Juan Cole

Sistani Raises Objections to Latest Coalition Plan According to al-Hayat, Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, leader of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq and a member of the Interim Governing Council, met with Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani on Tuesday, and then held a news conference in Najaf on Wednesday. He revealed that Sistani has substantial […]

2 US troops wounded in Mosul; Italian Embassy in Baghdad Hit by Rockets Guerrillas fired a rocket or mortar round into the second floor of the Italian embassy in Baghdad on Wednesday. The attack caused structural damage, but no casualties were reported. Two weeks ago, guerrillas killed 19 Italians in suicide bombings at their police […]

Iraq War damaging US War on Terror Warren Strobel of Knight Ridder points out that many counter-terrorism analysts are convinced that the real war on terror is being hurt by the drain of resources to the Iraq war.

Khamenei: ‘America Sinking into Quagmire” “ Iran’s Supreme Jurisprudent, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said in a radio address that: ‘The American nation should know that Iraq is America’s quagmire and America is sinking deeper into it by staying longer in Iraq . . . The Americans are so desperate that they are bombing an occupied country…this […]

Norwegian troops in Iraq fear for safety Norwegian troops appear to be surprised to find that they are not actually in a peacekeeping role in Iraq, but rather are in a combat role. They nevertheless don’t get the combat pay their colleagues receive in Afghanistan. The Norwegian press reports: “Military Officers’ Association have received several […]

Marshall: Cheney had Garner Fire Warrick Josh Marshall has excellent analysis of Jay Garner’s BBC interview on the failing of the US in handling post-war Iraq. He confirms what I had suspected, which is that Dick Cheney had State Department Iraq expert Tom Warrick fired from the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance because Cheney […]

More on Why Partitioning Iraq is a Very Bad Idea Jack Straw alluded to the dangers of a break-up of Iraq in a news conference in Baghdad on Wednesday, and said the only way to forestall such scenarios was to transfer sovereignty back to the Iraqi people as quickly as possible. (al-Sharq al-Awsat). Journalist Nir […]

10 US soldiers wounded each day Even the fall in attacks does not obscure the bad news for Ken Dilanian of Knight Ridder. He notes that hostile fire had wounded 2,076 US soldiers as of Nov. 24, including 1,200 hurt after May 1. He says, “Although that number is small compared, say, with Vietnam, it’s […]

Bombs in downtown Baghdad; Two Iraqi Police Wounded Guerrillas fired mortars at US troops in Tikrit early on Tuesday but failed to inflict any casualties. In response, US troops wounded one assailant and knocked out another. Guerrillas injured two Iraqi policemen with a rocket-propelled grenade attack near a Baghdad gasoline station. They also fired rockets […]