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December 15, 2004

The Spirit of America link-fest was getting so long . . .

. . . I put the Juan Cole/Iraq the Model feud here. Go here to read what all the bloggers and journalists have to say about Omar and Mohammed's December 2004 tour of America, and check back frequently for updates.

The ultimate ColeWatch site, for all your future fisking needs. Now on to Cole's smears against Iraq the Model.

Jeff Jarvis, Iraqi bloggers' first supporter in the US, is first out of the gate. Jeff quotes a few of the comments which further refute Cole; here's one he didn't quote:

Joseph Mailander, the author of the post Cole references, is a complete flake. He is a known troll around the blogosphere, and not a very good one at that. He showed up at Cathy Seipp's blogger forum in L.A. last summer and stood up to demand why he wasn't on the panel. Cathy apparently asked him who he was and what his blog was. They looked him up. Turns out his blog attracted about 200 visitor a day.
I remember reading accounts of that panel, some of which described Mailander's bating, but I can't find any of them now. (You can observe Mailander whining here.) This is Cole's "reputable" source.
Cathy Siepp reminisces about her previous run-ins with Joseph, and is pitiyingly sweet to him as you are with someone well-meaning but clearly in need of stronger medication or social-skills training. (I admire this generosity because I just don't have the patience for these evolutionary rejects, probably because avoiding their attentions in the Jewish dating scene sucks up so much energy.) Cathy on a typical Joseph comment thread:
My favorite part is when one of the tinfoil-hat-wearing commenters suggests that "it might be a good idea to contact the journo who wrote that USA Today article" that first brought Iraq the Model to mainstream media attention: "Could be...they were 'tapped' and put on the payroll by one of the spooks floating around Baghdad." A few comments down, the USA Today reporter himself, Cesar Soriano, weighs in ("in between fits of laughter") and reports that, for the record, "I have never had any contact with the CIA regarding the blog story." (Well, but that's just what he would say, isn't it?)

It's all beginniing to remind me of Jim Treacher's description of the Dan Rather defense:"Prove I'm Not Queen of the Space Unicorns."

More here.
Yet another previous trolling site of Mailander's.
Michael Totten piles on.
Back home, Ali piles on.
Another example of Cole's meticulous research.
Yet one more example of Cole's expertise.
More smears from the Cole camp. These guys are so transparent. They aren't even skilled at their disinformation attempts.
Arthur Chrenkoff piles on.
Hit and Run commenters try to salvage Cole by smearing Roger Simon.
Eric piles on, pointing out that Cole doesn't seem to care about his professional reputation. I assume either he has tenure or this kind of behavior is not frowned upon in Middle East Studies circles. (Well, we know the answer to the latter.)
Deacon piles on.
Hindrocket piles on.
Armed Liberal piles on.
And if you thought Cole couldn't sink any lower, read this. (More from Smash.)

Mickey Kaus:

Why not stage a debate between Juan Cole and Omar and Mohammed? That would get some attention on the left.
My immediate answer - based on many years observing how leftists cherish their preconceptions - is that this would generate much heat and no light. They would simply turn up the volume on the "funded by the CIA" conspiracy-mongering.
OTOH, I could be too cynical. Read this comment on Iraq the Model.
Thibaud does battle with his alma mater over Cole.
Across the Bay, a Middle East Studies academic blog which made a personal crusade out of fisking Cole, piles on.
Iraqpundit piles on.
The always formidable Wretchard piles on.
Somebody Else's Problem piles on.
Jeff Jarvis returns fire again (thanks for the link, Jeff!), adding a few other bloggers I hadn't even found yet.
Jeff declines to fisk Cole's assertions about Iraqi polls, but the third comment down in the thread from Jeff's post takes up the slack, with links to a number of polls from Iraq. This is an important point, that the Fadhil brothers are well within the mainstream of Iraqi opinion. More evidence here (although just from Baghdad).
More on polls from Armed Liberal.
Ali returns fire.
Ginny piles on.
A footnote for Prof. Pondscum.
Done With Mirrors notes many instances on Cole' blog where Cole guessed wrong about the Iraq war, and points out how careless words can have devastating consequences: Read this entire article.

My homies give me link luv:
Mary can torture a metaphor like nobody's business; she compares Juan Cole to Anna Nicole Smith, and it works.
Eric - frightened yet amused - takes us to more masochistic Joseph reveling in abuse.

Unfortunately, given the kind of cynical ideological conspiracy-theorizing rampant in today's global society, disclaimers like this are necessary.
Another analysis of Cole's sleight-of-hand with polls.

A few last stories on SofA and the Fadhil Bros. in America here.

Judith | 12/15/04 at 07:27 PM | Categories: - Iraq

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Blogs which link to The Spirit of America link-fest was getting so long . . .:

» A gallery of nutty professors from Kesher Talk
[ UPDATE: Deb Frisch is spinning as hard as she can. Don't buy into it. If you follow the links I've provided to other examples of her online behavior, you can see clearly how she initiates and provokes these confrontations.... [Read More]

Tracked on July 10, 2006 01:50 PM

» Why not Juan Cole? from Kesher Talk
The controversy over Yale University's decision not to appoint Juan Cole has taken two forms: Either Cole was unfairly denied because he dares to criticize "the Likud Lobby" (his formulation), or because academic blogging is considered too edgy for a... [Read More]

Tracked on July 25, 2006 07:09 AM

» The same old conspiracy theories about Iraq the Model from Kesher Talk
When the brothers who write Iraq the Model came to the US in December 2004, as guests of Spirit of America, I tracked their tour via all the many blogposts written about them. It is gratifying to see President Bush... [Read More]

Tracked on March 29, 2007 03:52 PM

Comments

From Cathy Seipp: Great roundup of all things nutty re Juan Cole etc....but a small correction: Joseph never came to my blogging panel, so he never stood up to demand why he wasn't invited to be on it. All his demands and complaining were before the panel actually took place, in the comments section of LAObserved.com, which I presume is still archived.

Anonymous | December 15, 2004 10:03 PM

Thanks for the correction, Cathy. I remember following it while it was happening, but not closely enough to remember that kind of detail. Oh well, the guy now has more publicity than he deserves. . . .

Judith | December 15, 2004 11:22 PM

Wow, I knew the issue, but I didn't know it had attracted so much attention till I read this post.

Just one issue: I think you're mischaracterizing the sentiment on Hit & Run. The main post, and almost all of the commenters, are on Iraq the Model's side.

Yaron | December 16, 2004 11:18 AM

Wow. Thanks for all the info on Cole. I thought that his lies and hysteria were a recent thing, but the 'Ultimate Cole Watch' site by Mr. Kramer proved that Cole has always been this way.

I'm still posting about it and flogging metaphors. Can't help it :-)

maryatexitzero | December 16, 2004 03:49 PM

The latest development (if related?) isn't, however, so amusing.

someone | December 19, 2004 01:50 AM

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