Juan Cole Changes His Mind and Calls for US Troop Withdrawal

[callady]

Throwing Grenades in the Global Economic Cockpit

A Tomdispatch Interview with Juan Cole (Part 2)

On September 22nd, Tomdispatch posted a piece by Michael Schwartz, Why Immediate Withdrawal Makes Sense, which ended:

"American withdrawal would undoubtedly leave a riven, impoverished Iraq, awash in a sea of weaponry, with problems galore, and numerous possibilities for future violence. The either/or of this situation may not be pretty, but on a grim landscape, a single reality stands out clearly: Not only is the American presence the main source of civilian casualties, it is also the primary contributor to the threat of civil war in Iraq. The longer we wait to withdraw, the worse the situation is likely to get -- for the U.S. and for the Iraqis."

The next day, at his Informed Comment website, Juan Cole posted a response in which he wrote, "I just cannot understand this sort of argument," and then laid out the nature of his disagreement with it in some detail. This started several days of debate among various experts, scholars, and bloggers at his site (and elsewhere) which resulted in Cole rethinking his position somewhat and issuing an eloquent call for American ground troops to be withdrawn from Iraq. (If you haven't read it, you should!)

This debate and discussion provides the basis for the second half of Tomdispatch's interview with Cole. My own thoughts on withdrawal can be found at Withdrawal on the Agenda, a June 2005 updating of a piece, Time of Withdrawal, I wrote six months after the fall of Baghdad. You should also know that I consider the "nightmare scenario" Cole lays out below but one (frightening) possibility in Iraq's future. Based on memories of the Vietnam era, I'm wary of all predictions about the horrors that are bound to occur if the United States were to withdraw, or withdraw too quickly, as well as fears of a "bloodbath-to-come." This is a complex issue I hope to take up in a dispatch later in the week. Meanwhile, onward.

http://www.tomdispatch.com/indexprint.mhtml?pid=29333

[RedEarth]

1. Great interview.......

I recall reading Cole's site several weeks ago when he mentioned he had changed his mind on withdrawal....as he say's in the interview .."Whitman said: "Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself, I am large, I contain multitudes." It's too bad, bush wouldn't listen to someone like Cole.

[callady]

3. Sign of a humble spirit and good mind

one who can re-evaluate and be self critical.

[RedEarth]

4. It sure is and Cole is one of the brightest minds on the Middle East

[Cults4Bush]

2. Exactly and that is what many of our Dems need to come to understand.

We are the reason why Iraq is like this and Iraq will continue to be like this as long as we are there. More soldiers only means more targets. More time to try and fix it will only get more people killed. The more more people that die the more terrorists we create.

To put it simply.

[izzybeans]

5. He made this admission on his blog a short time back.