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Archives: March 2004

Wolfowitz Of Baghdad Rumors Are Flying

Wolfowitz of Baghdad?Rumors are flying around official Washington that the new US ambassador in Iraq as of July 1 will be Paul Wolfowitz. He is currently deputy Secretary of Defense, but probably…

8 Of Iraqi Academics Have Fled 1000

8% of Iraqi academics have Fled, 1000 Professionals Assassinated in past YearAhmad Janabi reports that ' More than 1000 leading Iraqi professionals and intellectuals have been assassinated since last April, among them…

Un Excluded From Overseeing Elections

UN Excluded from Overseeing ElectionsAl-Hayat reports that the Interim Governing Council (IGC) is rejecting any role for the United Nations in overseeing Iraqi elections save that of "help and consultation). Iraqi National…

Sistani Elections Must Be Held Soon Az

Sistani: Elections must be Held soonaz-Zaman/Wire Services: A spokesman for Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani says that elections must be held as soon as possible, and that anything done before the people have…

Is Failure Of Arab Summit Failure Of

Is the failure of the Arab Summit a Failure of Bush's Democratization Plan?Rob Collier of the San Francisco Chronicle examines the issues around the collapse of the Arab League summit that had…

Changing Status Of Shiites In Arab

Changing Status of Shiites in Arab WorldHamza Hendawi of AP reports on the implications of a Shiite-majority Iraqi government for Arab world politics. He points to the Shiite majority in Bahrain (though…

Shape Of Things To Come Upi Is

Shape of Things to ComeUPI is reporting that the Interim Governing Council is considering the form of the Iraqi government to which sovereignty will be handed on June 30.Previous plans had called…

Muqtadas Newspaper Closed 1000

Muqtada's Newspaper Closed, 1000 DemonstrateAP is reporting that the Coalition Provisional Authority has closed the weekly newspaper of radical young Shiite cleric, Muqtada al-Sadr, al-Hawzah. It is charged with fomenting violence against…

Clarke Difference Between Clinton And

Clarke: Difference Between Clinton and BushFor readers who don't scroll all the way down, just wanted to draw your attention to my posting late Sunday on what Clarke means when he says…

Mosul Barwari Escapes Assassination Us

Mosul: Barwari Escapes Assassination; US MPs wounded, Western Security Guards KilledPublic Works Minister Nasrin Barwari narrowly escaped an assassination attempt while traveling to Mosul on Sunday, , according to AP. She is…

Sistani Will Not Launch Street Protests

Sistani will not Launch Street Protests: Aideaz-Zaman/AFP: Refuting reports appearing Saturday in the Kuwaiti press, an aide to Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani in Najaf told the press Sunday that Sistani wishes to…

Israeli Intelligence Blasted By Knesset

Israeli Intelligence Blasted by the Knesset over Iraq FailureA subcommittee of the Israeli Parliament has issued a report sharply critical of Israeli intelligence failures concerning weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. It…

Difference Between Clinton And Bush

The Difference between Clinton and Bush: The Millennium PlotMore on the Clarke conroversy: The pundits and politicians who keep saying that Clinton's anti-terrorism policies and Bush's are the same are missing a…

Sistani Aide Denounces Interim

Sistani Aide Denounces Interim ConstitutionReuters is reporting that Kuwaiti papers on Saturday discussed the Friday sermon of Muhammad Baqir al-Muhri, a lieutenant of Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani in that country. Al-Muhri (Mohri)…

Iraqi Oil Exports Delayed From Both

Iraqi Oil Exports delayed from both North and South AFP reports delays in Iraq oil exports in both the north and the south of the country. Although exports are up to pre-war…

Death Toll From Two Days Of Attacks In

Death Toll from Two days of Attacks in Iraq is 21AP reports that guerrillas fired rockets into the municipal building in Mosul on Saturday, killing two civilians and wounding 14, including 2…

