“Guerrillas Kill over 30, wound Dozens, In Continued Iraq Violence: Sadr Movement Coming in Third in South,” by Juan Cole, Informed Consent, http://www.juancole.com/2005/02/guerrillas-kill-over-30-wound-dozens.html, 8 February 2005.
The dictionary defines militarism as
mil·i·ta·rism (mĭl’ĭ-tə-rĭz’əm) pronunciation
n.1. Glorification of the ideals of a professional military class.
2. Predominance of the armed forces in the administration or policy of the state.
3. A policy in which military preparedness is of primary importance to a state
Given that, how is Juan Cole not a militarist?
Although I do not believe that everyone who advocates a war must go and fight it, I do believe that young men who advocate a war must go and fight it. Goldberg was in his early 30s in 2002, and the army would have taken him. An older colleague who was at Harvard in 1941 told me about how the freshman class rushed to enlist. That was the characteristic of the Greatest Generation– they put their money where their mouths were. Goldberg’s response was insulting to all the soldiers fighting in Iraq who have suffered economically and who are remote from their families.
On the other hand, as Dr. Cole is a cracked-up syphilitic Marxist, perhaps he’s just not worthy of discussion.
Update: Zen Pundit chimes in, with typically brilliant remarks
Strong words. And something of a moral free pass for anti-war activists since if military service is a duty incumbent upon citizens in a time of war this duty exists regardless of the political opinions held by the citizens.
Hi Dan
Thank you again for the link !
On a personal note, despite my fairly significant political differences with Juan- and we're far apart on many, many, issues- I've always found him ready to help and quite receptive to answering my field-based questions about the Islamic world. He really does know his stuff and his languages ( Goldberg was completely off-base on that charge) which makes him worth the time to read – if you discard his analysis of conservative American politics which is cracked, IMHO.
Cole will also modify his positions if presented with enough contrary evidence which is what makes him a real scholar instead of a charlatan like Said and the academic army of Chomskyian robots that populate too many universities.
Keep up the good work !