Juan Cole

For my reaction to the tragic bombing of the UN Headquarters in Baghdad, see the breaking news item below. *Bahraini officials met with Iraq Interim Governing Council President Ibrahim Jaafari on Tuesday (- Al-Sharq al-Awsat). They expressed their support for the IGC (not the same as recognizing it as a legitimate government) and for Iraq […]

*Breaking News. A suicide bomber set off an enormous truck bomb at the Canal Hotel in Baghdad, which was serving as the United Nations Headquarters, beneath the office of UN special representative Sergio Vieira de Mello. De Mello and 17 others are confirmed dead, with 100 or more injured, and much of the front of […]

*Guerrillas killed a US soldier in Baghdad on Monday with a bomb. In a separate incident, guerrillas attacked a US Army convoy with rocket propelled grenades east of Tikrit, wounding two American soldiers. *Paul Bremer admitted that sabotage was costing American-administered Iraq billions, but told CNN: “I think these bitter-enders that we are faced with […]

*A second pipeline blast in the north of Iraq further damages the country’s ability to export petroleum, costing Iraqis $7 million a day. Guerrillas showered mortar fire on Abu Ghurayb Prison near Baghdad, killing six Iraqi prisoners and wounding 59. Skittish US troops then accidentally killed a Reuters cameraman at the site. It is not […]

*Guerrillas lightly wounded two US soldiers with near Baquba on Saturday when they set off a roadside bomb made of four 155 mm artillery shells, ambushing a patrol of Abrams tanks, armored personnel carriers and Humvees, according to D’Arcy Doran of AP. The shrapnel wounded two of our guys (according to al-Sharq al-Awsat; early wire […]

*Guerrillas near Balad , northeast of Iraq, injured two US soldiers and woundeded three Iraqis when they fired two rocket propelled grenades at a military convoy on Friday. Al-Sharq al-Awsat reported eyewitness accounts of another 4 US soldiers wounded in separate incidents, one on the fast road from Falluja to Ramadi, and one 16 km. […]

*Guerrillas in Basra bombed a British military ambulance and killed on British soldier, wounding two others. This incident is the first guerrilla attack of this sort on the British, and it is unusual in having occurred in the Shiite south. It comes after last weekend’s angry demonstrations against British failures to provide electricity and gasoline, […]

*On Weds., Iraqi guerrillas killed one US soldier and wounded another near Tikrit with an improvised road bomb, over which their armored personnel carrier drove. Snipers fired on US troops at Rashidiya and Balad, both north of Baghdad. The Rashidiya shooter was killed by return fire. A running gun battle was fought in Baghdad itself […]

*Guerrillas set off three home made bombs at Ramadi as a convoy of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment soldier was passing, killing one US soldier. Two other US soldiers in the convoy were injured. The BBC correspondent reports that “there are about 12 attacks a day against American soldiers in Iraq according to coalition sources.” […]