Juan Cole

Show Trials and Phony Confessions Target Syria AP reports on a televised confession of someone who said he was a Syrian agent in Iraq in charge of terrorist operations. The confession was broadcast on US-backed al-Iraqiyah television, and was produced presumably by the former Baath domestic intelligence officers appointed by Iyad Allawi. These confessions are […]

Association of Muslim Scholars Denies Negotiations with US Gilbert Achcar kindly supplied the following translation: The following interesting excerpt from today’s (Feb 23) Al-Hayat (my translation from Arabic): ‘ A member of the Association of Muslim Scholars [believed to be the most popular group among Arab Sunnis in Iraq] has denied that the contacts held […]

Iraq-Blogging Nick Turse at tomdispatch.com skewers Donald Rumsfeld’s various rhetorical strategies of evasion whenever he has been asked hard questions about Abu Ghraib, the situation in Iraq, etc.: ‘ I was truly curious: Was it a budgetary problem — the lack of CD burners, or floppy disks, or available computers at the Pentagon? Or was […]

Germans Trust Putin More than Bush Frank Domoney kindly sends his translation of a Die Welt article that reports that over-all, the German public trusts Vladimir Putin more than it trusts George W. Bush. I was struck that it doesn’t trust either one very much, and that even in West Germany they are in a […]

Koufax Awards The Koufax Awards have been announced. Many, many thanks to readers who voted mine the best “Expert Blog” and made my piece, “If America were Iraq, What would it be Like? the best post of 2004. These are humbling awards to win. A warm congratulations to Markos Moulitsas of Daily Kos for winning […]

Free Mojtaba and Arash If Blogdex is any indication the campaign to free Mojtaba and Arash is going well. The Iranian government is not immune to public opinion, and I hope people will keep trying to get them out. In fact, assuming someone could plan it out and get a permit, wouldn’t a flashmob protest […]

Jaafari slams Hilary Stephen Farrell reports for the London Times that a minor tiff occurred last week between Senator Hilary Clinton and prime ministerial candidate Ibrahim Jaafari: ‘ Last week Hillary Clinton, the New York senator, visiting Baghdad, said that there were “grounds both for concern and for . . . vigilance” about Dr al-Jaafari’s […]

Chalabi is Prevailed upon to Withdraw It turns out that the other members of the United Iraqi Alliance prevailed on Ahmad Chalabi to drop his bid to become candidate for prime minister. It is not clear if Jaafari, the winner, promised him anything in return for stepping down. AP suggests he might be a deputy […]

Breaking News: Jaafari PM Candidate for UIA Well, the United Iraqi Alliance just announced that Ibrahim Jaafari has won out against Ahmad Chalabi. Jaafari’s victory is not a surprise, since he was backed by the two core parties in the UIA, the Dawa Party and the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq. [I had […]