The Man Who Wasn't There: Cole in the Wake of Zarqawi

"And now, back to The Juan Cole Show. Cole and his media celebrity have provided us all with a richly entertaining spectacle, and I for one am grateful. The Cole show has been well worth watching, because Prof. Cole's prominence as a go-to source for lazy reporters writing about Iraq is symptomatic of problems with two important institutions: Middle East Studies and journalism. I mean, Cole sets himself up as a transcendent expert on a country he's never in his life seen, and because he can dress up his sour, demonstrably ignorant, and often irresponsible views in academic robes, he soon becomes a sought-after source. "
IraqiPundit