Juan Cole
Juan Cole
John Ricardo I. "Juan" Coleis an American academic and commentator on the modern Middle East and South Asia. He is Richard P. Mitchell Collegiate Professor of History at the University of Michigan. Since 2002, he has written a weblog, Informed Commentwhich is also syndicated on Truthdig.com...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionEducator
CountryUnited States of America
advantages began control federalism parties
They began to see some advantages to federalism - one of them being that the parties would control the resources.
cause hit major might suddenly
A U.S. withdrawal would not cause the Sunnis suddenly to want to give up their major demands; indeed, they might well be emboldened to hit the Shiites harder.
allies american-educator eager happened iraq lots nato seeing send troops
I don't think there are many allies in NATO who are going to be eager to send lots of troops to Iraq after seeing what happened to American troops.
calls fed listen street
This could be a tipping point. At some point, the Shiite street is going to be so fed up that they're not going to listen any more to calls for restraint.
american-educator drawn looks major nations understand willing
I just don't understand under what circumstances other nations will be willing to be drawn into what looks increasingly like a major quagmire.
american-educator change felt islamic marked professor public respond responsibility september suddenly
But September 11 marked a big change in the sense that the public was suddenly interested, and as a professor at a public university I felt a responsibility to respond to all of the inquiries about the Islamic world.
american-educator apparently arrest decision early knowledge movement nature understanding widespread
Take the decision in early March to arrest Muqtada al-Sadr. It was made apparently without knowledge or understanding of the nature of his movement or how widespread it is.
across against american-educator april country moved saddam surprised
For instance, I was a little surprised that the Shiites didn't rise up against Saddam and the Baath party across most of the country when the Americans moved in March and April of 2003.
democracy doe politician
If you put your politicians up for sale, as the US does (alone in this among industrialized democracies), then someone will buy them--and it won’t be you; you can’t afford them.
military government isis
To the extent that the (ISIS's) advance is a series of urban revolts against the government of PM Nouri al-Maliki, the US would end up bombing ordinary city folk. For the US to be bombing Sunni towns all these years later on behalf of Mr. al-Maliki would be to invite terrorism against the US.
party class academic
It's not proper for a professor to go before a class and promote one party or another. That's not academic scholarship.
pigs use administration
I argued that the Bush administration, and the Coalition officials more recently, didn't understand Iraqi society. They thought it was a blank slate, that they could use Iraqis as guinea pigs.
classroom partisan-politics partisans
Partisan politics has no place in the classroom.
taken thinking wings
I think that there's been an unfortunate tendency for right wing think tanks to dominate these discussions. They often produce very shoddy studies and policy recommendations, which are nevertheless taken very seriously.