----- Original Message ----- From: "Dennis Perrin" <dperrin at comcast.net> To: <lbo-talk at lists.panix.com> Sent: Friday, May 03, 2002 3:04 PM Subject: Re: appeasers, cowards, moral idiots
> > > Dennis, could you give an example of somebody who said that
> > >"the al-Qaeda/Taliban gangsters should have been left alone', maybe
> > >along with a direct quote supporting what you're claiming?
> >
> > Whoever you might have in mind, it doesn't include those who
> > in fact Hitchens attacked for similar purported reasons - the
> > "Chomsky-Zinn-Finkelstein quarter", Sam Husseini of Fairness and
> > Accuracy in Reporting, and Edward Herman, among others - for all of
> > whom there is zero evidence for such a charge. Carrol is referring to
> > this capacity of Hitchens for (careerist) demagogy.
>
> > Mark
>
> Who among those you've listed supported hitting al-Qaeda and throwing
their
> Taliban sponsors out of power? None that I know of. Yes, yes -- Chomsky
said
> that "some force" may be needed down the line, but he didn't specifically
> spell out what kind he had in mind, and if "some force" were eventually
> exerted (maybe after the pro-Taliban elements of the ISI took control of
the
> nuclear-armed Pakistani state?), whether under UN auspices or through
direct
> US action, how different would it be from what has occured? Would there be
> no aerial bombing? No ground troops? No direct battles with
al-Qaeda/Taliban
> loyalists in the mountains? And besides, I seem to recall Chomsky
admitting
> that, if after exhausting diplomatic means to get bin Laden and his gang
> turned over to international authorities failed, perhaps we should "do
> nothing."
>
> DP
I'm confused. Are you saying that unless someone has specific remedies for
removing the al-Qaeda from Afghanistan or elsewhere that it amounts to the
equivalent of giving them a pass on whatever their crimes may be?
I follow Chomsky pretty well and certainly don't hang on his every word but
can't recall his saying we should just leave the Taliban and/or al-Qaeda
alone. Don't Chomsky-Zinn-Finkelstein call for first gathering proof of
wrongdoing and then exhausting all legal means at our disposal before
considering (or not considering) what amounts to illegal military means to
accomplish our objectives, however ill defined they are? I would like the
'do nothing' Chomsky quote referenced if possible.
John Thornton