The following is an archived copy of a message sent to a Discussion List run by the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq.
Views expressed in this archived message are those of the author, not of the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq.
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I have qualified my remarks quite clearly by saying that the info. needed is the one not poured on us. Cordesman has all the op.eds. in North America to make is obnoxious and racist vision of the world known. Being pro-torture is only part of his problem. If you believe in the ticking bombing stupidity, then you believe two false things. That torture does indeed prevent terrorism and that the problem of the Israelo-Palestinian conflict is about terrorism. Cordesman does believe that. Thruth is it ain't! No quantifiable proofs are made about prevention of terrorism by torture and the Israelo-Palestinian conflict is about colonialism, dispossession and oppression. Cordesman believed in the containment of Iraq through sanctions (WMD). There weren't any and sanctions were genocide. So he is also, amongst is many credentials, a criminal advocate for genocide. Cordesman's article was about the US leading the way for Iraq's reconstruction. It is Iraqis who must lead the way for their own country's reconstruction. When I go to a dentist I don't want someone who might have some part of his expertise link to dentistery. When you have your car fixed for a problem you don't want to have a car repair person that will start by telling you it 'could' be the seats. It ain't so and you have to go back and he tells you it could be the radio. It ain't so you and have to go back. And he tells you it could be the tires. It ain't so and you move to another shop which repairs your radiator on first check and fixes the problem. Well, the first garage had many diversed expensive opinions about what your car's problem could have been. Imagine that thinking with a doctor. You have recurrent headaches you say, no problem, we'll take your appendices out. Hey! There's bound to be "some truth" in there somewhere. There always is. That the brains control some function of the appendices maybe? My point is Cordesman is a charlatan. No need to read him and his ilk which you can do by subscribing to the New York Times. Whereas UNSG reports on the oil for food, which gave TRUE information on the humanitarian situation on the ground in Iraq through reports from a thousand plus UN inspectors there were rarely and unreliably reported by the mainstream press around the world. I do not care for relativism and do not care for opinions. CASI's reputation has never been and is not based on those "various opposing opinions" but on facts. Cordesman and the zionist lawyer who is a proponent of torture in the US (can't remember is name) never offer that, facts. But there views are highly and easily publicised nonetheless. If CASI were to turn into a privileged space of incompetent opinion postings just for a relativist fun experience point of view I would undoubtedly unsubscribe very quickly from it. A variety of competent and on the ground experienced opinions is very different than a variety of opinions based on imperialist fantasies and racist superiority feelings. Cordesman never knows what he's talking about. He has never even been to Iraq where as most who post on this list either have been or have been exposed through their own groups to people who have been there. That's how you build credibility and sustain it. Not by becoming a hot pudge of baseless opinions, moods, impressions and other relativist nonesense "from all sides". Marc Azar CASI Lists Manager a écrit: > On Aug 28 2003, Marc Azar wrote: > > > So I don't want it. And I strongly disagree with Peter's relativist > >> premiss. A mailing list is not about freedo(o)m and democracy for all. >> It's about uniting people around a common purpuse. Very different. If >> you don't agree with the objectives of a said list then you don't have >> any 'right' to join it. > > > Frankly I very much agreed with Peter's posting. Cordesman is > influential, which makes it important to know what he is arguing (you > have to know what the enemy is thinking), secondly, what he says as > regards Iraq (I remember his pre-war piece 'Planning for a > self-inflicted wound') might actually have some truth in it. In fact, > I think it does, otherwise I would have hesitated to post it to the > list. It may be your enemy who tells you that it is raining outside, > but nonetheless this might be true. > As to the purpose of the list, CASI's website and lists have always > been about supplying information. Also about uniting people, also > about running a campaign - but very much and often in the foreground, > about supplying accurate, high-quality information about the situation > in Iraq (that might be at times come from people you disagree with > profoundly). > >> > My own ambition for CASI has always been that its material would be >> so > good that anyone seriously interested in the subject, whatever >> their > own angle, would be obliged to refer to it. I'm sure this is >> already > the case with the website. It ought to be the case with the >> discussion > list as well. > > > I could not agree more. > >> > This may not be the best moment to say this in the wake of - or >> perhaps > in the midst of - the Darin Zeilweger episode but so long >> as the > language is courteous and we're not getting bombarded by >> spam, this > list should, I believe be open to everyone. Including >> proponents of > torture. > > > Again I fully agree, though I might feel tempted to put along the > lines of 'open to everyone who supplies quality information and > analysis, curteously, to the point, and in form of new points, rather > than repetitions.' > > nicholas > _______________________________________________ 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