Us Marine 13 Iraqis Killed In Fighting

US Marine, 13 Iraqis, Killed in Fighting on FridayAFP reports that 13 Iraqis and a US Marine were killed in separate incidents on Friday. Marines engaged in an extensive firefight with guerrillas…

Shiite Sunni Clerics In Iraq Condemn

Shiite, Sunni Clerics in Iraq Condemn Israel, US; Muqtada: 9/11 Divine Retribution on USAFP reports that both Shiite and Sunni Muslim preachers on Friday continued to protest against the assassination of Hamas…

Muqtada Sistanis Rep Condemn Interim

Muqtada, Sistani's Rep, Condemn Interim Constitution Al-Jazeera TV, Doha, in Arabic 1608 gmt 26 Mar 04 via BBC Monitoring, reports that Muqtada al-Sadr also demanded in his sermon that if the Governing…

Basra Women Coerced To Veil Shops

Basra: Women Coerced to Veil, Shops AttackedDavid Delanian writes more on the role of Shiite militias in imposing a mini-theocracy in the southern port city of Basra.' Menacing groups of men have…

Rosen Violence Is Relentless Clerics

Rosen: The Violence is Relentless; Clerics Speak of Jihad against Infidel AmericansFreelance journalist Nir Rosen, who has been living in the real Iraq unembedded, lets loose with what the Sunni heartland of…

Against Three State Solution In Iraq My

Against the Three-State "Solution" in IraqMy review of 2 books on Iraq, Toby Dodge's Inventing Iraq and Anderson and Stansfield's The Future of Iraq, which appeared in The Nation last week, is…

3 Us Troops Killed 9 Iraqis 1 Jordanian

3 US Troops Killed, 9 Iraqis, 1 Jordanian Killedal-Hayat: It was announced on Thursday in Baghdad that three American troops and nine Iraqis were killed, along with a Jordanian driver, in separate…

Stalemate Between Sistani And Governor

Stalemate between Sistani and Governor Sfouk in KarbalaAamer Madhani reports on the stalemate in Karbala between the American-appointed provincial governing council and Grand Ayatollah Sistani. The CPA administrator there, John Berry, had…

Prince Hassan Warns Of World War Iii

Prince Hassan Warns of World War IIIPrince Hassan of Jordan has expressed fears that the current Middle East crisis may eventuate in "World War III." He points to the Israeli murder of…

Israeli Tourism Devastated By Sharon

Israeli Tourism Devastated by SharonThe murder of Sheikh Yassin, the clerical leader of Hamas, has led to the collapse of what was left of the Israeli tourism industry, wth half of the…

Landres Big Brother Lurks J

Landres: Big Brother LurksJ. Shawn Landres' "Big Brother Lurks in Higher Education Bill" in The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles, makes short work of HR 3077's provisions for an investigatory "advisory…

Marines Wounded Sheraton Green Zone

Marines Wounded; Sheraton, Green Zone RocketedThe Washington Post reports that that guerrillas detonated a roadside bomb and then fired weapons at Marines near Fallujah early on Wednesday; two Marines were wounded, 3…

Clarke Smeared By Neocon Slime Machine

Clarke Smeared by Neocon Slime MachineDick Clarke's testimony before the 9/11 Commission turned into a political ping pong match, with John Lehman, former secretary of the navy, insisting that Clarke has a…

Ministries To Become Independent In

Ministries to become Independent in April; Shiite-Kurdish Disputes Fester (al-Hayat)Raghida Dergham of al-Hayat : Nasrin Barwari, the minister of public works, affirmed on Wednesday that four ministries will be turned over to…

Brown Cpa Legislation To Shape Iraqs

Brown: CPA Legislation to Shape Iraq's FutureProfessor Nathan Brown of George Washington University, a major figurein the US study of Middle Eastern law and politics, comments on the recentCPA rules signed by…

Demonstrations Denunciations In Iraq

Demonstrations, Denunciations in Iraq over Sharon Murder of Sheikh YassinXinhua reports that a wide range of Iraqi political forces on Tuesday condemned Sharon's murder of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, a religious leader of…

