Juan Cole

*In the debate of the Democratic candidates on Tuesday evening here in the US, there were some sparkling moments. I thought Howard Dean acquitted himself well, but I was sorry to see him buy into Saudi-bashing. He accused the Saudis of systematically schooling their children to hate Americans. That such schooling exists in the kingdom […]

*See Fawaz Gerges’s analysis of the Iraqi resistance in CSM. He makes more of the radical Sunni Muslims in Iraq than I would, though he is careful to say they only amount to a few hundred, and he is attentive to the continued appeal of Arab nationalism. http://www.csmonitor.com/ 2003/0910/p11s01-coop.html

*Guerillas wounded two American soldiers with a bomb as their convoy was going over a bridge in Baghdad on Monday. *Two tribal shaikhs were assassinated in Iraq according to al-Zaman. One, `Abd al-Jabbar al-Issawi, was from the powerful Sunni al-Jubur tribe, which was favored under Saddam. Assailants shot him down in Baghdad. Who killed him […]

Bush’s speech on Iraq policy at 8:30 pm Sunday night struck me as weak compared to past addresses of his on the War on Terror. He seemed to me distracted and nervous, no doubt aware that after the UN and Najaf bombings, and with the steady drumbeat of US casualties, things are not going well. […]

*An assassination attempt against Grand Ayatollah Hussain Bashir al-Najafi has been foiled in Najaf reports AFP The Badr Corps militia of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq captured the man in Najafi’s home on Sunday. He confessed to being a member of the Fedayeen of Saddam Hussain, and also said that he had […]

*Ayham al-Samarrai, the new minister of electricity, has said that Coalition troops should withdraw from Iraqi cities within six months. (AFP) Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, Shiite cleric and member of the Interim Governing Council, has demanded that the US withdraw from the cities immediately.

*Guerrillas in cars sprayed machine gun fire at the headquarters of the Shiite al-Da`wa Party twice on Sunday. (Al-Zaman). No one was hurt. Four or five of the members of the Interim Governing Council have connections to al-Da`wa, including the temporary president, Ibrahim Jaafari, a party leader.

*About 5,000 Arab demonstrators rallied Saturday in Kirkuk, insisting that the US release Sheikh Hatam Al-Assy Al-Obeidi, a powerful tribal chieftain suspected in the sabotage of oil pipelines. They also demanded the resignation of Kirkuk’s Kurdish mayor, Abdul Rahman Zankane, saying that the city should be for all Iraqis, not just Kurds. (-AFP)

*Ex-Baathist provocateurs attempted to turn a peaceful demonstration by the unemployed in Basra into a violent riot on Saturday, but failed, according to al-Zaman. The Iraqi unemployment rate is usually given as 60%, and a lot of people are desperate.