Juan Cole

Provincial News: Sunni-Shiite fighting in Yusufiyah An informed reader writes: ‘ [Last Friday] there were the first violent clashes, practically a battle, between Sunnis and Shiites in Yusufiyah, with several casualties. The Hakim-people had opened an office in Yusufiyah and Sunni mudjahedin – who are terrorizing Shia in the area – attacked it and burnt […]

Bush Administration outing of Khan Enabled 5 al-Qaeda Cell Members to Escape Capture Neville Dean of PA News reports that a magistrate has given British police only until Tuesday to finish questioning 9 of 13 men arrested August 3 on suspicion of being part of an al-Qaeda cell. The men had been in email correspondence […]

Fighting Rages on in Iraq AP gives a good overview. Baghdad On Monday morning guerrillas detonated a car bomb outside the house of Diyala provincial deputy Governor Aqil Hamid al-Adili. He escaped with light wounds, but several policemen guarding him were killed and 16 persons, some passers-by, were wounded. The capital of Diyala is the […]

Chalabi Arrest Warrants A three-judge panel on Sunday issued a warrant for the arrests of Ahmad Chalabi and his nephew Salem Chalabi. Ahmad Chalabi was in Iran as part of an Iraqi trade mission at the time of the announcement, and says he will come back to contest the charges. The timing is suspicious, however, […]

CNN Transcripts on Khan Case From CNN Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer, Sunday August 8: ‘ BLITZER: Let’s talk about some of the people who have been picked up, mostly in Pakistan, over the last few weeks. In mid-July, Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan. There is some suggestion that by releasing his identity here in the […]

CNN on Khan Scandal: Has it Prevented the Capture of Bin Laden? The story of how the Bush administration prematurely outed Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan, a double agent working for Pakistan against al-Qaeda, has finally hit cable television news. MSNBC picked up the story on Saturday. On Sunday at around 12:30 pm, Wolf Blitzer’s show […]

Bush Outing of Khan and the Faustian Bargain David Johnston of the New York Times tried to get further details of the Bush administration outing of Pakistani double agent Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan. But he was stonewalled when he called his Bush administration contacts: “American officials contacted on Saturday would not confirm that Mr. Khan […]

Continued Shiite Clashes with US Najaf Since the recent round of fighting began in Najaf, 5 US Marines have been killed and 12 wounded in Najaf governorate. AFP reports that hundreds of Najaf families streamed out of the city on Saturday, terrified of the heavy warfare being fought all around them. The US has aerially […]

Sistani’s Trip to the UK Fayyad Likely Successor Ma`d Fayyad of Ash-Sharq al-Awsat reveals some of the background to Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani’s trip to the UK. He says that it has been in the works for some time, and that British authorities knew about the plan for the ayatollah to come to London as […]