Sharons Murder Of Yassin Endangers

Sharon's Murder of Yassin Endangers Americans in Iraq and ElsewhereDavid R. Sands makes excellent points about the connection between Ariel Sharon's murder of Shaikh Ahmed Yassin on Monday and the security of…

Us Hq Receives Rocket Fire Elsewhere Us

US HQ Receives Rocket Fire; Elsewhere US soldiers Killed, WoundedWire services report that the US headquarters in Iraq was targeted by rocket fire Sunday morning, with other explosives landing elsewhere in downtown…

Clarke Bush Pressured Him To Find Iraq

Clarke: Bush Pressured him to Find Iraq link to 9/11 Dick Clarke's interview on CBS's 60 Minutes struck me as powerful and credible. I was struck by the phrase that the Bush…

Sistani Un Must Not Legitimate Interim

Sistani: UN must not Legitimate Interim ConstitutionReuters reports that Grand Ayatollah Sistani sent a letter to Lakhdar Brahimi, special envoy of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, demanding that the United Nations not endorse…

Bremer Enacts New Investment Law For

Bremer enacts new Investment Law for Iraqash-Sharq al-Awsat: Civil administrator Paul Bremer signed Law Number 64 on Sunday, altering the Iraqi law of corporations (which had been enacted in 1997), changing the…

Reprisals By Assassination Against

Reprisals by Assassination against Baathistsaz-Zaman: Iraqi sources connected to the ministry of the interior (=FBI in American terms, MI5 in British ones) say that 1,000 Iraqis were assassinated in the months following…

Mudarrisi Loose Federalism In Interim

Mudarrisi: Loose Federalism in Interim Constitution a Time BombSayyid Muhammad Taqi al-Mudarrisi, a leading Shiite cleric of Karbala, has warned that there are explosive mines in the interim constitution, in the article…

More On Spain Check Out Bill Schers

More on SpainCheck out Bill Scher's well-reasoned opinion piece in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. "Conservatives would like you to think that Spain wants to wimp out on the war against terrorism, and that…

1 Marine Killed Attack On Puk In Mosul

1 Marine killed; Attack on PUK in Mosul, Police in Kirkuk leave 2 Iraqis deadAFP reports:' a US marine was killed in an attack during security operations in western Iraq on Friday,…

Iraqi Minister Calls Governing Council

Iraqi Minister calls Governing Council no more Democratic than SaddamIn the speech he used to inaugurate his reelection campaign on Saturday, Bush boasted that the US had "liberated" 50 million persons in…

Muqtada Calls For Us Withdrawal From

Muqtada calls for US withdrawal from IraqFrom BBC World Monitoring:"HEADLINE: Shi'i cleric Al-Sadr denounces US presence in IraqSOURCE: Voice of the Mujahidin, in Arabic 1200 gmt 20 Mar 04BODY:Text of report by…

Clarke I Thought Rumsfeld Was Joking

Clarke: I thought Rumsfeld was joking about Bombing Iraq!Long-time anti-terrorism official Richard Clarke, who served the US government for 30 years, has broken his silence about what he observed in the Bush…

Pakistans Support For Taliban In 1990s

Pakistan's Support for Taliban in 1990s: New DocumentsThe National Security Archives has just published part 3 of the Taliban papers, from the US archives. Document 9 is interesting for the evidence it…

Thousands Of Shiites Sunnis March

Thousands of Shiites, Sunnis, March Against US in BaghdadThousands of Shiites and Sunnis demonstrated in Baghdad after Friday prayers. I caught some of the demonstration on CNN, which reported 7,000 demonstrators, and…

Garner On Reasons For Delay In

Garner on Reasons for Delay in Returning Sovereignty to IraqI can remember in April of 2003 when I complained on an email list about American plans to run Iraq for a while,…

Can Iraq Embrace Democracy Paul

Can Iraq Embrace Democracy?Paul McGeough of the Australian newspaper, The Age wonders thoughtfully whether the US attempt to impose democracy on Iraq will succeed. He writes, ' The compound is just across…

