Kathryn, not only does the Wash Post’s Robin Wright cite Juan Cole as her expert, her analysis piece is schlock. It is nothing less than an attempt to bolster the spin that Bush’s policies are failing (even when they appear to be succeeding) and that “most of the neo-conservative assumptions about what would happen have proven false” – this from “analyst” Rami Khouri of the Beirut Daily Star, no doubt a keen observer of American politics.

Cole damages whatever reputation he has left further by saying that the new Iraqi government “will have very good relations with Iran. [Kurdish leader Jalal] Talabani is very close with Iran. The Kurdish victory reinforces this conclusion.”

Anybody who knows anything about Talabani and his Kurdish followers understands that they are determinedly secular, that they are Sunni not Shia, and that they are openly and avowedly pro-American. Do they want strife with their neighbor to the east? Of course not. Are they concerned about the fate of Iranian Kurds? Sure. Does Cole’s analysis anything other than leftist spin? No.

It should be noted that the NYT’s Dexter Filkins provides a much better, much fairer analysis.