I don't like to be sour in writing these posts, but I have to observe that,
somehow, chomskyites engage is selective attention, which blocks out facts
that are unwelcome. Your post seems to be the result of a case in point.
The reality is that the statement made by a kidnapper and widely quoted was
as follows: "He was killed because he was anti-Islamic and a Jew." There was
no mention of a previous accusation that he was CIA. As I have explained in
an earlier post, given Daniel Pearl's personal and professional situations,
he would have been insane to be a CIA collaborator. What could be clearer?

----- Original Message -----
From: "Martin W. Smith" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, February 25, 2002 2:32 AM
Subject: Re: [CHOMSKY] Well? Where's the indignation?:-)


> "D. Simmons" wrote:
> >
> > It's been days and not a peep out of the chomskyite faction concerning
the
> > treatment of an American Jew held prisoner by the Islamic 'Freedom
Fighters'
> > of Pakistan. No demands for the Red Cross (or even the Green Crescent)
to be
> > allowed a visit? Oops! That's right, they would only have a bodiless
head to
> > speak to! That wouldn't do.:-)
>
> Who are you talking about?  I haven't heard anything about an American
> Jew being held prisoner.  Why did you tell us this person is a Jew, and
> an American, instead of telling us the person's name?  What difference
> does it make to you that a prisoner is Jewish or American?  After all
> we've written here, why would you still think Americanness and
> Jewishness would matter to us?  Can you tell us more about this person?
> The only prisoner I have heard about in the news is Daniel Pearl.  He's
> dead.  I assume he was American, but I don't know if he was Jewish. But
> he had the weight of the State Department, the CIA, the WSJ, CNN, the
> Pakistan police and who knows what other institutions working on his
> behalf, so I don't know what more we could have done.
>
> >   Oh well, I guess we have to keep in mind that these 'Freedom Fighters'
have
> > legitimate grievances against the imperialist forces of evil descending
upon
> > their peaceable kingdom.
>
> I don't think anyone referred to these people as freedom fighters,
> although since Ronald Reagan and George Bush used the that label to
> refer to the terrorists in Nicaragua, I suppose we must concede your use
> of it use here.  IT still seems obscene to refer to killing civilians as
> freedom fighting though.  Nevertheless, Pakistan isn't a kingdom,
> although it does have a dictator at the moment, whom the US is
> supporting with big dollars and arms shipments.  But some of those arms
> shipments are just the fighter jets we sold to the previous, corrupt
> regime that the current dictator overthrew.  I suppose he's a nice guy.
> He seems ok.  But, lest we forget...
>
> A dictator's a dictator
> No matter how small
> A dictator's a dictator
> After all.  -- Horton T. Elephant
>
> Maybe he will allow the people to vote soon.  I hope your message isn't
> meant to imply that anyone here advocates terrorism against the US.
> That would mean we really aren't communicating.
>
> martin
>
> --
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