Comments on: Living in a Dream World

By: Michael E. Piston

Michael E. Piston — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 18:56:44 +0000

If even such rabid anti-American activists as Alex Cockburn and William Blum are unconvinced by the 9-11 “skeptics” case, I’m not either. Ask yourself carefully if Al Qaeda was not responsible for the September 11 attacks why has UBL and KSM (before he was arrested) loudly and repeatedly taken responsibility for it? And if the neoconservative were indeed behind this attack, why wouldn’t've they have framed Iraq for it, for whom extensive evidence exists that they were seeking an excuse to attack long before September 11, rather than Al Qaeda which, as Richard Clarke’s and others memoirs confirm, they had little interest or concern about prior to September 11?

By: Michael E. Piston

Michael E. Piston — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 18:49:03 +0000

Kannan Makiya is certainly a ideological supporter of human rights and democracy, but in my own personal dealings with him I have found him the very opposite of a jerk. Despite his acknowledged standing as the leading internationally recognized political analyst on Iraq he for many years served as an expert witness in the cases of Iraqi asylum seekers for token compensation, always taking substantial time to review their case histories in detail and then to testifying with intelligence and graciousness, subjecting himself in the process to rude obnoxious and ignorant cross examination from government attorneys who fully deserved the term “jerk”. I didn’t watch the program “lester” referred to, but from my observation of Mr. Makiya’s patient response to sneering ridicule from government attorneys, it is difficult to believe that the description of his performance on NPR is accurate.

By: Tough Guy With Falsetto

Tough Guy With Falsetto — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 20:48:54 +0000

Kristol and his tribe never tire of maligning people–Americans, Arabs, Journalists and Generals–who actually live and breathe in the Middle East. But they sure can type.