Per Juan Cole...
During the last year or so my husband decided to educate himself on Islam. He began by reading every book recommended by the respected scholar, Juan Cole. It is a long list. Now I have an in-house 'expert' on Islam. Earlier this week, D mentioned the possibility of what Juan Cole is now reporting on his blog.
Cole is just reporting rumors, but the fact that he gives them enough credence to include in his blog makes me ... nervous. Digusted. Almost ill.
This is from Juan Cole's Informed Comment:
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Thursday, August 30, 2007, Cheney & Iran: Here We Go Again?
Barnett Rubin relays a message from a well-connected friend in Washington on the Cheney Administration's plans to roll out a military confrontation with Iran in September. He writes at the Global Affairs blog:" My friend had spoken to someone in one of the leading neo-conservative institutions. He summarized what he was told this way:
They [the source's institution] have "instructions" (yes, that was the word used) from the Office of the Vice-President to roll out a campaign for war with Iran in the week after Labor Day; it will be coordinated with the American Enterprise Institute, the Wall Street Journal, the Weekly Standard, Commentary, Fox, and the usual suspects. It will be heavy sustained assault on the airwaves, designed to knock public sentiment into a position from which a war can be maintained. Evidently they don't think they'll ever get majority support for this--they want something like 35-40 percent support, which in their book is "plenty."
Cole: there has been some recent similar reporting. For instance, just on Tuesday Raw Story covered a paper by two British academics arguing that the US has the capability and perhaps the intention of launching an aerial assault on Iran's enrichment facilities. Earlier, McClatchy reported on Aug. 9 that Cheney has been urging bombing of Iranian trails to Iraq. This position struck me as eerily reminiscent of Nixon-Kissinger's treatment of Cambodia (which is what really caused the Khmer Rouge horrors, not, as Bush said the other day, US withdrawal from Vietnam; we dropped enormous amounts of ordnance on that country and severely disrupted it). Also at Raw Story on Aug. 10. And Gareth Porter on Aug. 16 responding to the McClatchy article. So, maybe something is up. If you want to see what I think of a war with Iran, see this golden oldie. Read Rubin's whole piece.
Cole is just reporting rumors, but the fact that he gives them enough credence to include in his blog makes me ... nervous. Digusted. Almost ill.
This is from Juan Cole's Informed Comment:
____________________________________
Thursday, August 30, 2007, Cheney & Iran: Here We Go Again?
Barnett Rubin relays a message from a well-connected friend in Washington on the Cheney Administration's plans to roll out a military confrontation with Iran in September. He writes at the Global Affairs blog:" My friend had spoken to someone in one of the leading neo-conservative institutions. He summarized what he was told this way:
They [the source's institution] have "instructions" (yes, that was the word used) from the Office of the Vice-President to roll out a campaign for war with Iran in the week after Labor Day; it will be coordinated with the American Enterprise Institute, the Wall Street Journal, the Weekly Standard, Commentary, Fox, and the usual suspects. It will be heavy sustained assault on the airwaves, designed to knock public sentiment into a position from which a war can be maintained. Evidently they don't think they'll ever get majority support for this--they want something like 35-40 percent support, which in their book is "plenty."
Cole: there has been some recent similar reporting. For instance, just on Tuesday Raw Story covered a paper by two British academics arguing that the US has the capability and perhaps the intention of launching an aerial assault on Iran's enrichment facilities. Earlier, McClatchy reported on Aug. 9 that Cheney has been urging bombing of Iranian trails to Iraq. This position struck me as eerily reminiscent of Nixon-Kissinger's treatment of Cambodia (which is what really caused the Khmer Rouge horrors, not, as Bush said the other day, US withdrawal from Vietnam; we dropped enormous amounts of ordnance on that country and severely disrupted it). Also at Raw Story on Aug. 10. And Gareth Porter on Aug. 16 responding to the McClatchy article. So, maybe something is up. If you want to see what I think of a war with Iran, see this golden oldie. Read Rubin's whole piece.
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