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Al-Zarqawi Rebuffed The NYT reports that US suveillance of “chatter” among suspected terrorists suggests to them that al-Qaeda has decided not to get involved in Iraq, as Zarqawi had proposed. al-Hayat profiled Abu Musab al-Zarqawi (i.e. Ahmad Fadl Nizal al-Khala’ilah) today. It says he is from al-Zarqa, a town near the capital of Amman. He […]

Demonstrations for Elections in Najaf The Iranian news agency is reporting that thousands of demonstrators came out in the shrine city of Najaf in Iraq on Friday to demand early elections: ‘In Najaf, thousands of demonstrators clamored in the streets for elections, defying the United States and the United Nations. And Sistani’s representative in the […]

Al-Karbala’i calls for Resignation of Provincial Council AFP/ash-Sharq al-Awsat report that Shaykh Abdul Mahdi al-Karbala’i, the representative of Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani in the holy city of Karbala, called on the members of the provincial council there to submit their resignations because “their appointment was by an American decision, and there had been no consultation […]

Annan: No Direct Elections are Possible before July 1 The Washington Post reports the following: Kofi Annan did as Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani asked, and delivered a considered judgment about whether direct elections can be held before June 30. Annan’s answer: No. That is not the answer Sistani wanted (see below). The US plan to […]

Iran, Iraq and Two Shiite Visions Veteran Middle East reporter Nicholas Blanford writes in the Christian Science Monitor about Grand Ayatollah Sistani and the implications of his movement for Iran. It is a fine, subtly argued piece. I think that if Iraq is able to hold and sustain regular parliamentary elections, with the Shiite clerics […]

Sistani Interview in Der Spiegel If the article coming out on Saturday in Der Spiegel, the German news magazine, is accurate, it seems to me to portend significant difficulties ahead for the US. Sistani clearly is insisting on a new United Nations Security Council Resolution that would set out the procedures and timetable for free […]

Zarqawi Issue Still on the Front Burner Tony Karon at Time’s weblog and Jim Lobe in the Asia Times both write interestingly on the letter attributed to Abu Mus`ab az-Zarqawi (i.e. Ahmad Fadil Al-Khalailah), the “Arab Afghan” leader of the al-Tawhid terrorist group that has for some time had a rivalry with al-Qaeda. A fine, […]

Bush Contradicted Again President Bush keeps saying that everyone thought Iraq had weapons of mass destruction before the Iraq war, implying that if he was wrong, he was in good company. But Deutsche Welle reports of UN weapons inspector Hans Blix in February and March of 2003: ‘Blix recalled that the inspectors visited nearly 70 […]

11 Iraqis Killed, 55 Foreign Troops Wounded in Car Bombings Reuters reports that guerrillas launched two car bomb attacks against a military base near Hilla yesterday, killing 11 and wounding over 100 others, including 55 Coalition troops under Polish command. AP said that “The wounded included 32 Iraqis and 26 Poles, as well as Hungarians, […]