Juan Cole

Sistani “Blesses” United Iraqi Alliance Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani’s web site [Arabic Link] has posted an article from the newspaper al-Ra’i al-`Amm which reports Sistani’s oral answers to questions its reporter submitted to him. The piece says that although Sistani “blesses” the United Iraqi Alliance (the list grouping most of the major Shiite religious parties), […]

Israeli-Arab News Cycle I found this Haaretz article too complicated too follow. So the Israeli Army has a psy-ops unit that used to be very active but has been less so recently, and is now being revived. This psy-ops unit plants articles in the Arab press about groups like Lebanon’s Hizbullah, painting them as vicious […]

Bombs, Zarqawi, and Sistani’s Constitution On Monday morning, guerrillas set off another car bomb near the headquarters in Baghdad of the Iraqi National Accord, the party headed by interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi. Allawi was not in the offices. Early reports say at least ten people were injured. Reuters also notes that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi […]

Al-Yawir on the Chalabi Affair The LBC Arab satellite channel ran an extended interview Sunday afternoon EST with interim Iraqi President Ghazi al-Yawir. The interviewer asked him at one point if Ahmad Chalabi would be arrested. He adopted a stern visage and said “Why would Chalabi be arrested?” The interviewer recalled for him that interim […]

Al-Hakim: No to Civil War, Yes to Timetable for US Withdrawal Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, leader of the United Iraqi Alliance list, says that Shiites refuse to be tricked into a civil war by the attacks of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Al-Hakim alleges that Sunni Arabs are taking part in great numbers in the electoral process and […]

Chalabi to be arrested The political season in Iraq is turning extremely nasty. Not only were over 20 persons killed and dozens injured in bombings of a Shiite mosque and a Shiite wedding by guerrillas, but charges and counter-charges among politicians have now resulted in the prospective arrest of long-time Iraqi expatriate politican Ahmad Chalabi. […]

Montazeri Warns Iraqis Against Clerical Rule Ayatollah Husain Ali Montazeri of Qom warned [Persian link] the Iraqi political class on Friday against allowing clerics to dominate the executive in their new government. He spoke through his son to the Persian service of the BBC. He said that clerics were just not trained to or capable […]

A Pictorial Commentary on the first Line in Bush’s Inaugural Speech The full transcript is here. Pictures are clickable. ” . . . on this day prescribed by law and marked by ceremony, we celebrate the durable wisdom of our Constitution and recall the deep commitments that unite our country.” Let us consider the durable […]

Nine British Troops Wounded in Abuse-Related Blast Guerrillas targeted British troops at the Shaibah base near Basra with a suicide bombing, wounding nine, along with a number of civilians. It appears that the attack was prompted by the circulation of images showing British troops torturing Iraqi detainees. The images emerged in connection with the trial […]