25 Facts About Juan Cole

John Ricardo Irfan "Juan" Cole was born on October 23,1952 and is an American academic and commentator on the modern Middle East and South Asia.

Juan Cole is Richard P Mitchell Collegiate Professor of History at the University of Michigan.

Juan Cole's father served in the United States Army Signal Corps.

When Cole was age two, his family left New Mexico for France.

Juan Cole's father completed two tours with the US military in France and one 18-month stay at Kagnew Station in Asmara, Eritrea.

Juan Cole was schooled at twelve schools in twelve years, at a series of dependent schools on military bases but sometimes in civilian schools.

Juan Cole was awarded Fulbright-Hays fellowships to India and to Egypt.

From 1999 until 2004, Juan Cole was the editor of The International Journal of Middle East Studies.

Juan Cole has served in professional offices for the American Institute of Iranian Studies and on the editorial board of the journal Iranian Studies.

Juan Cole is a member of the Middle East Studies Association of North America, and served as the organization's president for 2006.

Juan Cole is a member of the Community Council of the National Iranian American Council.

Juan Cole founded the Global Americana Institute to translate works concerning the United States into Arabic.

Juan Cole calls his work not "contemporary history" but "current affairs history".

Juan Cole testified on Iraq before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations in 2004.

Since 2002, Juan Cole has published the blog Informed Comment, covering "History, Middle East, South Asia, Religious Studies, and the War on Terror".

Juan Cole wanted to publicize his expertise, and he did so by attracting attention from elite members of the blogosphere.

In 2002, Juan Cole rejected the Bush administration's early claims of Iraqi cooperation with Al-Qaeda, commenting that Saddam Hussein had "persecuted and killed both Sunni and Shiite fundamentalists in great number", as well as claims to the effect that Ba'athist Iraq was developing weapons of mass destruction.

In 2004, Juan Cole pointed out that he was against boycotting Israeli professors: "I have stood with Israeli colleagues and against any attempt to marginalize them or boycott them".

Juan Cole has responded to Cole's criticism of Israeli policies and the influence of the "Israel lobby", comparing them to accusations that have been made in anti-semitic writings.

Juan Cole responded that while he personally despised "everything Ahmadinejad stands for, not to mention the odious Khomeini", he nonetheless objected to the New York Times translation.

Juan Cole wrote that it inaccurately suggested Ahmadinejad was advocating an invasion of Israel.

Juan Cole added that a better translation of the phrase would be "the occupation regime over Jerusalem should vanish from the page of time," a metaphysical if not poetic reference rather than a militaristic one.

Juan Cole stated that Hitchens was incompetent to assess a Persian-to-English translation, and accused him of unethically accessing private Cole e-mails from an on-line discussion group.

In 2006, Juan Cole was nominated to teach at Yale University and was approved by both Yale's sociology and history departments.

However, the senior appointments committee overruled the departments, and Juan Cole was not appointed.