Juan Cole - July 13, 2005

Breaks in the London Bomb Case

British police on Tuesday began revealing the contours of their investigation of the London Underground bombings of July 7. The details were heart-wrenching. It appears that the foot soldiers for the operation, at least, were 4 British citizens of South Asian Muslim heritage from the city of Leeds, aged from 19 to 30. Police sent a SWAT team into a house there, after evacuating 500 neighbors, to look for explosives; apparently that was where the bombs were assembled, that were used in the attack. The British police believe that the operational cell would have had a control above it, which still may be operative. They detained one man, apparently a relative of one of the bombers.

Talk of Foreign Troop Withdrawals as Bombs strike Kirkuk, Tal Afar

Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari said on Tuesday that some Iraqi cities were secure enough so that US and Coalition troops could withdraw from them soon. He defended, however, a US military presence in the short term, and opposed a precise timetable for US withdrawal.

Daily Kos Must Diaries

Daily Kos's Mike Pridmore has started an informed and enlightening discussion of Kramer's attack on Middle East Studies professors in the US.