Be Careful Who You Quote
You can almost take this article seriously. Paul Starobin in the National Journal recasts the "impending" civil war in Iraq as being already underway. You almost take it seriously until you realize that the first expert quoted by the author is Juan Cole!

"What we have in Iraq is an unconventional civil war," says Juan Cole, a Middle East history professor at the University of Michigan and keeper of a well-read blog on events in Iraq. Cole added that present-day Iraq reminds him of Lebanon in the late 1970s, when that country's civil war was conducted largely by neighborhood-based militias.

Of course, all you need to know about Juan Cole is contained in this column by Jonah Goldberg. Apparently, if lies, distortions and polemicism constitute scholarship, Juan Cole can be considered a scholar.
- posted by Base10 @ 11:05 AM