Womens Classes At Shiite Mosques Shiite

Women's classes at Shiite Mosques Shiite women in Iraq are attending lessons in mosques, according to Ashraf Khalil, writing in Women's eNews.Khalil does not know it, but there is a long tradition…

Most Of Them Are People Who Come From

Most of them are People who Come from the Area and have certain Sympathies . . .Barbara Ferguson reports that ' Major Jewish organizations are lobbying the Senate to approve a bill…

Our Oil Is Sweet But They Let

Our Oil is Sweet, but They Let the Terrorists Kill UsNewsday reports that 9 more Iraqi civilians were killed in attacks throughout Iraq on Thursday, including four dead at the hotel in…

Attention Readers Of Soldiers Of

Attention: Readers of Soldiers of Fortune MagazineWalter Pincus writes for the Washington Post about a new contract being let by the US government for a private mercenary force to guard the Green…

Zawahiri Cornered I Know That Mass

Zawahiri Cornered?I know that the mass media is concentrating on the firefight in Waziristan, where the Pakistani army has pinned down some 400 fighters, who are putting up fierce resistance. Although they…

Rosen Furious Survivors Attacked

Rosen: "Furious Survivors Attacked Cameramen"Nir Rosen, intrepid Baghdad-based reporter has thoughtful reflections in the Asia Times on the huge car bombing of the Mount Lebanon Hotel on Wednesday.

Moroccan Radical Cell Suspected In

Moroccan Radical Cell suspected in Madrid Bombingash-Sharq al-Awsat: The Madrid bombings shed new light on persons wanted before, on suspicion of being involved in the Casablanca bombings of 16 May. Among them…

Bombings In Baghdad And Basra

Bombings in Baghdad and Basra The Washington Post reports Thursday, in the wake of the huge car bomb in Karrada, Baghdad, on Wednesday that demolished the Mount Lebanon Hotel and surrounding buildings::"Near…

Kurdish Demonstrations In Irbil On

Kurdish Demonstrations in Irbil on Behalf of Kurds of SyriaReuters reports that some 5000 Kurds demonstrated in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil, waving Kurdish flags, in support of the Kurds of…

New Government Will Not Be Expansion Of

New Government will not be "Expansion" of Governing CouncilThe Iraqi newspaper az-Zaman managed to get an interview with an unnamed Coalition Provisional Authority official who sketched in some ideas about the shape…

Coalition Forces In Iraq Tomdispatch

"Coalition" Forces in Iraq: Tomdispatch.com Gavan McCormick writes about the Japanese and other supporting troop contingents in Iraq. He says of them that they. . . "have added up to a strange…

Comments On Abc Iraq Poll David Patel

Comments on ABC Iraq PollDavid Patel, in Basra responds with some thoughtful comments on the recent ABC News poll from Iraq.Some readers have asked me about the finding that Iraqis generally think…

Role Of United Nations In Dispute Az

Role of the United Nations in disputeaz-Zaman has been reporting that 12 of the Shiite members of the Interim Governing Council, including expatriate Ahmad Chalabi, are opposed to the return to Iraq…

Did Al Qaeda Win Spanish Elections This

Did al-Qaeda Win the Spanish Elections?This silly question is being asked by billionnaire Rupert Murdoch's and Conrad Black's media outlets all over the world in blazing headlines. For some strange reason, the…

Sunnis Of Iraq Apprehensive Defiant

Sunnis of Iraq "Apprehensive, Defiant"A British reporter recently in Baghdad kindly sent me the following impressions:"1. I didn't get out of the city at all because of the security situation, and I…

Shiite Account Of Visitation Pilgrimage

Shiite Account of Visitation ('pilgrimage') to Holy Shrines of IraqThis is a fascinating account of an expatriate Shiite's return to Iraq for religious visitation to the shrines. The narrative of bribing his…

