UPDATED: Professor Cole Figuratively Annihilated
The figurative annihilation is provided by Christopher Hitchens.
Figurative annihilation, however, is not what Iran’s mullahs have in mind for Israel. Which is Hitchens’ point.
UPDATE: Read Cole’s response and decide for yourself. I am wondering if the Gary Sick Cole mentions is the same Gary Sick who wrote a NY Times op-ed essay that accused the Reagan campaign of having secret contacts with the Iranians in 1980 (regarding the on-going hostage crisis) prior to the 1980 election. The accusation evolved into a conspiracy theory that had former President George H.W. Bush flying in an SR-71 to a secret meeting with the Iranians in Madrid, or Paris, or somewhere. Or perhaps flying back from Madrid in an SR-71. Scroll through the reviews of Sick’s book October Surprise via Amazon.
This debunking in the Congressional Record (via fas.org) is better. Do a “find” looking for SR-71.
But if Professor Cole’s friend is another Gary Sick (and he may be, though Cole identifies Mr. Sick as a former member of the NSC) , just look at this update as a look-back at how a fraudulent story got lots of political play before it was exposed as a fraud.
UPDATE 2: I need to note that Cole claims Hitchens violated a private email (from a list run by Gary Sick). I’ve been a stickler about email privacy and if this is the case Cole has a legitimate gripe. Cole also points out a history of bad blood between him and Hitchens. That noted, in the aftermath of their mutual assured destructive exchanges, Cole’s translations of Iranian threats are the core issue.
And lest I forget again— I read Tigerhawk’s comments on the Hitchens-Cole tete a tete this morning and meant to link. Good stuff. (Hat tip pajamasmedia.com)
Austin, you’ve got to check out Cole’s response. He’s simply come unhinged. It’s here. A.L.
Comment by Armed Liberal — 5/3/2006 @ 8:11 am
Austin: Yes, it’s the Gary Sick of October Surprise fame. See his faculty listing here http://www.sipa.columbia.edu/academics/directory/ggs2-fac.html
Comment by Richard — 5/3/2006 @ 11:51 am
Austin: Yes, it’s the Gary Sick of October Surprise fame. His faculty profile is here: http://www.sipa.columbia.edu/academics/directory/ggs2-fac.html
Comment by Richard — 5/3/2006 @ 11:53 am
To be fair though, it does seem that the character-assasination of Juan Cole has been exposed as illegitmate. From that same email, it seems clear what is opinion of the Iranians is, (something his readers have known all along), and this is clearly at odds with much of what has been written about him recently.
Comment by Tano — 5/3/2006 @ 2:21 pm
Iowahawk fished the first draft of Cole’s response out of the dumpster. Way better than the final product.
Comment by Bill Befort — 5/3/2006 @ 9:54 pm