Juan Cole

Reuters reports that Dick Cheney was doing some counter-programming to the Democratic National Convention by speaking on the West Coast at Camp Pendleton. He said, “Terrorist attacks are not caused by the use of strength. They are invited by the perception of weakness.” This statement is half right and half wrong. Some terrorist attacks are … Continue reading “How Strong Do We Look Now?”

President Bush gave a speech on Tuesday in which he made specific claims about how the United States is safer as a result of his military action. I dispute assertions about particular Middle Eastern or South Asian countries. Bush: “The world is changing for the better because of American leadership. America is safer today because … Continue reading “Bush’s Twisted Idea of ‘Safer’”

Paul Bremer suddenly left Iraq on Monday, having “transferred sovereignty” to the caretaker Iraqi government two days early. It is hard to interpret this move as anything but a precipitous flight. It is just speculation on my part, but I suspect that the Americans must have developed intelligence that there might be a major strike … Continue reading “Sovereignty Without Substance”

The United Nations Security Council on Tuesday unanimously approved a new resolution on Iraq granting legitimacy to the caretaker government of Iyad Allawi. The resolution gives the new Iraqi government substantially more sovereignty than had been envisaged by the U.S. in the initial draft, and the Bush administration essentially compromised in order to have an … Continue reading “Sistani the Big Winner; Kurds Furious”

Some flavor of the new president can be gathered from this recent FNS interview. Federal News Service May 27, 2004 (Note: The following was translated from Arabic) QUESTION: Would you be willing to intervene personally in trying to stop the fighting at Annajaf al Ashraf [Najaf]? GHAZI AL YAWAR: I think that the issue of … Continue reading “Ghazi al-Yawar on Iraqi Politics”

There was more heavy fighting in Karbala early on Friday, after which the city fell eerily quiet. By Friday night into early Saturday morning, Mahdi Army militiamen had mysteriously ceased fighting, and the U.S. had withdrawn from sites like Mukhayyam mosque near the shrine of Imam Husain. Meanwhile, Shi’ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr called on his … Continue reading “A Shi’ite International?”

Rick Perlstein of the Village Voice acquired a damning memo (“you’re not supposed to have that”) demonstrating the hold the loony Christian far Right has on Bush Middle East policy. The gem in the article is the account of how Iran-Contra criminal mastermind and current National Security Adviser Elliot Abrams tried to reassure the Christian … Continue reading “Can Ethnic Cleansing Bring Back Jesus?”

The Bush administration keeps talking about bringing democracy to the Middle East, but a key element in democracy is always the accountability of public officials to the public. That is why we have elections, that is why we have a division of powers, that is why Congress can impeach the executive and the Supreme Court … Continue reading “The Mideastization of the US, or: Rumsfeld Must Resign”

From March 22 to April 2, 60 trained Iraqi pollsters interviewed 3,444 randomly selected Iraqis for USA Today. This is one of the first polls in Iraq that seems to me well weighted statistically, though to be sure we’d have to know more than USA Today told us. The numbers are negative for the US, … Continue reading “Iraqis Say: ‘US Out Now!’”

A new poll shows that as of mid-March, 57% of Americans believed that Saddam Hussein had given substantial support to al-Qaeda. Worse, 45% actually say that “clear evidence” has been found in Iraq to support this allegation! As for weapons of mass destruction 45 percent say they believe Saddam had them before the recent war, … Continue reading “Sticking to Falsehoods Means Sticking to Failure”