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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group
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To: bela_ghoulashi who wrote (11329)11/24/2001 9:52:19 AM
From: Bilow  Read Replies (1) of 281500
 
Hi blandbutmarvellous; I'm all for free speech, but the problem with guys like Chomsky is that he creates a mistaken impression in other nations of America's will to fight. He's the most famous professor in the United States. If he says we we're wrong to wage war, why shouldn't people overseas come to the conclusion that they're free to ignore US military force? Then when the Taliban ignores US demands for the ending of support for terrorism, or when Saddam ignores US demands for getting out of Kuwait, we have to kill people to accomplish what we might have been able to do peacefully. I'll bet that they never really imagine that the US is going to come get them.

But it's easy enough for guys like Saddam Hussein to convince themselves that America lacks any resolve to stop them from doing stuff like invading Kuwait. I'm not saying that Chomsky's accusations of American guilt are the deciding factor. It's more complicated than that. But surely someone who wanted to be convinced that the Americans were too weak and divided to do anything would take heart in what Chomsky says.

At times like these, with American resolve obviously manifest, Chomsky doesn't matter. It's during peacetime that he makes the US look less united than it is.

-- Carl
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