Juan Cole

New Cabinet Al-Hayat says that Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani had pressed for 10 of the cabinet posts in the new government of Ibrahim Jaafari to go to Sunni Arabs. In the end, only 6 did, with 8 for the Kurds and some 16 or 17 (reports differ) for Shiites. Some 7 are women. Al-Hayat was […]

Iraq News Round-Up Guerrillas assassinated an Iraqi female member of parliament Wednesday, women’s rights activist Lamia Abid Khadduri Sakri. Al-Zaman says she was a member of the Iraqiya List of Iyad Allawi, which is dominated by secularists and ex-Baathists. Earlier, failed assassination attempts were made against Iyad Allawi and Mishaan Juburi, both of whom are […]

Abu Muslim Rebels Against al-Mansur When we left the story, it was perhaps late 754, and a conflict was brewing between the second caliph of the Abbasid dynasty, al-Mansur, and his minister, the old revolutionary Abu Muslim. Al-Mansur had his seat in Anbar in Iraq about a decade before the founding of Baghdad. He also […]

Guest Comment: “Bush is Lying” by Kevin McMillan Kevin McMillan of Columbia University writes: “I’d suggest a friendly amendment to today’s post on many Americans’ view that President Bush actively lied to them about WMD in Iraq. You appear to be trying to offer an “interpretation” of that view that “makes sense” of it. This […]

Talabani Fears Baath Military Pentagon: No Military Progress in Iraq in Past Year Jalal Talabani told al-Hayat that he feared that the concerns among the Shiite religious parties about Sunni Arab cabinet ministers being completely free of any Baath association would cause the baby to be thrown out with the bath water. It is this […]

“Bush is a Liar”: 50% of Americans Gallup has found that half of Americans believe that President George W. Bush actively lied to them about Iraq’s possession of weapons of mass destruction in the year leading up to the Iraq War. I am sure that Bush & Co. exercised poor judgment, jumped to conclusions, exaggerated […]

Postcript on Blogging Matthew Haughey says his posting about being tired of seeing the phrase “mainstream media” used by bloggers was “tongue-in-cheek” and that we should “unclench.” I should say that I think Matthew’s work at metafilter and his postings are thought provoking and progressive and I am grateful for them, and I meant nothing […]

History of Baghdad: Abu Muslim and al-Mansur It is actually quite odd that despite the United States being in military occupation of Baghdad, there doesn’t seem to be much interest among Americans in . . . Baghdad. I thought it might be nice to have some entries on its history and glories from time to […]

Unbreaking News Just saw al-Jazeerah’s evening news and now they are reporting that there has been a last-minute glitch in Jaafari’s presentation of his cabinet to the presidency council. The presidency council is President Jalal Talabani (Kurd), VP Adil Abdul Mahdi (Shiite) and VP Ghazi al-Yawir (Sunni Arab). Al-Yawir is apparently dissatisfied with the final […]