Juan Cole

You will all be following in other news sources the story of the downed Blackhawk helicopter and further US casualties. I’m at a conference and so I’ll just report here some items that might not make the US newspapers or might not be highlighted.

Sunni Fundamentalists Protest arrests of Clergy 500 Sunni Islamists demonstrated in the streets of Baghdad on Friday, representing the Higher Islamic Institute and other Muslim groups, and demanding the release of Sunni clergymen imprisoned by the Americans. They prayed on the street before the Coalition HQ. Shaykh Abd al-Sattar al-Janabi announced after he had sought […]

Number of Iraqi Pilgrims to Mecca will Double The Islamic Foundations Board of Iraq announced that it would double the number of Iraqis permitted to undertake the pilgrimage to Mecca this year. It is authorizing 50,000 pilgrims to go this year, as opposed to 25,000 last year under the Baath. The Board also removed the […]

Multinational Troops Hit in Iraq; Polish Officer, 6 Ukrainians Wounded The Polish military announced Friday that the multinational force under its command, which includes Bulgarians, Kazakhstanis, Spanish, Ukrainians, Dominicans, etc., patrolling the south-center part of the country, was the target of 36 attacks on Thursday, resulting in the killing of a high Polish officer and […]

Islamic Party of Iraq Meets with Syrian President The Secretary General of the Sunni, Iraqi “Islamic Party,” Muhsin Abd al-Hamid, met yesterday with Bashar al-Asad, the president of Syria, in Damascus. Al-Asad’s office issued a communiqué afterwards affirming Syria’s empathy with the Iraqi people and its commitment to working for the continued unity of Iraq, […]

Radical Shiite leaders Moderate Stance toward US Nir Rosen reports that Muhammad Yaqoubi, leader of the breakaway Sadrist group, al-Fudala, has moderated his anti-American statements lately, following Muqtada al-Sadr’s conciliatory communiqué of last Friday. Behind the scenes, the US is clearly using a set of carrots and sticks to reduce the tension with these ayatollahs […]

Egyptian Held in Najaf Assassination Attempt The Iraqi Information Network announced that the local police in Najaf had apprehended one of the assailants who attempted to assassinate the mayor of Najaf. Informed sources said that he was an Egyptian, according to al-Sharq al-Awsat. The chief judge of Najaf was assassinated last week.

Turks Nix Sending troops to Iraq The Turks have finally just announced that they will not send troops to Iraq, and the whole issue is off the table. The Americans had been working for some sort of compromise between Ankara and the Iraqi Interim Governing Council, which had unanimously rejected troops coming into the country […]

I’m at a conference in Anchorage of all places. I’ll try to make some entries later Friday, but am having trouble getting internet access, or time to post. The Guardian has an excellent article today on how the billion and a half dollars Congress cut from the approximated $20 bn. Bush administration request for Iraq […]