Juan Cole

News Roundup Bush and his agendas (social security privatization, the Iraq War) continue to slide in the polls. Americans turn out to want a timetable for withdrawal of US troops just as much as Iraq’s Sunni Arabs do! (69 percent want a clear goal and don’t think Bush has articulated one.)

7 Iraqis Killed, 16 Wounded Friday in String of Bombings Two Marines Killed Guerrillas in a town near Baghdad took 60 local Shiites hostage and are threatening to kill them, unless Shiite inhabitants leave the area. This incident is the most worrying explicit Sunni-Shiite conflict I can remember, and I find it alarming. Shiites could […]

Sistani Discourages Shiite MPs from joining Cabinet Al-Zaman/ AFP: An aide close to Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani said Friday that Sistani prefers it if the members of parliament from the United Iraqi Alliance decline posts as cabinet ministers. He says that they should instead concentrate on drafting the permanent constitution. The aide gave the interview […]

Disputes Prevent Selection of Tamim Governor (Kirkuk) al-Zaman/ AFP: An Iraqi official in Tamim province describes the situation in the city of Kirkuk. Disputes among Kurds, Turkmen and Arabs have prevented the newly elected provincial council from being seated, and therefore they have been unable to select a governor. He said that Kirkuk is a […]

Guerrilla War Leaves 24 Dead in Iraq The Financial Times reports that guerrilla actions, including bombings and ambushes, left at least 24 persons dead on Thursday in Iraq. There were bombs in Baghdad, as well as shootings and assassinations elsewhere. Police were killed near Kirkuk and a bomb exploded in Basra, hurting two civilian passersby […]

Secret Service Still Hasn’t Caught Bin Laden Shouldn’t the Secret Service be out trying to find Bin Laden and al-Zawahiri?. The most prominent organized group that I know of trying to kill the president is at large, its leaders taunting us. So how are we using our Secret Service to best effect? The Chicago Sun-Times […]

Oil for Food Scandal taints (gasp!) Houston We’ve had to put up for months with blowhards like Senator Norm Coleman of Minnesota jumping up and down about the Iraq food for oil scandal at the United Nations. Coleman even called for the resignation of Kofi Annan, who hasn’t been shown to have behaved improperly himself. […]

At least 17 Killed by Bombs, 4 US Contractors Wounded AP reports that guerrillas detonated a car bomb near a US convoy, killing five Iraqis and wounding 4 US contractors. Two other explosions in the capital did little damage. A fourth set a fuel tanker ablaze near two US Humvees. AP adds: “Near Kirkuk, 12 […]

Neoconning the Media Eric Alterman’s “Neoconning the Media: A Short History of Neoconservatism” is a must-read account of the movement and its main institutions and media outlets. Alterman lists “half of the New Republic” as among the assets of the Neocons. That’s about right, though I suspect that the other half (In the Barefoot And […]