Juan Cole - 01/26/06

Pipeline Blasted Again
Sunnis want Federalism postponed until 2009

Guerrillas blew up pipelines again on Wednesday, halting Iraqi petroleum exports through Turkey. There were some other bombings and shootings. Interior Ministry police commandos (usually Shiites) killed a Sunni cleric in Samarra. This looks bad.


Achcar on Basra & British

Gilbert Achcar kindly writes:

' Dear Friends,

I searched a couple of British newspapers today and could not find any mention of the news item reported in today's Al-Hayat and involving British troops in Basrah.
I decided therefore to translate it for your information.

The behavior of British troops in Southern Iraq, long praised as a model by contrast with the behavior of US troops, is proving as bad from the point of view of colonial-like arrogance.