Juan Cole

Sunni Leader Blames Shiites for Assassinations Hareth al-Dhari, a leader of the Association of Muslim Scholars and an important hard line Sunni cleric charged Wednesday that the Shiite Badr Corps paramilitary was behind a wave of killings of Sunni mosque preachers and worshippers. Hadi al-Amiri, the head of the Badr Organization (the political wing) denied […]

18 Killed in Violence Kharrazi in Baghdad Will blog more later on Wednesday. For now, Iran’s foreign minister, Kamal Kharrazi made a historic visit to Baghdad on Tuesday. He pledged help in controlling the borders between the two countries, and made the point that if Iran were actually supporting insurgent infiltration of Iraq (as Washington […]

Has Newsweek Retracted?Update: Riverbend weighs in with an Iraqi nationalist point of view on the allegations of Koran desecration in US military prisons. She points out that many Iraqis will find them plausible, given that we know that the interrogators have not shown respect for basic human dignity. Occasional US mosque invasions likewise lend credence […]

Guest Editorial: Fisher, “Iraq: Real News from the Battlefield” An Eyewitness Account from Iraq IRAQ: REAL NEWS FROM THE BATTLEFIELD By William Fisher I long ago stopped believing anything our government told us about Iraq. Now, like millions of other Americans, I have stopped believing what our mainstream media tells us about Iraq. What has […]

24 Dead, Dozens Wounded Sunnis Charge Ethnic Cleansing Dulaimi Pledges end to Mosque Invasions AP reports that guerrillas killed at least 24 persons in Iraq on Monday, and wounded dozens. In addition, more corpses were discovered. Alexandra Zavis writes, “Underscoring the threat, two car bombs exploded within minutes at a mostly Shiite Baghdad market, killing […]

Revenge of the Stiff Or, He Asked for It CNN reports that Star Wars director George Lucas said his movies could apply to the Iraq war: ”In terms of evil, one of the original concepts was how does a democracy turn itself into a dictatorship,” Lucas told a news conference at Cannes, where his final […]

Guantanamo Controversies The Bible and the Koran The report in Newsweek that the US military desecrated the Koran as part of an attempt to break the Muslim prisoners there with humiliation techniques has provoked demonstrations, angry sermons, riots, and over a dozen deaths in Afghanistan, with demonstrations also in Gaza, Pakistan, Indonesia, and now Yemen. […]

Over 30 Bodies Found USA Today/ AP report that on Sunday, more than 30 bodies were found in three separate sites. The bodies of thirteen men were found in a shallow grave near the Shiite slum of Sadr City. Another eleven were found at a farm at Huqul, a town 25 miles south of Baghdad. […]

Sistani Aide Killed Shiites Demonstrate Against Kuwait, Nancy Ajram in Karbala Two clerics, one Sunni and one Shiite, were assassinated over the weekend. Guerrillas shot down Shaikh Qasim al-Gharawi, and his nephew, Hazim Rubai, in East Baghdad as they left the shaikh’s home. Al-Gharawi was a major emissary of Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, and was […]