Juan Cole

Bush Administration and ‘Democracratic Process’ In Iraq: The Dark Details Revealed An informed reader writes: ‘ From the now-unclassified State Department Report to Congress – 15 December 2003: “On November 15, the CPA and the Governing Council (GC) agreed to and announced a plan to expedite the process of transferring authority to the Iraqi people. […]

Health Care for our Troops Byron Williams reports: ‘ WITH the percentage of American troops in Iraq who are National Guard or Reserve forces estimated at 40 percent, one in five National Guard members have no health care. The U.S. Government Accountability Office further estimates that this number rises to 40 percent when accounting for […]

More on Amiriya Demonstration An informed reader writes: ‘ You had a brief mention today: “Al-Sharq al-Awsat: Hundreds of residents of Amiriyah, a district of Baghdad, demonstrated Thursday in protest against the recent killing of three men there in a joint US-Iraqi military sweep.” Reuters also ran the story . . . I recently wrote […]

4 US Troops Killed Shiites demand Islamic Law Al-Hayat: At least four US troops were killed in Iraq near Samarra on Thursday, and at least 8 Iraqis. US casualties from a car bomb in Baghdad were reported by eyewitnesses but not yet confirmed by the US military. Guerrillas assassinated a judge in Baghdad. Two bodies […]

Fear Stalks Iraq as “Truce” Ends US Diplomat in Baghdad Implicated in Israel Spy Scandal Al-Hayat: The one-day total for deaths related to the guerrilla war in Wednesday ended up being about 55, with dozens injured (probably over a hundred). Iraqis perceived the massive bombings as the end of a “truce” of the past few […]

43 Dead in Wednesday Bombings Constitution Wrangling continues Guerrillas detonated three car bombs in central Baghdad Wednesday morning, killing at least 43 and wounding 73. In a separate incident, an American soldier was killed on Tuesday evening. Al-Hayat says that Shiites, Kurds and Sunni Arabs are pointing the finger of blame at one another over […]

It’s the Cities, Stupid An Iraqi reader writes in to complain about the tendency of Western analysts to focus on “tribes” in their political analyses. He says the action is in the cities, where urban elites are the future of the country. ‘ It is remarkable how the “experts” on Iraq ignore the most important […]

One-Week Postponement The Iraqi parliament voted to amend the interim constitution to allow the permanent constitution to be presented for a vote on August 22 rather than Aug. 15. That gives negotiators one more week to work out a deal. The one-week extension is clever, since it avoids the dissolution of parliament and it keeps […]

Now They’re moving the Goalpost Every indication is that a final text of Iraq’s permanent constitution just won’t be reported out of the drafting committee in time to have parliament vote on it on Monday. Now Iraqi politicians are talking about having parliament amend the interim constitution to allow a delay of say, two weeks. […]