A seemingly reasonable man steps into the role of Iraqi PM; promises to come down hard on corruption, and refuses to work with people who are not in bed with those who promote violence; indicates he will ask americans to depart in short order (which everyone in Iraq seems to want). Only Juan Cole could see cause for pessimism in this, and lob loaded words like "politburo" at the man while he's at it.

Juan's tone of late has been quite clear: the situation is fucked, nothing will make it better, and we can only put our heads between our knees and wait for the whole wreckage to come to a flaming, skidding halt... sometime. If there is cause for optimism, he certainly doesn't relate any.

As an Informed Commenter on the situation, I have to wonder if he does see any way out of this mess. From his bloggings and articles here on Salon, it certainly doesn't seem so.

Geez, no one would have ever heard of Juan Cole if not for Iraq. But thanks to the very left anti-war folks who can’t wait to wake up in the morning and read about more death and horror in Iraq – news that joyfully fortifies their cemented view that all is bad in Iraq (and in the US) and that no good will ever come from the invasion – Cole is actually known (in some circles) as an expert on Iraq and is profiting (not only does he get paid for writing such articles, but it is a matter of fact that college couch potato professors such as himself who get published are rewarded) from the espousal of this “expertise.”

Once again and with the greatest of ease he proclaims the news of the day with his trite and overly repeated prose: “You would never know, from the petty squabbling in the U.S.-protected Green Zone over who gets what ministry, that beyond its concrete barriers a brutal ‘war of the corpses’ rages each night in the nightmarish streets of Baghdad, and that the rest of Iraq continues to spiral out of control.”

How heroic of Cole to reduce the installing of a new government protocol in Iraq to “squabbling.” What would he have said at the time of America’s “squabbling” during the Constitutional Congress and the formation of US govenment?

What cracks me up about Cole, is that never having stepped foot in Iraq, he feels comfortable writing and spreading his obvious agenda. Perhaps a trip to Iraq is in order for the good professor? He might actually run into some Iraqis who work around the clock and put their lives on the line, to create something good from this mess. Like the former Iraqi Minister of Immigration and Displaced Persons who on my last trip to Iraq for the first election, asked me, “ Just what is wrong with your American peace movement? Aren’t the people of your country willing to fight for their freedom? Weren’t the people of your country willing to die fighting for their democracy?”

She, a forty-two year old woman with a husband and 2 children, all who lived (at the time) under heavy guard in Iraq due to constant death threats, will not be deterred from the work of attempting to create something positive in her country.

Cole’s easy road of attention-grabbing narrative would simply reduce this woman’s efforts to “squabbling.”

There are no easy answers as to how to remedy the problems in Iraq. It is obviously one of the worst mismanaged endeavors the world has ever seen. And yes, horribly, sadly, people are dying. But still, in the face of all this absolute negativity, there are others living within this reality, seeing it with their own eyes, watching their family members, friends, and fellow co-creating squabblers suffering and dying around them, who continue to work toward some unforeseen future that speaks of something better.

The real "Mission Impossible" for Salon is publishing an article talking about them, their lives and their efforts.

Professor Cole, who has devoted, it seems, every waking hour to an antiwar campaign has probably taken on one too many battles - mainly Israel. It was, no doubt, likely that once he pursued the Israeli-centric basis for the Iraqi war he was going to find himself mugged in an alley, if not constantly exposed to character assassination. If I was equally devoted to Israel's welfare, and had only a few visible critics over the past 50 years, I'd want to take this guy on too. A Martian would understand the animus in each corner. It's the same kind of impulse that propels humans into wars.

Hey Iranqnaed, your diatribe is as asinine as is the rationale for this war, which, as you point out, has created havoc for many innocent Iraqi civilians. And yes, there isn't enough attention paid to their fate, nor has there been since the sanctions were placed on Hussein. One way or another Cole has nothing to do with it. Their helplessness is only further evidence of what kinds of damage this war has done to their society as well as the fate of America's standing in the world. Hope all you want, but the neoconservative blueprint for "setting them free" ain't working, wasn't ever gonna work, and keeping your fingers crossed ain't gonna make it work next year. All the attacks on Juan Cole won't change that. In fact, if the media concentrated more on how Iraqi commoners got screwed in this whole affair, the war, and our presence in Iraq would end sooner not later.

Second, whether Cole has ever been to Iraq is irrelevant. Having set foot in a country doesn't entitle one to the wisdom about how it should operate. Rumsfeld and company stepped foot in Iraq and what happened? Did they receive the ray of wisdom necessary to improve matters or did they stick to their guns? How about you? Did you ever set foot in Arabia before it became Iraq? And if not does that prevent you from having a discourse about it? Or how about Gettysburg? Or Waterloo? Since humans are a narrative species, there are books and data on events waiting in libraries gathering dust. You and the neocons would've been wise to open a few of them from the comforts of your own armchair. You could start with "Seven Pillars of Wisdom: A Triumph" by Lawrence of Arabia.

Smart guy that Lawrence, who details ad nauseum the machinations of fighting. If logistics are what you're looking for, the book's loaded with them, but if you're looking for the finer distinctions between one tribe and another or between Shia and Sunni, or an understanding about how the decline of the Ottoman Empire was going to change the world you better look for another book. And, again, he was in Iraq - no, let me be precise - he created Iraq.

Maybe the world would've been better off if had had stayed home and tended to his garden. But then the tribal disputes and mercenary traditions that had flourished for centuries would've also damaged many civilians, particularly women oppressed by clerical proscriptions. Which way would've been better? Do you know Iranqnaed? Using your own logic, how could you? You weren't there.

Indeed, if wars are left to the experts who have been to the countries they choose to bomb and all other citizens who haven't been to those lands are excluded from the debate, what kind of world would it have been? Not a whole lot different from the one happening right here in the good ole USA. This is only the 3rd letter on this post, which has been around for a while. And that's probably because Americans who haven't been to Iraq don't care that much about talking about it, so they'd rather find out if Jessica Simpson's feet are really too big. At least Cole, for better or worse, is keeping a discourse going in a land more concerned about celebrity, escapism and idle chatter