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Posted December 17, 2001
Helicopter
...That downed helicopter on the videotape from yesterday – didn't the Pentagon swear up and down at the beginning of this war that it had gone down in Pakistan and not Afghanistan?
Pakistan Airlift
...On the airlift of Taliban (?) from Kunduz about 11-12 days ago – if Osama bin Laden has indeed been in Pakistan about that long, is it possible he was on one of those planes?
Founding Fathers
[Regarding Justin Raimondo's column of December 10, "The Horror of It All":]
So – do you believe the Founding Fathers got this country under their control legally? Maybe you should ask the original indigenous peoples of this country who are the "racist murderers" or didn't you think there were any left to tell the truth. Personally, I like your column most of the time. Your anti-left statements are justified. Your stance on the founding of this country is uninformed – at least it appears so.
Transcript
I was a court reporter for years, and therefore watched the much publicized Osama bin Laden tape and transcription with great curiosity today. In my profession, I learned that the omission of one single word or a misplaced comma can alter the entire context of a sentence or paragraph. For instance, the omission of the word "if" before a sentence transforms the sentence from what might be theoretical musing to a statement of fact. The misplacement of a comma, as in "I don't know," to "I don't, no," can be catastrophic. Also, there are no "(inaudible words)" acceptable in a valid transcript. A transcript such as was shown on TV today would be thrown out of court, for not only was it non-verbatim, but also it was manhandled in ways unknown to the public for three weeks by the prosecutor and his team. Another observation: At the beginning, bin Laden and his friend are discussing dreams they all had, and these dream segments, related by both, and then a third party, are intertwined with what are purported to be statements of reality. The listener doesn't know where the dream begins and this alleged reality takes over. I personally find the tape totally unacceptable as any kind of proof of anything.
~ Sonja Coryat, Clearlake, California
500 Servlet Exception
Thanks for the great site. It is, if you didn't know, invaluable! I share it with people as often as I can. On a technical note, am I the only one who finds it now impossible to connect to the Independent, a source for some of your most important and interesting stories? I get an error page – "500 Servlet exception" – whether I try to connect to the site via your links or through typing its URL in a fresh browser. Just curious if it you'd heard of this problem.
Eric Garris replies:
Yes, but it usually only lasts a few minutes. If you wait a minute and hit reload, it will often come up.
Secure Site
I appreciate a lot the existence of Antiwar.com. I want to give a donation, but I cannot give a credit card number to an unsecure site. Could a secure site be available for such donation?
Eric Garris replies:
Our credit card donation system is secure. When you enter the amount and hit submit, it takes you to a secure site hosted by our credit card processor, AuthorizeNet.
So-Called Terrorists
So, let's see. When the FBI, CIA, etc. goes after suspected Arab terrorists, they are "so-called" and we as libertarians and opponents of big government and security agencies and so on have to express our anger, frustration, doubts, skepticism. But, hey, when those same agencies arrest a few Israelis selling stuff in shopping malls in the Midwest, well, at that point we have to buy into the government's allegations, and to applaud the arrests. When the government accuses Arabs of something, your web site mocks them, ridicules their allegations of "conspiracy." But when the government accuses Israelis, your site just can't enough of those "conspiracy" allegations. Also, you guys seem to be so, so funny, so ironic when it comes to politically correct standards as they apply to blacks, Jews, and the rest. But when someone says something nasty about those Arabs, then Justin and Scott and the rest ... are transformed into sweet, sensitive guys, so concerned about the feelings of those poor Arabs and Moslems. What is it, Justin, someone is trying to defame those poor Saudis? You guys have become one big joke after 9/11.
Justin Raimondo replies:
If you think the Israelis were here just selling stuff in shopping malls, then you haven't been paying attention to the 4-part Fox News series we've been running. Lose the crack pipe, Kim, and start reading....