Assassination Attempt On Head Of Iraqi

Assassination attempt on head of Iraqi Turkmen FrontThis just came in:"IRAQI TURKMEN FRONT WASHINGTON REPRESENTATIONOn Sunday, March 14,th, 2004, there has an assasination attempt on the president of the Iraqi Turkmen Front…

6 Us Soldiers Killed Over Weekend

6 US Soldiers Killed over Weekend, Shiites Protest Killing of QazwiniThe Associated Press reports that 6 US soldiers were killed in Iraq in roadside bombings over the past weekend. Guerrillas also detonated…

Heydemann Slams Big Brother Committee

Heydemann Slams "Big Brother" Committee for Middle East StudiesSteve Heydemann writes in the Chicago Tribune against "Warping Middle East Judgments," referring to the Neocon campaign to get Congress to set up a…

British Muslims Abandoning Labor In

British Muslims Abandoning Labor;In Poll Show Mainstream European AttitudesThe Guardian reports that British Muslims are turning against the Labor Party, which they traditionally supported, presumably over the Iraq War. How hard it…

Blix Iraq War Strengthened Terrorism

Blix: Iraq War Strengthened TerrorismFormer UN weapons inspector Hans Blix told the Italian newspaper La Stampa, “The fact is that the war on Iraq, sought by the United States following (the) September…

Sistani Linked Groups Begin Popular

Sistani-Linked Groups begin Popular Campaign Against Interim ConstitutionAFP/az-Zaman On Sunday, Shiite clergymen, cultural figures and notables began an organized campaign against the newly signed interim constitution. It is believed that they are…

Spains Voters Reject Aznars Popular

Spain's voters Reject Aznar's Popular PartyI was struck by the comment of a Spaniard in Charles Sennot's Boston Globe piece on the Spanish elections. He quoted a voter who was disturbed by…

Seeds Of Gridlock In Iraq My Op Ed How

Seeds of Gridlock in IraqMy op-ed, "How the US is sowing gridlock in Iraq" is available online at the San Jose Mercury News. I worry in it about the Rube Goldberg executive…

Hundreds Of Students Strike In Baghdad

Hundreds of Students Strike in Baghdad, Najaf and Mosulash-Sharq al-Awsat: Hundreds of universty students organized protests Saturday against the Basic Law or interim constitution, in accordance with the call of Shiite cleric…

3 Moroccans And 2 Indians Arrested In

3 Moroccans and 2 Indians Arrested in Spain BombingAl-Qaeda is increasingly emerging as the chief suspect in the Madrid bombings, against which 12 million persons protested on Saturday. The LA Times points…

Iraqs Divided Loyalties And Bremer

Iraq's Divided Loyalties and Bremer WallsPhil Smucker writes perceptively from Baghdad in The Scotsman about the discontents of Iraqis and their ethnic divisions.I thought his characterization of the difference between US and…

Black On Iraq One Year Later Eric Black

Black on Iraq, One Year LaterEric Black of the Minneapolis Star Tribune contributes among the better entries in the "War in Iraq: One year later" genre of which we will see so…

Muhsin Abdul Hamid Sunnis Are Majority

Muhsin Abdul Hamid: The Sunnis are the Majority ash-Sharq al-Awsat: The leader of the [Sunni] Iraqi Islamic Party, Muhsin Abdul Hamid, gave a long interview in Cairo in which he reiterated his…

Threat Of Hyper Inflation Guardian

Threat of Hyper-InflationThe Guardian reports that the British head of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Basra, Patrick Nixon, is warning about the dangers of inflation. The economy is heating up. Rents and…

Engelhardt Follow Money In Iraq Tom

Engelhardt: Follow the Money in IraqTom Engelhardt at TomDispatch.com has very suggestive insights this week on Iraq, especially with regard to the role of money, of corrupt expatriate politician Ahmad Chalabi, and…

More Us Soldiers Killed Steady And

More US Soldiers killedThe steady and depressing drumbeat of US deaths and woundings in Iraq continues unabated. At 5 am on Saturday in Tikrit, guerrillas detonated a bomb in Tikrit that killed…

