<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <META content="MSHTML 5.50.4916.2300" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>nathan wrote:</FONT></DIV> <DIV><EM>From the headline identifying with Iraq's demands to phrases like "unity </EM>among the Iraqi people" to "unified struggle", the WWP/IAC folks have framed <BR>Hussein as leader of his people against US oppression. Whatever the merits of the specific procedural issues involved, the description of meetings with <BR>Iraqi officials and tone of the article definitely involved "cosying up to Hussein" and identifying with him, just as the IAC has identified with Milosevic. <BR></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>--I don't find this convincing at all. They meet with Saddam and high ranking officials. OK, well, so has Scott Ritter, a rather important person these days in the anti-war mv't. He's not a lefty, in fact he's a hawk. Yet on this last trip he went to meet with the leadership of Iraq. And he got lambasted for doing that as 'showing support to Iraq's leaders'...simply a ploy to take away from the point of the trip and his positions. </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I would agree that there is no need for leftists to shy away from openly criticising the Saddam gov't, after all he has done massive harm to left/popular forces in Iraq.  But I don't think that that needs to be our main concern as Americans. Our real concern should be in preventing a war in Iraq, given what we know about the motivations of our leaders and the horrifying effects of war on the Iraqi population. It seems that even a hawk like Scott Ritter can see this, why is it such a big deal? </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>2) On the issue of Iraqi "unity"....why does Clarke emphasize that? Because he's right, that is a likely effect of a war on Iraq, something that is ok for Nicholas Kristoff and Ed Kennedy to talk about frankly today...how come when the lefties do it we suddenly get all nervous..."oh, look, see, Clarke says the people of Iraq will be unified...he must adore Saddam..."  I really don't see the big deal.  </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV></BODY></HTML>