In this video, Middle East historian and blogger Juan Cole discusses parallels between Napoleon's failed invasion of Egypt in the late 1700s and the US's current Iraq misadventure. Somehow the New America Foundation got around the YouTube 10 minute limit--it's 71 minutes but worth a watch. Cole says after Napoleon lost 12 ships to the British his troops were stranded and the invasion fell apart. Nevertheless the general returned to Paris, claimed he had won and became Emperor based on this perceived victory. This bears keeping in mind this fall as the Pentagon uses your tax money to create a 24/7 public relations "war room" to sell you on the idea that we are "succeeding" in Iraq. Treat all happy talk in the media in the coming month as completely tainted and try to get your news from blogs and the non-US press.