Posted February 13, 2002

Not Unnoticed

[Regarding Justin Raimondo's column of February 8, posted on Etherzone as "Getting Around to It":]

...Thank you for . . . one of the best articles I've seen so far on the 9-11 tragedy and surrounding questions, among those of which are why and how it could happen. The article is expansive enough to include various angles, yet concise. And the links provided are invaluable.

I haven't usually written to authors of articles/essays/commentaries, but am trying to change that. Those such as yourself who have obviously invested much time and hard work on a difficult subject at best, deserve to be commended. I think you should know that your endeavors do not go unnoticed and are greatly appreciated.

~ V.L.

Press Failure

[Regarding Justin Raimondo's column of February 8, "9/11 Cover-Up?":]

The failure of the intelligence services in the U.S. with regard to September 11 is something that needs to be investigated. I think that any other country in the world would have launched a thorough investigation by now.... September 11 . . . is also a failure of the free press in the US ...Information pointing to an attack on US territory was present for years, . . . from embassy bombings to the US Cole attack, etc. Yet not one single reporter . . . followed up on these clearly evident signals. ...Contrast the behavior of the US press corps with the press in Japan and its relationship with Aum Shinrikyo. Remember them? They were the fundamentalist sect that gassed the Tokyo subway with sarin. This could have been as disastrous as September 11. It was only their incompetence which kept the numbers fairly small. During the years leading up to the Tokyo subway attack, a significant number of the Japanese press pursued Aum Shinrikyo, writing articles and exposés about what they were really up to. Several reporters paid for this with their lives. At least one reporter was murdered along with his family. Yet, even after that happened, others in the press corps picked up the story and pursued it. I am convinced that this lead to Aum Shinrikyo prematurely initiating their deadly assault, before they had really perfected their technique. Can you think of a single US reporter with the same tenacity and sense of civic responsibility as those Japanese reporters showed? Even now, even after September 11, I can't think of any reporter who is pursuing this with the same rigor and dedication.

~ Jim Wilson

Neil Bush

[Regarding Justin Raimondo's column of February 4, "Saudiphobes Target Neil Bush":]

That Bush II let 9/11 happened is debatable -- the least plausible scenario is that no one in the government (CIA, NSA, FBI) had any clue about the incoming attacks -- but that he was soft towards the royal family -- a big family of more than 6,000 members -- in regards to the possible relations that some of them had with dubious people was confirmed by the BBC and the Guardian last November -- quote: "There were always constraints on investigating the Saudis". They said the restrictions became worse after the Bush administration took over this year. The intelligence agencies had been told to "back off" from investigations involving other members of the Bin Laden family, the Saudi royals, and possible Saudi links to the acquisition of nuclear weapons by Pakistan. That's enough to have reasonable suspicions, whether one is an American or French.

The only thing that bothered me with Neil Bush's visit is that he said in a speech that Arabs should imitate the Israelis and engage in sustained lobbying of US politicians. As if the US, or any country, needed more lobbying from foreigners.

~ R.S., Canada

Astonished

We are really astonished about what is happening in the world. The leaders of the First World are all engaged in war and killing humankind. Churches are behind them repeating the same absurdity of protecting and covering for killers. Bush, Sharon, and the principal ones proclaiming peace ar the worst schizophrenic minds the world has seen. Many women and men of this state are trying to overcome the news, to explain to ourselves who inhabits the US territory, what the population does there, who is interested in knowing beyond frontiers. Is it for them enough to watch TV all day long? We are trying and really doing something to get peace.

~ Maria D., Chihuahua, Mexico

A Few Hours Off-Line

I will be sending a $50 donation (the best I can do for now) in support of your work. All it took was a few hours off-line to make me realize how much I value Antiwar.com as a news and editorial source.

~ Elissa E.

Aesthetic Distaste

Please keep right on giving holy hell to David Horowitz. He wouldn't be so bad if he were just obnoxious. But he knows a great deal of what he's saying is nothing but cr*p.

In Part II of his anti-Chomsky screed, he noted, Horowitz referred to Russia's hesitancy to demobilize ground forces as evidence of their aggressive intent. But in his earlier incarnation as a leftist he . . . argued (in an anthology on the Cold War) that, given Russia's history of suffering overland invasions from the west, she would have maintained a large army under almost any imaginable regime. Horowitz, so far as I can tell, never discovered a logical refutation to this argument; he just developed an aesthetic distaste to the people who were using it. As with so many other positions he finds distasteful, characterizing them ("anti-American," "leftover left," etc.) is a good enough substitute for actually answering them. When you make your opponent's argument for him, and then ignore or deliberately misconstrue his response, it's pretty easy to "refute."

Given his amazing level of sophistry in attacking his opponents, and his equally amazing obtuseness in deliberately refusing to acknowledge their actual positions, he is the poster boy for Doublethink.

~ Kevin C.

Legitimacy

You do have the best anti-war page on the net. Why do you give any space on the likes of Horowitz, Schwartz, or the National Review? The space you give to them with arguments, is just a waste. Also the space you give them, gives them legitimacy they really don't deserve and makes your page look cheap and childish. Please stick to what you do so very well and that is explaining what is happening in the world and keep your comments on that target.

~ James Glaser