The Harsh Spanking Continues

This has been a super bad month for Juan Cole. I excerpt just one point:

8. You assert that Mr. Vincent "was egregiously breaking the rules of gender segregation and female honor. He should have had a male interpreter." That is, he should have refused to offer a woman a job she was professionally qualified to do, because local men might disapprove? No doubt the women of Iraq, and of the rest of the Arab world, will be delighted to learn that the head of the Middle East Studies Association is so devoted to keeping them in their place.

Ouch. Indeed.