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
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.
iraq income united-states
Did you know that they introduced the 15 percent flat tax on individual and corporate income in Iraq? Something that some politicians very much wanted to push in the United States without success but in Iraq they do it.
believe law iraq
I believe that the American administration of Iraq has been arrogant, has pursued policies that are illegal in international law and has been ignorant and incompetent. I said this very forthrightly to the senators.
war iraq administration
I also argued before the war that the administration was underestimating Arab nationalism and Iraqi nationalism, that it was not going to be as easy to rule Iraq as they thought.
american-educator
I speak Urdu quite a lot, too, and I read a lot of Persian.
given good perhaps
Perhaps that's why he was given such a good reception.
american-educator kept language middle unlike year
Unlike a lot of American specialists in the Middle East, who did one Fulbright year and now find their language is rusty, I kept up my Arabic.
gut letter tells
My gut tells me the letter is a forgery.
confidence national sort vote
This vote is sort of a national vote of confidence for that leadership.
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.
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.
advantages began control federalism parties
They began to see some advantages to federalism - one of them being that the parties would control the resources.
money owes spreading whoever wins
They are like lobbyists. They're spreading the money around, so whoever wins owes them.
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.