Spring Break
Forum speaker discusses Iraq crisis
Islamic historian from University of Michigan explores administration's policy
Rob Hanson
Issue date: 3/6/08 Section: News
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Cole began with a detailed explanation of the various religious groups that inhabit Iraq and other demographics before transgressing into an explanation of the Bush administration's course of action leading up to the war.
He prefaced the political analysis by saying, "Here I speak as an analyst, this is not a political statement," though he used rolling of eyes and humor to transition between examples.
And despite the seriousness of the forum, Cole's dry sarcasm kept the large audience snickering from start to finish.
Cole led the audience along a time line of the war in Iraq.
"I think (Cole is) one of the best informed people as far as Iraq that I've heard in a long time," said Arlyn Anderson, professor of communication and journalism. "A lot of the things that he talked about I was aware of before, but I was really pleased to hear him reinforce the idea of the U.S. and China being in competition for oil right now.
"I think he's right about when we see the price of oil going up extremely high we're going to see the end of American civilization as we know it, namely the suburb life, maybe that will come to an end."
Cole's major emphasis was on the way the U.S. government booted the Baathist leaders and military out of power with the occupation of Iraq. He reiterated the point that the Baathists had been in power prior to the U.S. occupation, and therefore have access to 600,000 tons of ammunition hidden in the hills and caves of the country.
With a header boasting "Apocalypse Now" on a projector, Cole described the Bush administration's failure to address the enemy correctly. He said the U.S. government refers to the enemy as al Qaeda when the enemy is actually Baathists, which in his opinion, is an effort to remind people of the September 11 attacks and convince the public that all enemies are al Qaeda.
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