From: Lawrence DeBivort (debivort@umd5.umd.edu)
Date: Sat 09 Nov 2002 - 18:47:47 GMT
Greetings, Joe,
My last visit was pre-1991.
My point is this: that you are expressing views that closely mirror that of
the spin that is being put out by the DoD and White House and their
associated contractors, and it shows little understanding of Iraq as it
actually is. There are a lot of instant 'experts' on Iraq who learn enough
to through some names around, and then launch into providing analysis and
recommendations. A little like everyone becoming an expert on terrorism.
People who have been studying terrorism for years - before it became the
intellectual-fad-of-the-moment -- (e.g. G. Post, B. Hoffman) are far more
thoughtful and cautious than the Bush cowboys. And the same is true of those
who have studied the Middle East for years - they simply do not come close
to the same thinking as Bush and his right-wing advisors. You speak with
the certainty of someone who should have been studying the Middle East for
many years, so I asked about any experience you might have with Iraq, or the
Middle East, for that matter.
Goldberg has written many fine articles on the Middle East. He is getting
over there a lot, and is developing better and better contacts, especially
in Egypt. He has a bit of an 'agenda', as you may have noticed, but within
that reality does a good job. The article you cite was not one of his best,
overall, though it produced some great anecdotal information about the
widespread horror inflicted by the Saddan regime on the Kurds. Not many
people in the American or European public know about this, so it was a
useful article. But Goldberg was also the first to admit that for this
article he was being led around by people who had an interest in having a
strong anti-Saddam story told. He tried to distinguish between reality and
spin and did a creditable job, over all. Where he _probably_ errs is in his
attempts to summarize the magnitude of the attacks, but he was not the first
nor last to struggle with this.
Cheers,
Lawry
-----Original Message-----
From: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk [mailto:fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk]On Behalf Of
joedees@bellsouth.net
Sent: Saturday, November 09, 2002 1:23 PM
To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk; fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk
Subject: RE: The terrorism meme
> LdB: >Joe, have you ever visited Iraq?
> >
> Scott: I haven't. Have you?
> LdB: Yes, I have. But my question is to Joe.
>
No. How long ago was your visit?
And what about Jeffrey Goldberg's?
http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?020325fa_FACT1
>
>
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This was distributed via the memetics list associated with the
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For information about the journal and the list (e.g. unsubscribing)
see: http://www.cpm.mmu.ac.uk/jom-emit
===============================================================
This was distributed via the memetics list associated with the
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For information about the journal and the list (e.g. unsubscribing)
see: http://www.cpm.mmu.ac.uk/jom-emit
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