Juan Cole

10,000 Turkish Troops for Tikrit region According to al-Zaman, the Turkish government is considering sending 10,000 troops to Iraq, many of which will be deployed in the Tikrit region (the birthplace of Saddam Hussein). The US military apparently hopes that Sunni Muslim troops like the Turks will be able to deal with the resistance in […]

Sunni-Shiite Battles Not Unknown Hamza Hendawi of the Associated Press filed a story on the life and death of the radical Sunni, Muhammad Salem Abu Bakr, who grew to hate Shiites after the fall of Saddam. When he gloated about the death of Ayatollah Muhammad Baqir al-Hakim on Aug. 29, a mob of Shiites gathered […]

Anglo-American Occupation committing Illegalities? Just as the Iraq War was beginning, Tony Blair’s top legal adviser, Lord Goldsmith, presented him with a memo warning that the proposed Anglo-American occupation risked violating international law. Military occupations are governed by the Hague Regulations of 1907 and by the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949. These documents, and international […]

References: http://www.csmonitor.com/ 2003/1001/p01s02-woiq.html See http://www.azcentral.com/news/ articles/0930IraqConflict30-ON.html

One US Soldier Killed, Nine Wounded Iraqi guerrillas in two Sunni Arab towns west of Baghdad, Habaniya and Khalidiya, hit two separate US convoys on Monday with roadside bombs and rocket-propelled grenades. The attacks killed one US soldier and wounded three others. In response to the Khalidiya attack, which pinned US forces down for a […]

Homeland Defense Funding Plundered for Iraq For those who believe that the Iraq War was a major detour from the War on Terror, there is excellent evidence for it if any investigative reporters wanted the story. Major funding for anti-terrorism science programs in the US, already appropriated and given out in contracts, to the tune […]

Rove should Resign: President Bush and the Wilson Case It has for some time struck me that despite all the phony talk about “compassionate conservatism,” the Bush team has just plain mean tendencies. The giddy pleasure Bush took in executions used to disgust even fellow Republicans, and it briefly emerged as an issue in the […]

Jostling for the Vacant IGC seat of Aqila al-Hashimi It may seem unseemly, but political forces are already attempting to place their candidate on the IGC as a successor to Aqila al-Hashimi, assassinated last week. CPA head Paul Bremer is said to want an independent professional women with the sort of standing and competency enjoyed […]

Drafting of Constitution and Adopting it may take 18 Months or More The Constitutional Preparatory Commission in Iraq, which was supposed to make its report on Tuesday recommending how the new Iraqi constitution should be drafted, has failed to reach agreement. The main issues are whether the drafters are to be elected or appointed, and […]