Juan Cole - 11/11/05

67 Dead in Iraq Guerrilla Violence

Oliver Poole of the Telegraph reports that suicide bombers hit a restaurant in Baghdad on Thursday that is a favorite of local police, killing at least 33 persons, mostly civilians. At least as many were wounded.

In Tikrit to the north (the home town of Saddam Hussein), another bombing at a police recruitment center killed 7 and wounded 13.

Al-Qaeda in Iraq Claims Jordan Bombings

Jordanians held an anti-terrorism demonstration in Amman on Thursday to protest the hotel bombings. The death toll rose to 59.

McCain and the Oil Spots

Senator John McCain has now jumped on the "oil-spot" bandwagon, urging that the US forces concentrate on making a handful of key cities safe rather than doing sweep and clear missions like Tal Afar and Husaybah.

Unfortunately, this strategy is impractical, even if the US put 10,000 more troops in, as McCain suggests.