Juan Cole

*The Iranian courts–get this–have according to some sources sentenced two pollsters to 7-8 years in prison because their poll showed that a majority of Iranians favors a dialogue with the United States. This news could not be absolutely verified at time of writing. Abbas Abdi and Husayn Ghaziyan are apparently being used as object lessons. […]

Saudi astronaut Sultan b. Salman b. Abdul-Aziz, the first Arab Muslim in space, said that the accident in which the shuttle Columbia was destroyed was regrettable, as is any incident in which human life is lost. He expressed confidence that NASA’s safety procedures are impeccable, and he did not think that is where the blame […]

*Asharq al-Awsat reports that in private, many Iraqi embassy staff abroad have begun thinking about a post-Saddam Iraq and what it will mean for their lives. They deny this concern is selfish, saying they can see that the regime could well fall soon. I can only imagine that ambassadors and chargés of Iraq in Europe […]

*British authorities have been casting about for some way to deal with Abu Hamza Misri, the fiery engineer-cum-preacher at Finsbury Park mosque who has preached and written justifications of the September 11 attacks. They raided the mosque in connection with their discovery of an Algerian cell linked to al-Qaida that had ricin poison in its […]

Fri Jan 31 02:36:10 2003 To: “[FS]” From: Juan Cole Subject: Re: FW: all sing X-Eudora-Signature: Dear [S]: This is delicious! cheers Juan At 04:20 PM 1/31/03 +1000, you wrote: Sing to the tune of “If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands”: If you cannot find Osama, bomb Iraq. If the markets […]

Thu Jan 30 13:44:34 2003 To: infoco@yahoogroups.com From: Juan Cole Subject: 30 Jan. 2003 X-Eudora-Signature: *The question was raised on a list of what would happen if the US invaded Iraq and found there were not weapons of mass destruction there. I fear I replied somewhat cynically, but also called it as I see it. […]

*The question was raised on a list of what would happen if the US invaded Iraq and found there were not weapons of mass destruction there. I fear I replied somewhat cynically, but also called it as I see it. If Iraq turns out not to have much WMD, the administration will fall back on […]

Republished from Cole’s private email archives, 7/1/2012 Thu Jan 30 12:21:18 2003 To: [JP] From: Juan Cole Subject: Re: Iraq WMD – Potential or Actual? X-Eudora-Signature: Dear [J]: Yes, I saw that. I am fairly cynical about all this. Cheney, Perle, Wolfowitz and Condi have wanted a war on Iraq for a long time, and […]

Published from Cole’s private email archives 7/1/2012 Wed Jan 29 11:43:49 2003 To: xxx From: Juan Cole Subject: Re: Fwd: Iraqi defectors? X-Eudora-Signature: Dear xxx: Bush specifically mentioned information from Iraqi defectors as the basis for some of his WMD charges. Since some of the defectors were scientists working for Saddam, they should know what […]