Juan Cole

A brazen car-bombing in the Kadhimiya district of Baghdad killed 28 and wounded 55 on Saturday. Al-Hayat reports in Arabic that an Iraqi security official expressed surprise and dismay that Kadhimiya could be bombed that way. He said that the district is very heavily guarded and checkpoint inspections at the entrance to it should have […]

Sunni fundamentalist guerrillas in Iraqi government custody staged a jail break in Ramadi on Friday, when a ringleader grabbed a guard’s gun and shot him, then released other prisoners. In the subsequent melee, six Iraqi policemen were killed and 7 of the escaping prisoners were. Three persons described as “senior al-Qaeda operatives” escaped. Ramadi is […]

Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani pledged no first strike against India on Friday, but said his country was ready to defend itself. Gilani’s statement came after Pakistan was reported to be moving 20,000 troops from the frozen north to Kasur and Sialkot nearer to India. This troop movement appears to be preventative, and to […]

Raj Purohit writes in a guest op-ed for IC: In the space of 10 days, two terrorist actions in South Asia highlighted why President-elect Obama’s desire to adopt a regional approach to the interlinked crises of Afghanistan, India and Pakistan may ultimately rank among the most strategically significant decisions of his administration. Last month, the […]

Even Santa Claus is protesting the walling off of Bethlehem. Some 15 percent of the 10 million Palestinians is Christian, and they are after all the original Christians. Bethlehem has a special place in their hearts because it is the birthplace of Jesus in Christian belief. Most Americans when polled are not able to say […]

Iraq’s parliament accepted the resignation of speaker Mahmoud Mashhadani on Tuesday, and then promptly voted on a bill that provides a legal framework for 4000 British troops and a few other small multinational contingents to operate in Iraq until this summer, when they likely will leave. Aljazeera English reports on the Iraqi drug smugglers moving […]

Reuters reports: ‘”The U.S. military said in a statement that a U.S. Marine died on Sunday after being wounded in fighting in Iraq’s western Anbar province. MOSUL – Gunmen killed two people in a drive-by shooting in eastern Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said. MOSUL – One person was killed in […]

A team of biologists at Lebanese American University estimates that 1 in 17 persons around the Mediterranean carries genetic markers distinctive to the ancient Phoenician people who resided in what is now Lebanon. The Phoenicians spread out in a trade diaspora two millennia ago, establishing colonies from Spain to Cyprus. The team also found that […]

The trial of Iraqi journalist Muntazar al-Zaidi for assaulting W. with a shoe will begin later this week in Baghdad. Al-Zaidi, who became a hero in much of the Muslim world, is planning a lawsuit against the Iraqi security forces for beating him while he was in custody, on the grounds that they tortured him. […]