Juan Cole - 11/07/05

Comments at Informed Comment

Readers have occasionally asked for a comment feature at this web site.

I of course love the idea, but did not move in that direction for a number of reasons. At first, of course, blogger.com software did not allow it. Then when they did, there was no moderating function and there has been a big problem with spam closing down sites. Moreover, I have a low tolerance for hate mail and bigotry, which you get a certain amount of at any public comment site, and would not have wanted to host it. I have had very bad experiences in the past with un-moderated email discussion lists, and over time revised my initial enthusiasm for them. They allow a small number of cranks to hold everyone else hostage, and the lists are constantly roiled by bad feeling in a completely unnecessary way.

Dennis O'Flaherty Reader Comment on Qaim Campaign

Cole: [Al-Zaman: Sunni Arab leaders accused the US of conducting a campaign of genocide and ethnic cleansing in their sweep of the Western cities. (This allegation is, needless to say, not correct.]

Dennis O'Flaherty writes:

'... you raise a point that has troubled me -- and I hope other Americans
-- for a while, which is precisely why we **are** blowing the living s*** out of one little border town after another. As an ex-marine (4 years peacetime, thank God) I can easily understand why my jarhead brethren want to work out their fury on just about anything after months of the kind of terror and debilitating general stress that led our people in Viet Nam to the same kind of "kill 'em all, let God sort 'em out" mentality -- despite Rumsfeld's SpecOps daydreams our whole military tradition is still in massed battle won by gigantic firepower, and the constant hitting of our forces by invisible enemies who may be that same 14-year old girl who poured cold water for you in the last village ends up making you crazy. Bad crazy, it goes without saying.

Blair Could have Delayed Beginning of War: Meyer;
Sadrists Will Boycott Cairo Conference

Sir Christopher Meyer, former British ambassador in Washington, blames Prime Minister Tony Blair for not slowing the Bush administration's rush to war in 2003. Meyer implies that he could see that the Bush team was poorly prepared for the aftermath, and says that a delay of a month or several months would have allowed this problem to be addressed.

Bush and the 7 Deadly Sins

The Washington Post reports a new poll that shows that the public's approval of Bush in the realms of trust, honesty and values has declined even in his base:

"Bush's approval ratings have been in decline for months, but on issues of personal trust, honesty and values, Bush has suffered some of his most notable declines. Moreover, Bush has always retained majority support on his handling of the U.S. campaign against terrorism -- until now, when 51 percent have registered disapproval.