🚀 go-pugleaf

Imno1 wrote:
> As an ex-academic I agree with and appreciate much of what you say
about
> academic freedom and the way in which the great universities go about

> recruiting and retaining people who will make a contribution to the
> university. But with academic freedom come the responsibility to
speak with
> fact and .reason.. Demagogues or politicians, or talk radio hosts can
play
> fast and loose  but the mark of the scholar is sticking to facts,
even
> though they may be uncomfortable to many, and to reason with those
facts in
> a new or different kind of way-this is what academic freedom is meant
for.
>    Does Ward Churchill meet that test?
>   Do you, or anybody believe that . 500,000 Iraqui children were
killed by
> the embargo on Iraq and or that the deaths that did result  were
solely due
> to the US -this in the face of mounting evidence of fraud and
corruption
> reaching into the UN and European corporations and  countries that
were
> working  with Saddam to make money off the embargo for him and his >
henchman.

I'm troubled by the practice these days of looking to somehow mitigate
the U.S.'s responsibility once the full understanding of the U.S.' role
behind atrocities becomes public.

"Look at what Europe does," "Look at what the UN does," are the
equivalent of "All of the other kids were doing something bad."

We (the U.S.) are the most dangerous culture that has ever been on the
planet.  We have the biggest and most of everything.  We have the worst
and largest weapons on the globe.  We have a special responsibility to
be better, beyond reproach, without any appearance of impropriety or
wrongdoing, more than any of the other kids on the block.  Combined.
We have to be pristine and saintly.

We are not even close.

Nothing was happening in the food-for-oil program that the U.S. wasn't
aware of and didn't sign off on.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/02/02/iraq.oil.smuggle/

I believe that the number of deaths of Iraqi children due to the
sanctions is substantial.  Whether it's 500,000, "227,000-350,000" or
1,000,000+, does not lessen the U.S.'s responsibility.

Check it out for yourself -
http://www.unicef.org/newsline/99pr29.htm
http://samsara.mind.net/nuclear/depleted.html
http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/sanction/iraq1/2004/01sanctionsworth.htm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/418597.stm
http://www.xs4all.nl/~stgvisie/VISIE/caldicott.html
http://www.shareguide.com/Caldicott.html
http://www.hiddenwars.org
http://www.nuclearpolicy.org
http://www.iacenter.org/depleted
http://www.endthewar.org/frontps/Op-eds/medicalreasons.htm
http://www.rimbaud.freeserve.co.uk/dhap99f.html
http://www.chugoku-np.co.jp/abom/uran/index_e.html
http://www.chugoku-np.co.jp/abom/uran/iraq_kids_e/index.html:
http://www.ngwrc.org

Center for Defense Information
http://www.cdi.org

World Policy Institute
http://www.worldpolicy.org/projects/arms

Education for Peace in Iraq Center (EPIC)
http://www.saveageneration.org

Institute for Policy Studies
http://www.ips-dc.org

>From the Wilderness Publications
http://www.copvcia.com

Iraq Action Coalition
http://www.iraqaction.org

Military Toxic Project
http://www.miltoxproj.org

Fellowship of Reconciliation
http://www.forusa.org

National Network to end the War against Iraq
http://www.endthewar.org

The American Gulf War Veterans Association
http://www.gulfwarvets.com
http://www.thepowerhour.com

The Mariam Appeal
http://www.mariamappeal.com

Voices in the Wilderness
http://www.voicesinthewilderness.org

The Canadian Network to end the Sanctions on Iraq
http://www.canesi.org

United Nations Association Film Festival at Stanford University, Palo
Alto
http://www.unaff.org

http://hopedance.org
http://www.100fires.com
http://www.conflict-resolution.org/sitebody/education/lectureseries.htm

> Churchill charges that Al-Queda exploded the twin towers to take
revenge for
> these deaths-which fits into Bush's contention that there is a link
between
> Al0-Quaeda terrorism and Iraq..-except that no link has ever been >
shown.

That's not what Churchill said.

You're doing exactly what I suggested people flee from - you're
attributing words and beliefs to Churchill that he didn't say.

I think that people should hear and see him for themselves.