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Iraq Progress vs. Academic Intransigence

Jonathan Schanzer
SOURCE

Bits of good news continue to roll in from Iraq. Even the UN recognizes that Iraq is stabilizing. According to Aswat al-Iraq, a good source for Iraq news, a UN economic report actually praises a US loan program for helping to “achieve significant progress and rebuild Iraq’s infrastructure and economy.”

Of course, things can easily go bad again in Iraq. The country has many miles to go before anyone can claim victory.

Yet, as I noted in National Review Online yesterday, many Middle East Studies professors appear to be entrenched in their pessimistic views. It almost appears they are rooting for a failure in Iraq — which would be devastating for the U.S.

As the folks at Campus Watch argue, this kind of politicization is but one example of the failures of Middle East Studies in America.