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Ted,<br>
<br>
In case you missed it, I said I agreed with Chomsky on a few issues
such as Kissinger and Chile. <br>
<br>
And I won't quit looking because Chomsky is not a reliable narrator on
the matter.<br>
<br>
FYI. - to this day I believe that our mission in Vietnam was wrong and
I subscribe to the<br>
fact that U.S. policy has been deplorable in many instances. But one
must also admit<br>
that it is not simply the U.S. that is at fault in atrocities and
Chomsky rarely lays any culpability<br>
on Chinese or Soviet misdeeds, of which the deaths accrue in the
millions.<br>
<br>
The U.S. backing of Pol Pot was in response to Vietnam invading
Cambodia, but you know this.<br>
Peace stalwarts, such as George McGovern, insisted that we had violated
our agreement under<br>
the Paris accords by not re-entering Indo-china after the fall of
Saigon. At that point we were damned<br>
regardless of our position. Chomsky reacted to McGovern at the time
quite adversely. Living up to<br>
that agreement was not, nor has not since, been a discussion that
Chomsky addresses<br>
with fairness as far as I have found. Ask him about it. And ask him
about footnotes in his<br>
writing that circle back to his own work too. No wonder <b>not a
single historical review</b> has been<br>
written on any of his "historical" books by anyone in the academy of
history.<br>
<br>
I've got no dog in this fight. U.S. foreign policy historically has
been duplicitous and inconsistent.<br>
I have never defended it, although you seem to think that I'm a
uncritical defender of American<br>
policy. Our support of countries like Saudi Arabia and Egypt is
inconsistent with our own <br>
Constitution and I have taken that view for several decades. I
despised the policies of Johnson,<br>
Nixon and Ford in particular. I fault Carter for being an appeaser and
a supporter of Egypt, <br>
Reagan for standing behind middle-eastern despots, Bush I and Clinton
for the same. <br>
<br>
I do not criticize Chomsky in defense of anything. I criticize him
because he is an anti-Semitic<br>
bigot, unbalanced in his outlook, and an intellectual fraud for
professing that he is an anarchist.<br>
<br>
He'll get no respect from me. Not ever! <br>
<br>
db<br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:Tbertruss@aol.com">Tbertruss@aol.com</a> wrote:<br>
<blockquote type="cite" cite="mid1f1.36a79701.2f57f116@aol.com"><font
face="arial,helvetica"><font size="2" ptsize="10" family="SANSSERIF"
face="Arial" lang="0"><br>
Dave et. al.<br>
<br>
Thanks for replying. <br>
<br>
The Chomsky quote you tried to mud-sling, with no evidence presented,
does not exist, according to Noam Chomsky, with whom I have been in
direct correspondence. You can quit looking.<br>
<br>
There is such an abundance of scathing attacks against Chomsky that are
full of half truths and exaggerations and out of context references to
his statements that someone could write a tome just criticizing all the
criticisms.<br>
<br>
All scholars make mistakes, regardless of their ideology. But Chomsky
is one of the most careful and thorough researchers and writers I have
ever read. However, he has worked at exposing and analyzing facts that
many in very powerful positions, both in government and the private
sector, do not appreciate being exposed. Thus the deliberate and
systematic attempt to discredit his work and person with less than
scholarly tactics. Like plastering him with a nasty connection to a
brutal dictator like Pol Pot.<br>
<br>
Today on NPR, Philip Short, who wrote "Pol Pot: Anatomy of a
Nightmare," was interviewed. According to Short, the US backed Pol Pot
in a resistance effort after the Vietnamese invaded and removed him
from power, playing the usual cold war covert games. During this
period, 100,000 more were killed, and many of the land mines that now
continue to kill and maim were laid, funded in part by US sources.<br>
<br>
Dave, maybe you could investigate US government policy regarding Pol
Pot to find "scary" personalities who really endorsed and funded Pol
Pot, rather than attacking an MIT scholar, and one of the greatest
geniuses of the last century, for statements he never made.<br>
<br>
Ted Moffett</font></font>
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