Op-For John On Townhall.com

John Says... "Prof. Cole is doing something that many anti-war bloggers do—pretending that they are someone they aren't, writing on a topic that that they know little about. Cole is a professor of Middle Eastern studies, and is no doubt expert in that discipline. But his writing implies that he has some sort of expertise on counter-insurgency that trumps that of the career military officers who ordered the aforementioned air strikes."

Arguing against these types of professors is pointless.

Academic elitist like this guy do not recognize the profession of arms as a real profession. Nothing that a War College graduate says and nothing that an expirienced anti-insurgency veteran sayse is given any intellectual credence with these people.

It is unfortunate that in the pursuance of national security we must tollerant such intellectual intollerance.

yeah, the problem with many academics is that they confuse expertise in their discipline with some sort of universal expertise in all fields.

Cole isn't a dumb dude, I recognize that. But he's no expert in counterinsurgency either. And that's something that everyone should recognize.

Thank you for this blog, John. It is a necessary read considering the ongoing efforts of the dinasaur media to undermine Bush and anything that is conservative. Keep fighting the good fight my friend.