Juan Cole

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 […]

Saudi Jihadis Return Disappointed From al-Hayat of May 14 via BBC World Monitoring: ‘ Al-Hayat has learnt that two Saudi brothers who went to Iraq across the Syrian border for “jihad” against the occupation returned without taking part in any fighting after a bitter experience. Sources told Al-Hayat that the two young men followed news […]

British Question US terms of Engagement with the Enemy A Baghdad car bomb killed 4 on Saturday. The British officer corps is continuing in its efforts to convince the US military that its current rules of engagement are over-kill and result in the loss of many civlian lives (thus driving Iraqis to join or support […]

Did the Elections Make things Worse? Hannah Allam of Knight Ridder raises the question of whether the January 30 elections made the situation in Iraq worse. Allam writes, “Two weeks of intense insurgent violence have made it crystal clear that Iraq’s parliamentary elections, hailed in late January as a triumph for democracy, haven’t helped to […]

Afghan Newspaper: US Must Apologize for Koran Desecration More Deaths in Demonstrations on Friday An Afghan newspaper has said that the US must apologize for the desecration of the Koran alleged to have happened at Guantanamo prison. This is correct. President Bush should just come out and say that this allegation appeared in Newsweek; that […]

Koran Protests Spread, Reach Indonesia Backed by Afghan Clerics Afghan clerics supported demonstrations against the alleged US military desecration of the Koran as a way of breaking radical Muslim prisoners at Guantanamo. They asked demonstrators, however, to avoid violence. Hundreds of Muslims protested in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta. There were also rallies in other […]