Juan Cole the Secret Neocon

Is Juan Cole in need of a holiday? I ask because today he let it slip that he is, after all, a secret Neocon. True, he hasn't shown me his Neocon decoder ring or offered me the secret handshake. On the other hand, he did say this about relations between the U.S. and Ahmad Chalabi:

"This time the issue is said to be his deteriorating relations with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and his closeness to Brig. Gen. Qasem Soleimani, head of the Jerusalem (Quds) Brigades of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards. Actually my suspicion is that Chalabi is supporting the Mahdi Army of Muqtada al-Sadr and that is the real reason for the tension with him."

Hmm. Cole has often referred to Mookie as a "young nationalist Shiite cleric." The prof also has said that Mookie is the leader of a "social movement" rather than a gang of thugs.

Now Cole claims that it is his "suspicion" that Chalabi is supporting the Mahdi thugs. (Among Iraqis and serious Iraq observers, it has been widely assumed that Chalabi has been manipulating Mookie for years.)

Anyway, Cole's years-old support for Mookie has been as clear as the professor's disdain for Chalabi. But if Cole likes Mookie, and Mookie is Chalabi's puppet, that means Cole and Chalabi are on the same side, no? Maybe they're giving each other the secret handshake even now.