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....if he knows what he is talking about and also just what his interests and loayalties are.
Define metaphor: In language, a metaphor is a rhetorical trope where a comparison is made between two seemingly unrelated subjects. Typically, a first object is described as being a second object. In this way, the first object can be economically described because implicit and explicit attributes from the second object can be used to fill in the description of the first. ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaphor
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Fouad A. Ajami (Arabic:فؤاد عجمی; b. September 9, 1945), a Lebanese-born American university professor and writer on Middle Eastern issues. His philosphy has been defined by liberal sources as part of the neoconservative movement.<1>
In recent years, Ajami has been an outspoken supporter of the Iraq War, the nobility of which he believes there "can be no doubt",<2> which has drawn some criticism from others in academia.
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Controversies
Support for Iraq War
Ajami has been an outspoken supporter of the Iraq War, which he believes "issued out of a deep American frustration... with the culture of terrorism that had put down roots in Arab lands."
In an August 2002 speech before the Veterans of Foreign Wars, US Vice President Dick Cheney sought to assuage concerns about the anticipated US invasion of Iraq, stating: "As for the reaction of the Arab 'street,' the Middle East expert Professor Fouad Ajami predicts that after liberation, the streets in Basra and Baghdad are 'sure to erupt in joy in the same way the throngs in Kabul greeted the Americans.'" <3>
Ajami cautioned the United States about the likely negative consequences of the Iraq War. In a 2003 essay in Foreign Affairs, "Iraq and the Arabs' Future," Ajami wrote,
"There should be no illusions about the sort of Arab landscape that America is destined to find if, or when, it embarks on a war against the Iraqi regime. There would be no "hearts and minds" to be won in the Arab world, no public diplomacy that would convince the overwhelming majority of Arabs that this war would be a just war. An American expedition in the wake of thwarted UN inspections would be seen by the vast majority of Arabs as an imperial reach into their world, a favor to Israel, or a way for the United States to secure control over Iraq's oil. No hearing would be given to the great foreign power."<4>
But he also goes on to say:
America ought to be able to live with this distrust and discount a good deal of this anti-Americanism as the "road rage" of a thwarted Arab world -- the congenital condition of a culture yet to take full responsibility for its self-inflicted wounds. There is no need to pay excessive deference to the political pieties and givens of the region. Indeed, this is one of those settings where a reforming foreign power's simpler guidelines offer a better way than the region's age-old prohibitions and defects.
Ajami retains a positive view of the war three years later. In a 2006 book on the invasion and its aftermath, he described it as a noble effort, and argues that despite many unhappy consequences, it is too soon to write it off as a failure.<5>
Characterization by liberal sources
Ajami has been accused of being a self-hating propagandist who tells those in power what they want to hear, thus helping justify their policies. This highly critical assessment of Fouad Ajami as a "Native Informant" comes most recently through an essay authored by Adam Shatz of The Nation.<2>
Throughout his career, Ajami has variously been alleged to espouse Nasserism, Shia sectarianism, the Palestinian cause, the Israeli government cause, and the US invasion of Iraq.<6>
Scooter Libby compared to a fallen soldier
In a June 2007 Wall Street Journal editorial, he described Scooter Libby as a "fallen soldier" for his role in supporting George W. Bush's prosecution of the U.S. invasion of Iraq.<7>
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