Juan Cole

Iranian Diplomat Says a US attack on Najaf will Lead to Widespread Crisis throughout Iraq From the ISNA website, via by BBC World Monitoring: Iranian charge d’affaires to Iraq, Hasan Kazemi-Qomi made several statements at the Iranian Students News Agency site on 23 April: ‘ “If the occupying forces disregard the internal political, social and […]

40 Killed in Another Bloody Iraq Saturday At Least 5 US Soldiers Dead; Unknown US Casualties in Haswa, Kut Boat Bombers Strike Basra Vessels, Kill 2 As sun sets on Saturday in Iraq, it pulls a shroud over the charnel house the country has become. Suicide boat bombers drew their dhow up alongside a ship […]

Muqtada al-Sadr Warns He will Unleash Kamikaze Bombers if Najaf is Attacked Bulgarian Soldier Killed in Clash at Karbala ash-Sharq al-Awsat: Muqtada al-Sadr, leader of the Mahdi Army militia, said in his Friday prayers sermon at the Kufa mosque on Friday that he will resort to the use of suicide bombings in confronting the American-led […]

Is Chalabi Out? Brahimi Plan advances, Baathists Rehabilitated The intrepid Robin Wright and Walter Pincus at the Washington Post argue that the Brahimi plan for Iraq could forestall the coronation of Ahmad Chalabi as Iraq’s America-installed prince. Brahimi favors appointing four technocrats from outside the Interim Governing Council, leaving IGC members to organize themselves for […]

What is to Be Done in Iraq?: Polk Guest Commentary By William R. Polk ‘ While C.I.A. director George J. Tenet struggles in Washington to prove that his agency did not exaggerate the danger Iraq posed to the United States, American forces continue to come under attack on the ground throughout Iraq. Misunderstanding is evident […]

Commentary on the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Hearing on Iraq: Nathan Brown Guest Commentary by Nathan J. Brown, George Washington University http://home.gwu.edu/~nbrown This week’s Senate Foreign Relations hearings–in which you participated–made headlines partly because they revealed the extent to which basic questions about American plans in Iraq have not been settled. They also alerted […]

Situation Around Najaf remains Tense Muqtada al-Sadr and his movement remain defiant. In Basra, about 800 Sadrists held a demonstration, led by Shaikh Abdul Sattar al-Bahadili, in which they alleged that the British were responsible for the recent horrific bombings. Many Basrans angry, at the very least, at the UK troops for allowing the bombings […]

Hitchens Questions on Iraq A reader sent me these questions that he said Christopher Hitchens had posed. I then found them at his web site. They are: 1) Do you believe that a confrontation with Saddam Hussein’s regime was inevitable or not? 2) Do you believe that a confrontation with an Uday/Qusay regime would have […]

More on Senate Foreign Relations Committee Testimony: Cole and Dodge Here are oral comments of myself and Toby Dodge last Tuesday at the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. Senator Lugar: . . . Dr. Dodge. MR. DODGE: Well, thank you very much for the invitation to present here today. It’s a great sorrow that it’s […]