Juan Cole/Taylor Marsh Debate Obama's Bombing of Pakistan

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From a Tuesday, January 27, 2009 entry on Informed Comment a blog run by Juan Cole: http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/01/27/18565976.php


MY Democratic Party colleague Taylor Marsh took exception to my Salon piece on Obama's decision to bomb Pakistan during his first week in office.

I always welcome vigorous debate and believe that arguing substance in public is essential to our attaining the ideals of a democratic republic. I value Taylor Marsh's perspective and we have often agreed in the past, when public opinion in this country was against us. I offer the following in the way of an an honest disagreement, and with full respect for my debating partner.

That said, I really must object to the way Marsh argued this case. First, one of her main concerns is that my analysis might give comfort to the Right insofar as it offers a critique of an Obama policy. She wrote "Talk about your wingnut New Years gift, presented on the wings of hyperbole." And ended, "Sean Hannity says thanks. Or who knows, maybe it's a gift." She said that such figures on the right have been talking about Obama being criticized by the antiwar Left and suggests that my column gave support to their talking point.

The notion that we should not say something critical of the policy of a Democratic president because it might give aid and comfort to the rightwing enemy is completely unacceptable. It is a form of regimentation, and equivalent to making dissent a sort of treason. We had enough of that the last 8 years (it used to be from different quarters that I was accused of traitorously succoring the enemy).

In a democratic republic, open dissent is valued . . .


READ MORE - Juan Cole expands on the actual debate with Taylor Marsh over the Pakistan strikes: http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/01/27/18565976.php

[TheWraith]

1. Hmm, Juan Cole and Taylor Marsh.... a perfect match for a debate.

Two useless assholes who think they know more than they do.

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2. typical DU response

. . . ignore the subject and substance of the debate and be satisfied with a summary character attack

[On the Road]

3. Hey, Speak for Yourself --

Juan Cole has one of the best perspectives on the entire range of middle eastern issues.

The article was extremely level-headed and contained good advice for Obama. It is very troubling that Obama allowed the attacks into Pakistan in continuty with the Bush doctrine and in violation of internation law. His advice is constructive and reasonable.

All of which makes the following comment pretty damn curious: I am interested in being the academic equivalent of Hunter S. Thompson.

[mod mom]

7. Absolutely-Just look at Juan Cole's credentials:

John "Juan" Ricardo I. Cole (born October 1952 in Albuquerque, New Mexico) is an American scholar and historian of modernMiddle Eastern and South Asian history. He is Richard P. Mitchell Collegiate Professor of History at the University of Michigan. As a commentator on Middle Eastern affairs, he has appeared in print and on television, and testified before the United States Senate. He has published several peer-reviewed books on the modern Middle East and is a translator of both Arabic and Persian. Since 2002, he has written a weblog, Informed Comment (formerly Informed Consent).

Cole obtained his undergraduate degree at Northwestern University in 1975, having majored in History and Literature of Religions. For two quarters in his senior year he conducted a research project in Beirut and returned to the city as a graduate student in the fall of 1975, but the civil war prevented Cole from continuing his studies there. Therefore he pursued a Masters degree at the American University in Cairo in Islamic and Middle Eastern studies, graduating in 1978. Cole then returned to Beirut for another year and worked as a translator for a newspaper.<1> In 1979 Cole enrolled at the University of California, Los Angeles as a doctoral student in the field of Islamic Studies, graduating in 1984. After graduation, Cole was appointed Assistant Professor of History at the University of Michigan where he would become a full professor in 1995.<2>

Cole was awarded Fulbright-Hays fellowships to India (1982) and to Egypt (1985-1986). From 1999 until 2004, Juan Cole was the editor of The International Journal of Middle East Studies. He has served in professional offices for the American Institute of Iranian Studies.<3> He was elected president of the Middle East Studies Association of North Americain November 2004.<4> In 2006, he received the James Aronson Award for Social Justice Journalism administered by Hunter College.<5>

1975 B.A. History and Literature of Religions, Northwestern University
1978 M.A. Arabic Studies/History, American University in Cairo
1984 Ph.D. Islamic Studies, University of California Los Angeles
1984-1990 Assistant Professor of History, University of Michigan
1990-1995 Associate Professor of History, University of Michigan
1992-1995 Director, Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies, University of Michigan
1995- Professor of History, University of Michigan

[Winterblues]

4. Well from what I have read Obama does not need to give any approval

The military is making it's own decisions on this matter and I think that needs to be nipped in the bud immediately. I read that Obama did not give approval for the missile strikes into Pakistan, at least not directly. He pretty much has given them free reign and that sounds extremely dangerous to me..

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5. That's my impression

Although, 'free-hand' implies that he's out of the loop. I don't believe that. I think he's convinced that this is necessary, even if it's just based on what he's being told by his military subordinates.

[mod mom]

6. Why would Juan Cole bother with the likes of that self promoting shrill?