Shiite Crowds Preachers Denounce

Shiite Crowds, Preachers, Denounce Interim Constitutionaz-Zaman, ash-Sharq al-Awsat; wire services: The Shiite clerical leader Muhammad al-Ya`qubi called on high school students and students in institutes and colleges throughout Iraq to announce a…

Wave Of Killings At Sunni Mosques

Wave of Killings at Sunni MosquesReuters reports on a wave of killings at Sunni mosques. Both worshippers and Sunni clerics have been killed. Some of the mosques attacked are in poor, largely…

Red Herrings On Discount At Washington

Red Herrings on Discount at Washington PostPoor Dana Priest at the Washington Post caught the frankly shitty assignment of summarizing Undersecretary of Defense for Planning Doug Feith's self-defense against Democratic critics. The…

Eta Or Al Qaeda Madrid Bombings

ETA or al-Qaeda? Madrid Bombing's Significance UnknownAs Steve Komarow argues, the full implications of the sanguinary bombings in Spain on Thursday depend on who did it. If it was ETA, the Basque…

Sistani Doesnt Want Brahimi To Come

Sistani doesn't Want Brahimi to Come Backal-Hayat newspaper maintains that it was told by a high Frendh official that Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani opposes the return to Iraq of special UN envoy…

Us Intelligence Follies Why Havent

US Intelligence Follies: Why Haven't Cheney, Feith and Chalabi been Impeached?While everyone is beating up on John Kerry for letting it slip he thinks the Bushies are crooked, we might ponder the…

Sistani Warns Of His Own Assassination

Sistani warns of his own Assassination, Civil Waral-Hayat: Muhammad Bahr al-Ulum, March's president-for-a-month of the Interim Governing Council, revealed in a news conference on Wednesday that Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani had warned…

Wave Of Kidnappings Continues In

Wave of Kidnappings Continues in BaghdadJack Fairweather of the Independent reports that the wave of kidnappings that has racked Baghdad continues, at an average of 2 a day. The typical ransom is…

More On Interim Constitution Roger

More on Interim ConstitutionRoger Myerson, a professor of economics at the University of Chicago, shared with me the following on the Interim Constitution, and has kindly consented to my reprinting it here:"Article…

1 Us Soldier Killed 1 Wounded Spanish

1 US Soldier killed, 1 Wounded; Spanish Base ShelledWire services say that one US soldier was killed and another wounded Tuesday in a roadside bombing by guerrillas near Baquba north of Baghdad.…

Sistani No Demonstrations Over Interim

Sistani: No Demonstrations Over Interim Constitutionaz-Zaman: Ibrahim Jaafari, leader of the al-Da`wa al-Islamiyah Party in Iraq, who is close to Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, revealed Tuesday that the ayatollah had pledged not…

Can We All Get Along My Op Ed

Can We all Get Along?My op-ed, Conquering the divide (about Sunni-Shiite divisions), appeared in the Guardian yesterday. I conclude, Iraq's future very much depends on whether the Sunni Arabs and Kurds will…

Impressions From Iraq It Was Kind Of

Impressions from Iraq: 'It was Kind of Scary'USC's Daily Trojan profiles Sharif Ossayran, an Iraqi expatriate who went back to his home country and then returned to report on its condition. He…

Us Press As Stenographers For Bush War

US Press as "Stenographers" for Bush WarReuters reports that the University of Maryland's Center for International and Security Studies released a report on Tuesday slamming the US press for not questioning the…

Cobban On Interim Constitution Veteran

Cobban on Interim ConstitutionVeteran journalist Helena Cobban has more discussion of the Fundamental Law signed Monday, its implications for Iraq, and the continued reservations about it coming from the Shiites.

