Juan Cole on Engaging the Muslim World-

[Douglas Carpenter]

Run time: 10:26 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1Mu2PD9bf4   Posted on YouTube: March 18, 2009 By YouTube Member: Views on YouTube: 0   Posted on DU: March 28, 2009 By DU Member: Douglas Carpenter Views on DU: 708

 

“Engaging the Muslim World”–Middle East Analyst Juan Cole on US Policy in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Israel and Beyond

Juan Cole, a longtime analyst of US-Mideast affairs and a professor of history at the University of Michigan, takes an in-depth look at US foreign policy under the Obama administration, from the plan for withdrawal from Iraq, to the escalation of the war in Afghanistan, the continued US drone attacks inside Pakistan, US policy toward Israel and the Occupied Territories and much more. Cole joins us on the first day of the publication of his new book, Engaging the Muslim World

http://www.democracynow.org/2009/3/17/engaging_the_muslim_world_middle_east

Amazon link to Engaging the Muslim World by Juan Cole:

http://www.amazon.com/Engaging-Muslim-World-Juan-Cole/dp/0230607543/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1238204374&sr=1-1

link on Powell Books to Engaging the Muslim World by Juan Cole:

http://www.powells.com/biblio/1-9780230607545-0

[Douglas Carpenter]

1. link to full 20 minute interview

watch or listen via online streaming or download or read transcript:

http://www.democracynow.org/2009/3/17/engaging_the_muslim_world_middle_east

[LynnTheDem]

2. Ah yes...Juan Cole. The man who cheerleaded the (illegal war-crime) invasion

of Iraq.

[Douglas Carpenter]

3. Sorry, but that is simply not true. This is from his February 2003 Archives

February 2003 Archives -

http://www.juancole.com/2003_02_01_juancole_archive.html

A US occupation of Iraq is not going to address the grievances, and is likely to create new bitterness and so help the recruitment drive. If the US really wanted to stop terrorism, it would invade the West Bank and Gaza and liberate the Palestinians to have their own state and self-respect, instead of heading to Baghdad.

Iraq is rugged; tribal forces are still important; and the majority population is Shiite, as is that of neighboring Iran. What will happen if US bombs damage the Shiite shrines, the holiest places for 100 million Shiite Muslims in Lebanon, Iran, Pakistan, India, Bahrain? What will happen if there is a riot in a shrine city like Karbala and US marines put it down by killing rioters? Do we want 100 million Shiites angry at us again? (Lately they have calmed down and it is the radical Sunnis that have given us the problems).

What happens if the Iraqi Sunni middle classes lose faith in secular Arab nationalism because the Baath is overthrown, and they turn to al-Qaeda-type Islam, in part out of
resentment at American hegemony over their country? What will happen if we give the Turks too much authority to intervene in Kurdistan, and fighting breaks out between the Turks and the Iraqi Kurds, and if the Iraqi Kurds turn against the US?

Colin Powell explained in Qatar last week on an Arabic talk show that the US war will be followed by a period of US military administration of the country by a general, followed by a year or two of US civilian administration of the country. This plan is an abandonment of earlier pledges to Iraqi expatriate dissidents that there would be a direct transition to a new Iraqi government. There has been a howl of outrage and betrayal by Kanan Makiya and other dissidents, once close to the Bush White House. If our friends and supporters among Iraqi dissidents are so unhappy now, will everyone in Iraq be just delighted to still be under US administration a year or two from now?

So, this business about controlling everybody all around the world just sounds to me like pie in the sky, and the same sort of thinking that got us mired in the jungles of Vietnam.

I will be ecstatic to see Saddam go. But I have a bad feeling about this, as Han Solo once said prophetically.

http://www.juancole.com/2003_02_01_juancole_archive.html

He may not have opposed it as vehemently as he wishes he had. But I cannot see where he can be said to have supported it.

[LynnTheDem]

4. More of Juan's own words...

"I am an Arabist and happen to know something serious about Baathist Iraq, which paralyzes me from opposing a war for regime change in that country."


"I remain convinced that, for all the concerns one might have about the aftermath, the removal of Saddam Hussein and the murderous Baath regime from power will be worth the sacrifices that are about to be made on all sides."

"I refused to come out against the war. I was against the way the war was pursued..."


Sounds like he was pro-illegal-invasion to me.

[Douglas Carpenter]

5. do you have a source for those quotes?? I would be interested in the context

given that everything I could find in his archives showed a great deal of skepticism.

Although I could certainly imagine he might have said those things within a certain context. After all, what he said about the Bathist regimein Iraq was indeed absolutely true.

Either way, a lot of people including the much of the Arab world had hope that following the downfall of Saddam Hussein - the U.S. government would act in good faith to see Iraq transformed into a democracy. Even those who were absolutely opposed to the invasion had hope that something good might come out of it.

Almost everyone in the Middle East agreed that Saddam was a monster and hoped thing would improve once he was gone.

If we look at Juan Cole's words, it is clear that he did have mixed and nuanced views,highly skeptical but hoping for the best.

Either way, I have not come across any writer more knowledgeable about the Middle East and able to to speak about the Middle East more rationally and dispassionately and knowledgeably than Juan Cole.