Juan Cole

Shuttle Diplomacy in Najaf Efforts continued Saturday to iron out differences on the Interim Governing Council about two provisions of the Basic Law, says ash-Sharq al-Awsat Seven Shiite members consulted with Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani in Najaf. The ayatollah is said to be unhappy with a provision that would allow any three provinces, by a […]

All Dressed up with No Place to Go: Setback for Basic Law az-Zaman: On Friday, five Shiite members of the Interim Governing Council suddenly pulled out of signing the Basic Law they had agreed to, with the rest of the IGC, last Monday. A huge formal signing ceremony had been arranged, attended by hundreds of […]

Zarqawi Dossier I have begun putting together a dossier on Abu Musab al-Zarqawi (a.k.a. Ahmad Fadil Nazzal Al-Khalayleh). It will include US government documents in the public domain and excerpts from press accounts for non-profit, academic use. If Zarqawi has emerged, according to Gen. John Abizaid, as a major threat to US national security, it […]

Sistani Fatwa: No Entering Iraq Illegally Informed that thousands of Iranian pilgrims came into Iraq every day, by-passing the official checkpoints, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sitani issued a legal ruling on Friday insisting that such illegal entry was religiously forbidden. He said that good Shiites would cross only at official checkpoints. He also forbade smuggling.

Major Censorship Action Alert for Middle East Studies Some of you know that some unsavory political forces have convinced the House of Representatives to create a Big Brother committee to police the thought of university professors who write about world affairs. The bill is HR 3077. The main goal of this legislation is to impose […]

US Soldier Wounded, 9 Iraqis Killed AFP reports that a US soldier was injured and nine Iraqis were killed Thursday in separate attacks throughout the country. Guerrillas set off a bomb near Baquba to the northeast of Baghdad, injuring one US soldier. Guerrillas fired a rocket in southwest Baghdad, near a US military base, killing […]

Knight-Ridder Questions Saddam-al-Qaeda Links Warren Strobel et al. of Knight Ridder have looked at the case for Saddam-al-Qaeda links and found them lacking. 1. Although it is true that Abdul Rahman Yasin, a suspect in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, was attempting to hide out in Iraq, Saddam offered to turn him over to […]

Haykel on Zarqawi Letter US Officials are denying the allegation by Sunni radicals in Iraq that Abu Mus`ab al-Zarqawi was killed during the US invasion of Iraq in April of 2003. They say they have proof that Zarqawi was active in Iraq later that spring. Meanwhile, wire services report that Zarqawi’s mother died in Jordan. […]

Mosul Police Station, US Base Take Mortar Fire Al-Hayat reported a large explosion in Baghdad on Wednesday, but no word of any casualties. Reuters reports that guerrillas launched five mortar rounds at a police station and a mosque in the northern city of Mosul, wounding at least three persons. AP also reported that the 4th […]