© Detroit Free Press
Juan Cole, professor at the University of Michigan.
A professor at the University of Michigan said today "it was criminal" that the White House, under President George W. Bush, reportedly asked the CIA at least twice to dig up negative information about his personal life in order to discredit his views on the Iraq war.
And he called upon Congress to launch an investigation into what he said was illegal spying on an American citizen.
"The Bush White House request that the CIA spy on me to discredit me clearly violated the American constitution, U.S. law, the CIA charter, and my civil and human rights," U-M professor Juan Cole told the Free Press. "It was criminal."
Under pressure from the White House, a
CIA official asked his staff to spy on Cole, a noted history professor from Ann Arbor who writes a popular blog about the Middle East called
Informed Comment, according to story in the
New York Times. In 2005, a CIA supervisor, David Low, spoke with a colleague after returning from a White House meeting.
"The White House wants to get him," Low said after that meeting to Glenn Carle, a former CIA officer who was a counterterrorism official, the
New York Times reported.
"'What do you think we might know about him, or could find out that could discredit him?" Low added, according to Carle. "Does he drink? What are his views? Is he married?"
At one point, a memo on Cole was written that included "inappropriate, derogatory remarks" about Cole's lifestyle, Carle said in the
New York Times story.
Comment: But that's exactly what Netanyahu wants, and having negotiations or compromising with the Palestinians was never part of the plan. Why waste energy on mock negotiations, when the goal is to stage a major confrontation that will result in total annihilation of "these pesky and filthy Arabs". At least, that's the idea. There were times, perhaps, when smiling to the camera or shaking hands could gain a move or two on a psychopathic chess board, but these times are gone, and Netanyahu has a bloody schedule to meet.
The mask of sanity is slipping. The truth is, it could never hide Netanyahu's real nature, but even now, his motivations are completely lost on most of Israelis. When psychopaths are in charge and their control and "ideology" becomes overt, it forces a confrontation with one's essence and how you respond says a lot about you. And what does it say about Israeli society and its own mask of sanity, when Israelis are willing to revolt against the rising prices of cottage cheese but turn their eyes away when rightful owners of Palestine endure daily torture and humiliation?