Thursday, December 29, 2005
Top Ten Myths about Iraq in 2005
This is very good. It's fair and balanced. This is a must-read for anyone interested in what's going on in Iraq. Thanks to Stephen Hand over at TCR Musings for alerting me of it.
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Obviously, we the readers are required to take Mr. Cole's word for it in a number of cases in this piece. Unfortunately, the fact that he has been one of the most hostile and irrational of the Bush-haters that I am unable to take his word for it.
I have not read anything else he has written. What are your specific problems, questions, or doubts that you have with this piece?
As we all do from time to time, he makes some assertions without evidence. While they may be true, the reader who is not in possession of the facts is required to take Prof. Cole's word for it. And that's something I cannot do.
On the following issues do you not agree with him?
1. There is no civil war.
2. The U.S. military is doing a good job in dealing with the guerrillas.
3. Sistani is no friend of Iran.
Do you agree or not with the following sentences? "Iraq's situation is extremely complex. It is not a black and white poster for an American political party. Good things and bad things are happening there."
Do you not agree that there is a real insurgency in Iraq?
Do you not agree that the future of Iraq is unclear right now considering all the factors, i.e. various factions & ethic groups struggling to gain control, etc?
PJB on MSNBC last night made some good points. We will have a better picture of Iraq by the fall. If it's going to slip into a real civil war, we will know by then. The economy + Iraq will determine the legacy of the Bush Presidency, both short-term and long-term.
David, I didn't say that he's wrong on everything he said... I'm sure he's not. My point is basically that there's nothing overly significant in his comments, and that I take what he says with a grain of salt, even when I'm inclined to agree with him.
We all have our ideologically-fueled predispositions. Just as David Jones/Stephen Hand tend to approach anything authored by NWN (Neuhaus, Novak, Weigel) with extreme prejudice given their "neocon" affiliations, I would be inclined to do the same with Juan Cole, background information on whom can be obtained from the following:
Old Juan Cole: A Very Sad Soul, by Steven Plaut FrontPageMagazine.com | March 23, 2005. Steven provides a roundup of Cole's views on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda.
Juan Cole and the Decline of the Middle Eastern Studies, by Alexander H. Joffe. MEforum.org | December 26, 2005.
Meanwhile, James Phillips, another researcher in Middle Eastern Studies, posts his own article Dispelling myths about Iraq at SperoNews, "refuting of some of the major myths that have distorted the public's understanding of U.S. policy regarding Iraq."
Given as Phillips is part of the Douglas and Sarah Allison Center for Foreign Policy Studies (run by the notoriously conservative think-tank Heritage Foundation), his assessment of Iraq reads somewhat at odds than that of Dr. Cole. But we can make our own judgments as to their merit.
I think when it comes to learning about Iraq we need to take information from multiple perspectives (politically-aligned) and sift the wheat from the chaff. Anybody who has followed Arthur Chrenkoff's "Good News from Iraq / Afghanistan" round-ups during 2004-2005 realized that the usually-negative commentary of the Mainstream Media provided only a small glimpse of what was actually happening.
When it comes to understanding "the situation in Iraq", I've benefited greatly from reading the blogs of U.S. military currently serving in Iraq, journalists like Michael Yon and Bill Roggio (thanks to Chris Burgwald for recommending the latter) "reporting from the field", as well as the frontline accounts of Iraqi bloggers who are exercising their freedom of speech post-liberation (or occupation, depending on your POV). One of my personal favorites is Iraq the Model; Hassan from Iraqi Blog Count provides a history of Iraqi blogs.
Thanks for your insight and the links Christopher!
You might find the following article of interest.
US Soldiers Blogging From Iraq…Army Wants Them Curbed…
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