Juan Cole

First Round of Iran’s Presidential Elections Inconclusive Turnout Stronger than Expected The Presidential elections in Iran produced a messy result that will require a run-off between the two top candidates. The final outcome won’t be clear until Saturday afternoon at least, but it seems that former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani will be one of the […]

Mosque Attack Wounds 4 US Raids against al-Dhari, Muqtada Sibernews reports, ‘A car bomb has exploded close to a Shia mosque in eastern Baghdad as people were emerging from Friday prayers, injuring at least two people [the Guardian reports 4 wounded]. The driver seems to have rammed a fuel lorry passing through the Kamaliya district, […]

Zarqawi and the Scarlet Pimpernel WESTLEY: ‘ Well, Roberts had grown so rich, he wanted to retire. So he took me to his cabin and told me his secret. “I am not the Dread Pirate Roberts,” he said. “My name is Ryan. I inherited this ship from the previous Dread Pirate Roberts, just as you […]

6 US Servicemen Killed at Ramadi 10 Iraqis Killed, 38 Wounded Guerrillas near Ramadi detonated a roadside bomb on Wednesday as a Marine convoy went by, killing 5 Marines. A sailor attached to the Marines in Ramadi was shot down dead in Ramadi, as well. Altogether, Guerrillas killed nearly 60 persons in the past month. […]

Shiites Compromise with Sunnis over Constitution Drafting Committee al-Sharq al-Awsat and AFP Jawad Maliki, the deputy leader of the Da`wa Party led by Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari, affirmed yesterday that the parliamentary constitution-drafting committee agreed to increase the number of Sunni Arab members to 25. Of these, 10 would be non-voting advisors. Initially, Shiites […]

Friedman and Imaginary Troops Tom Friedman, writing in the New York Times, makes several policy decisions with regard to Iraq. The first is to stay the course until an effective Iraqi force could be stood up. Another is to find ways of re-involving the United Nations in Iraq. Both of these ideas have things to […]

48 Dead in Guerrilla Violence Suicide Bombing in Khalis Targets Iraqi Troops Knight Ridder reports that a suicide bomber in an Iraqi army uniform detonated his bomb belt in the midst of Iraqi soldiers eating lunch in Khalis north of Baghdad, killing at least 26 persons [AFP] and wounding 29. Early details were confused and […]

Apartheid for Arabs in Irbil? Iranian Kurds Riot An eyewitness has described for me by email driving through the north of Kurdistan and seeing enormous posters of Massoud Barzani (the new president of the Kurdistan super-province) after the manner of a cult of personality. When the Kurdistan parliament is in session, Irbil is closed to […]

Gitmo-by-the-Sea: 5-Star Holidays for Oppressed Christians: Fisher Guest Satire by William Fisher “Oppressed Christians: Looking for a five-star holiday? Have we got a deal for you! GITMO-By-The-Sea” Don’t laugh, folks. Our Naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, could just be poised to become the country’s hottest tourist destination for folks of faith. It’s hard to […]