3 Killed 20 Wounded As Tens Of

3 Killed, 20 wounded as Tens of Thousands of Kurds March in Joy in KirkukThe Guardian reports that tens of thousands of Kurds marched in Kirkuk to celebrate the signing of the…

Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistanis Fatwa This

Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani's FatwaThis is what was at the site of Sistani:" In the name of the Most ExaltedGrand Ayatollah Sistani has already clarified his observations on the agreement of November/15th…

Turkey On Interim Constitution It

Turkey on Interim constitution: "It Increases our Concerns."The new Iraqi basic law deeply angered the Turkish government by offering what it saw as a dangerous degree of autonomy to the Kurdish regions.AFP…

Saddam Never Asked For Nukes To Be

Saddam never asked for Nukes to be Reconstituted: Top Iraqi ScientistAP reports that Jafar Dhia Jafar, father of Iraq's nuclear program, is denying that Saddam ordered the program started back up after…

Kaplan On Chalabi And Sistani Slates

Kaplan on Chalabi and SistaniSlate's Fred Kaplan has an interesting article on the recent gyrations of Ahmad Chalabi, who has been aligning himself lately with Grand Ayatollah Sistani, though he initially defied…

Mogadishu And Deja Vu All Over Again 7

Mogadishu and Deja Vu All Over AgainThe 7 rocket strikes at the al-Rashid Hotel and the Baghdad Headquarters of the Coalition Provisional authority wounded an American contractor, but otherwise managed to do…

Basic Law Signing Fallout From Crisis

Basic Law Signing: "Fallout from Crisis RemainsHamza Hendawi of AP reports today on the signing of the Basic Law in Baghdad. The five Shiite hold-outs decided to sign "for the sake of…

Mccarthyite Advisory Committee

McCarthyite Advisory Committee Threatens International StudiesJust a reminder to everyone that I had asked over the weekend for help in fighting the Advisory Committee provision of HR 3077. Please fax your senator…

Zabriskie On Iraq There Is Anger

Zabriskie on Iraq: "There is Anger Everywhere"Time Correspondent Phil Zabriskie let down his hair with a high school classroom, and let them know exactly what he felt about Iraq after 10 weeks…

Womens Rights In Iraq Opinion Piece By

Women's Rights in IraqThe opinion piece by my wife, Shahin Cole, and myself in the LA Times on Sunday on women's rights in Iraq is available for the moment at google's news…

Three Us Soldiers Wounded In Habaniyah

Three US Soldiers Wounded in Habaniyah Saturday AP reports . . . U.S. soldiers were wounded after opening fire on a truck packed with explosives in Habaniyah, west of Baghdad. The driver…

7 British Soldiers Wounded In Battle

7 British Soldiers wounded in Battle with Badr, Demonstrators in AmarahAsh-Sharq al-Awsat: The police chief in the province of Maysan announced yesterday that two Iraqi civilians, one of them a woman, were…

Shuttle Diplomacy In Najaf Efforts

Shuttle Diplomacy in NajafEfforts continued Saturday to iron out differences on the Interim Governing Council about two provisions of the Basic Law, says ash-Sharq al-Awsat Seven Shiite members consulted with Grand Ayatollah…

All Dressed Up With No Place To Go

All Dressed up with No Place to Go: Setback for Basic Lawaz-Zaman: On Friday, five Shiite members of the Interim Governing Council suddenly pulled out of signing the Basic Law they had…

Zarqawi Dossier I Have Begun Putting

Zarqawi DossierI have begun putting together a dossier on Abu Musab al-Zarqawi (a.k.a. Ahmad Fadil Nazzal Al-Khalayleh). It will include US government documents in the public domain and excerpts from press accounts…

Sistani Fatwa No Entering Iraq

Sistani Fatwa: No Entering Iraq IllegallyInformed that thousands of Iranian pilgrims came into Iraq every day, by-passing the official checkpoints, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sitani issued a legal ruling on Friday insisting that…

Major Censorship Action Alert For

Major Censorship Action Alert for Middle East StudiesSome of you know that some unsavory political forces have convinced the House of Representatives to create a Big Brother committee to police the thought…

