Posted on Thu, Jun 16, 2011 : 4:23 p.m.
U-M professor Juan Cole calls for investigation into allegations that CIA spied on him
By Cindy Heflin
University of Michigan professor Juan Cole wants Congress to launch an investigation into what he says was illegal spying on him by the Bush administration, the Detroit Free Press reports.
Juan Cole
"Carle’s revelations come as a visceral shock," Cole wrote on his blog today. "You had thought that with all the shenanigans of the CIA against anti-Vietnam war protesters and then Nixon’s use of the agency against critics like Daniel Ellsberg, that the Company and successive White Houses would have learned that the agency had no business spying on American citizens."
Comments
BhavanaJagat
Fri, Jun 17, 2011 : 6:51 p.m.
I demand that there must be a law or a legal provision to get spied by CIA for all people who post their opinions and views at Internet blog sites. It is a demand for equal opportunity to get public attention for private thoughts shared on the web. Juan Cole had received a preferential treatment from President Bush and that is unfair to other fellow bloggers. Thousands of us are working hard and diligently expose our views to the public and we are not found worthy of the kind of attention Juan Cole had received. Did he bribe a close aide of Bush who may have instigated Bush to initiate the CIA spying activity? If the price is right, I would bribe a White House Official in charge of CIA spying activities to spy on me and I would be too happy to share the rest of the story and join the elite group of people who get spied by CIA for posts in the Cyber World.
Bogie
Fri, Jun 17, 2011 : 12:59 p.m.
Wow. I don't anything about this guy, or his blog, but he sure doesn't seem to have a "strong following." The people on here, make it sound like he's out for a publicity grab.
Joel Batterman
Fri, Jun 17, 2011 : 2:33 a.m.
Cole's blog is called "Informed Comment," not "Informed Consent" (quite the opposite), and a lot of people, American and Iraqi, who've died over the eight years would probably be alive today if U.S. officials had spent more time reading it.
Cindy Heflin
Fri, Jun 17, 2011 : 3:14 a.m.
The blog name has been corrected.
utownie
Fri, Jun 17, 2011 : 2:17 a.m.
Given what Professor Cole was writing at the time, I certainly hope the CIA, and others, were investigating him. I used to read it to know what the terrorists were thinking. When the US President changed, then I realize Prof Cole was just another politician. His blog is pretty much irrelevant today.
rocco
Fri, Jun 17, 2011 : 12:44 a.m.
This is a huge national story involving a former CIA agent who was told by his superiors via the Bush Administration to get some dirt on Juan Cole because he was criticizing the government's policy on Iraq. This kind of activity is clearly illegal under the Constitution. Where are all the Constitutionalists coming to Cole's support? They're not. What kind of democracy have we become when we can tolerate this kind of activity? It makes the US seem no better than other world governments who routinely abuse citizen's rights. Cole has a right to pursue justice under the Constitution. His rights as a US citizen were violated. Moreover, government should be held accountable their actions. That's democracy in action.
seldon
Fri, Jun 17, 2011 : 12:14 a.m.
Guys, Cole didn't come up with the story that the CIA was asked to gather information on him. A former CIA official did. Cole's just saying that those allegations should be investigated.
Matt Cooper
Fri, Jun 17, 2011 : 12:07 a.m.
I'm wondering why some of these posts were allowed to stay up. Just more proof of A2.com's selective enforcement of it's own commentating policy. Too bad this one will probably get taken down as well.
Marvin Face
Thu, Jun 16, 2011 : 11:57 p.m.
Tin. Foil. Hat.
John B.
Thu, Jun 16, 2011 : 9:27 p.m.
I see that the usual suspects are all over this story! Huge surprise, that.
Macabre Sunset
Thu, Jun 16, 2011 : 9:24 p.m.
Visceral is a good way to describe everything concerning Juan Cole. He should rename his blog.
bruceae
Thu, Jun 16, 2011 : 9:18 p.m.
This guy is just a legend in his own mind. So Juan, what are you doing that you are so concerned about being watched? Maybe everyone with a black car should drive slowly by his house.
xmo
Thu, Jun 16, 2011 : 9:11 p.m.
I have never heard of the "blog Informed Consent, ". Is this guy for real? Yet it is suppose to be "influential " A good way to get noticed and deflect attention from our President "George Bush". He's getting blamed for everything so he must still be president! (I thought Barrack Obama was suppose to take over sometime?)
eagleman
Fri, Jun 17, 2011 : 11:56 a.m.
Firstly, if true, the Bush Administration should be ashamed. Investigating academics who have no real power is simply idiotic. So he criticized you. So what? It's not like he can impact your policy decisions in any meaningful way. Secondly, FDR did something similiar. He asked J. Edgar Hoover to investigate his opponent Wendall Wilkie. In fact, he even warranted Hoover to wiretap him. This type of behavior seems to be fairly common among politicians.(Hoover turned him down in this instance, but he did investigate Harry Hopkins wife) Thirdly, Juan Cole is an irrelevant academic who would have been ignored by history if Bush did not initiate this investigation. Yet another stupid decision by the Bush Administration. Finally, Juan Cole is respected by whom? Neo-Marxists and self-righteous Left Wingers? Juan Cole is a professor. That's all he is. He is of the chattering class that speaks much but does little. Can you imagine being paid well into 6 figures for TALKING? This card carrying member of the proletariat thinks Mr. Cole and every other bourgeois Ann Arborite should get a real job like the ones the toiling masses hold.
NoSUVforMe
Fri, Jun 17, 2011 : 2:43 a.m.
Juan Cole is a highly respected Middle Eastern expert. I am astounded at the general ignorance of the responses to this article. I guess it doesn't line up with the ideology of Bush's policies of Iraq having weapons of mass destruction, Saddam being a bad guy, and "we can bomb Iraq into democracy."
NoSUVforMe
Fri, Jun 17, 2011 : 2:39 a.m.
Juan Cole is a highly respected Middle East expert. Your post is uninformed. George Bush should be blamed for his actions. Do you thing otherwise? The death and destruction of Iraq is Bush's legacy. 5000 Americans dead because of Bush.
Otto Walters
Fri, Jun 17, 2011 : 1:44 a.m.
For people who want an independent and educated analysis of events in the Middle East Juan Cole's blog has been indispensable. In 2004 and 2005 when Bush and Fox News were feeding he public a steady diet of lies and misinformation Juan Cole was waning of the looming sectarian cataclysm that consumed Iraq. If American's had spent more time listening to Jaun and less time mindlessly repeating the latest dross from Beck and News Corp. we would be much further ahead today.