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I shall be grateful if someone could re-send me the Bill Vann rebuttal. mahmood mamdani ----- Original Message ----- From: <Aswed@aol.com> To: <hc228@cam.ac.uk>; <casi-discuss@lists.casi.org.uk> Sent: Saturday, June 07, 2003 1:44 AM Subject: Re: [casi] New York Times covers up for lies on Iraq war [ Presenting plain-text part of multi-format email ] In a message dated 6/6/2003 7:25:24 AM Central Daylight Time, hc228@cam.ac.uk writes: > In his latest column, Friedman writes, “The real reason for > this war, which was never stated, was that after 9/11 > America needed to hit someone in the Arab-Muslim world. > Afghanistan wasn’t enough.” Washington could have picked > any Arab country, he argues. “Smashing Saudi Arabia or > Syria would have been fine. But we hit Saddam for one simple > reason: because we could bill vann's rebuttal and analysis of friedman's column are insightful and welcome. i thank him. before 9/11 tom friedman, it seems to this observer, was the darling of many arabs and american jews because he mildly criticized israeli policy, primarily the setlements. in that he was, to the arab, an american jew and a rare journalist who seemed willing to criticize an 'untouchable' issue; and, to the american jew, a daring voice needed to express their silent disapproval of israeli truculence. there was safety and a measure of expiation in that. friedman had a transforming epiphany after 9/11. he discovered evil and sin. his angst heightened. unfortunately, his mask was no longer opaque as bill vann shows. friedman was quite transparent in personalizing his own desires about what should be done after 9/11. the quote pasted above is in a tired style of pretending to mask one's true desires by allusions to the will of a larger group. it does not work. i have read and heard him refer repeatedly to 9/11 as a turning point in america's history that necessarily changes how the united states views its fair position in the world. he was personally frightened for his and other american children and expressed that quite emotionally in columns, in lectures and on television. significantly. using the same venues, and within the same discussions, he has lashed out repeatedly about the 'inadequacies' of arab and muslim culture, and about their shortsighted focus on perceived injustices. he has borrowed a concept from bernard lewis that arabs and muslims are 'jealous' of western culture, and are therefore angry, humiliated and alienated. westernization is the best remedy. ergo the ensuing safety of his and other american children. how arrogant and how insipid. there seems to be little or no room for complex ' patterns of culture'. thanks again for posting vann's article tony _______________________________________________ Sent via the discussion list of the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq. To unsubscribe, visit http://lists.casi.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/casi-discuss To contact the list manager, email casi-discuss-admin@lists.casi.org.uk All postings are archived on CASI's website: http://www.casi.org.uk _______________________________________________ Sent via the discussion list of the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq. To unsubscribe, visit http://lists.casi.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/casi-discuss To contact the list manager, email casi-discuss-admin@lists.casi.org.uk All postings are archived on CASI's website: http://www.casi.org.uk