Juan Cole

Kurds win on Loose Federalism in IGC’s Fundamental Law Kurdish Interim Governing Council member Dara Nour Eddine announced that the IGC had agreed to put language in the Fundamental Law it is now crafting that permits the status quo to continue in the Kurdish regions. Earlier, the IGC had proposed simply declaring that the status […]

Bombing Wounds 37, Kills 5 at Shiite Mosque in Baqubah The WP reports that on Friday in the eastern city of Baqubah, guerrillas detonated a bicycle bomb in front of a Shiite mosque as worshippers were leaving. Another huge car bomb had been found and deactivated in front of the city’s other major Shiite mosque. […]

al-Hakim: IGC will Invite UN Election Commission to Iraq Abdul Aziz al-Hakim met Thursday with Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani in Najaf, and afterwards announced that the Interim Governing Council will write to Kofi Annan asking that the UN send a commission to Iraq to deal with election issues. Sistani wants the commission to make a […]

IGC Will Implement Islamic Law in Personal Status Earlier this year, the Interim Governing Council abolished secularism. This is an item I hadn’t come across at the time, and it doesn’t seem to have attracted much press. The IGC has allowed Iraqis to follow religious law in personal status matters. This practice is common in […]

9 US Soldiers Killed in Helicopter Downing AP reports that the Blackhawk helicopter downed on Thursday near Fallujah was hit by a rocket. It was a clearly marked medical helicopter, and all 9 US servicemen aboard were killed. Given the mortar attack on Wednesday and this attack on Thursday, a two-day record for US troops […]

Pachachi: Fundamental Law to be Drafted by Jan. 31 This month’s president of the Interim Governing Council, Adnan Pachachi, said in a Thursday news conference in Baghdad that he hoped the IGC would finish drafting in January the Fundamental Law that would govern the forthcoming Iraqi elections, and that in February it will be presented […]

No WMD. Nada. Bupkes*. A message of mine replying to the argument that Iraq did have some WMD but that its nuclear program was not as far along has had been thought (!!) (See also the Carnegie report at [warning: pdf] WMD in Iraq, which is particularly critical of Colin Powell’s UN speech.) I think […]

36 US troops Wounded in Mortar Attacks Guerrillas launched some six mortar rounds at Logistical Base Seitz west of Baghdad on Wednesday, wounding 36 US soldiers. (Reuters initially gave the toll as 35, but a late report in the Financial Times said 36). The U.S. military said that in the latest attack on Wednesday night, […]

Iranians more Favorable on Iraq The Financial Times reports that Britain’s special representative in Iraq, Jeremy Greenstock, has said that he finds a big change in the Iranian attitude toward the Iraq situation. Ever since the US announced the November 15 accord that promises a sovereign Iraqi government by July 1, the Iranians have been […]