Us Soldier Wounded 9 Iraqis Killed Afp

US Soldier Wounded, 9 Iraqis KilledAFP reports that a US soldier was injured and nine Iraqis were killed Thursday in separate attacks throughout the country. Guerrillas set off a bomb near Baquba…

Knight Ridder Questions Saddam Al Qaeda

Knight-Ridder Questions Saddam-al-Qaeda LinksWarren Strobel et al. of Knight Ridder have looked at the case for Saddam-al-Qaeda links and found them lacking.1. Although it is true that Abdul Rahman Yasin, a suspect…

Haykel On Zarqawi Letter Us Officials

Haykel on Zarqawi LetterUS Officials are denying the allegation by Sunni radicals in Iraq that Abu Mus`ab al-Zarqawi was killed during the US invasion of Iraq in April of 2003. They say…

Mosul Police Station Us Base Take

Mosul Police Station, US Base Take Mortar FireAl-Hayat reported a large explosion in Baghdad on Wednesday, but no word of any casualties.Reuters reports that guerrillas launched five mortar rounds at a police…

Cpa Official Launches False Allegations

CPA Official Launches False Allegations against IranIn a desperate attempt to redirect anger away from the Coalition Provisional Authority, one of its officials told the newspaper az-Zaman that he believed Iranians were…

Aftermath Ap Reports That Shiite And

The AftermathAP reports that Shiite and Sunni clerics jointly led a big procession from East Baghdad to Kazimiyah on Wednesday, attempting to emphasize communal harmony in the face of the Ashura' bombings.…

Rooting For Company Washington Post

Rooting for the CompanyThe Washington Post also has an interesting article by Dana Priest on why the 300 CIA case officers in Iraq haven't been able to prevent events like that on…

Us Allies Iraq War Increased Terror

US Allies: Iraq War Increased Terror ThreatNot only are Shiites in Iraq upset with poor US provision of security, but the publics in major US allies and neighbors are now afraid that…

Sectarian Strife In Iraq Aps Hamza

Sectarian Strife in Iraq?AP's Hamza Hendawi has a good piece today on the way in which the Ashura bombings "strain the Iraqi social fabric." He quotes me as saying that I don't…

Al Hakim Fix Date For Elections Az

Al-Hakim: "Fix Date for Elections!"az-Zaman: Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, leader of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) has said that the date for elections in Iraq should now be fixed.…

Sunnis Donate Blood To Shiites Az Zaman

Sunnis Donate blood to ShiitesAz-Zaman: In the Sunni city of Fallujah, mosque officials with microphones urged citizens to donate blood to the victims of the bombing at Kazimiyah. In in the Sunni…

Iranian Vp Condemns Al Qaeda As Force

Iranian VP Condemns al-Qaeda as force behind Ashura BombingsAmerica Political Enemy, Shiism Ideological Enemy, of al-QaedaMohammad Ali Abtahi, Iranian Vice President for Parliamentary and Legal Affairs, at his Persian Weblog, Webnevesht, blames…

Bombings At Kazimiyah And Karbala Day

The Bombings at Kazimiyah and KarbalaThe day of Ashura' is the holiest in the calendar of Shiite Islam, commemorating the brutal martyrdom of the Imam Husayn, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad.…

Igc Approves Interim Constitution

IGC Approves Interim ConstitutionThe Washington Post reports that the Interim Governing Council finally approved the Fundamental Law it has been working on, on Monday. It will be signed Wednesday after the holy…

Disturbances In Kirkuk Afp Az Zaman

Disturbances in Kirkuk(AFP/ az-Zaman): Tension gripped the northern city of Kirkuk Monday after armed clashes betwen Kurds and Turkmen. There have been a number of violent incidents lately. On Saturday, 92 Turkmen…

Us Permits Iraq Oil Pipeline To Iran

US Permits Iraq Oil pipeline to IranThe Financial Times reports that the Interim Governing Council has concluded an agreement with Iran to build a pipeline across the Shatt al-Arab. The US civil…