Palestinian-Israeli village in Galilee and shot up a bus full of innocent civilians. He killed four and wounded at least 12. The form of this attack was very similar to shootings undertaken by terrorists in […]

Al-Zawahiri, Bush and Aljazeera In the miscellaneous department, Ayman al-Zawahiri, the number two man in al-Qaeda, released a video tape Thursday that was shown on Aljazeera. At least in the afternoon and evening, what was interesting was that Aljazeera led with President Bush’s reactions to the new tape. Only after extensively reporting and translating his […]

Fool me once, shame on you Fool me–can’t get fooled again The bizarre report by Jim Miklaszewski of NBC news that US military sources are saying Iran is the source of more sophisticated bombs used by Sunni Arab guerrillas in Iraq seems so unbelievable because it is. Poor Jim is the victim of a high-level […]

Vietnam-Speak in Iraq Military historian Tom Collier writes with regard to the killing of 14 Marines in Anbar province with a huge improvised explosive device: ‘ There seem to be two developments in Iraq that are “more than eerily Vietnam speak.” The first is the increasing use of bigger and better mines: bundled 155mm artillery […]

Constitutional Changes in the Iraqi National Assembly Guest Editorial byAndrew Arato It seems there are important changes about to be enacted by the Constitutional National Assembly in Iraq. And the direction of change favors the Arab Sunnis at the expense of the Kurds. This may be the last time when a more enlightened Kurd approach […]

14 Marines Killed Islam a Main Source in Constitution Guerrillas in Western Iraq killed 14 Marines with a huge roadside bomb on Wednesday. The guerrillas are deploying more powerful explosives in their roadside bombs, and are also “shaping” them to pierce armored vehicles. These tactics suggest that they are succeeding in getting hold of more […]

Straw Admits Coalition Troops a Problem Seven Marines Killed in Western Iraq At Least 41 Others Killed Tuesday First the Polish Prime Minister didn’t have the talking points from Karl Rove. Now the UK Foreign Minister, Jack Straw, has had an attack of frankness: ‘ First there is Iraq. “Things are not good there at […]

Fisking the “War on Terror” Once upon a time, a dangerous radical gained control of the US Republican Party. Reagan increased the budget for support of the radical Muslim Mujahidin conducting terrorism against the Afghanistan government to half a billion dollars a year. One fifth of the money, which the CIA mostly turned over to […]