NP: Iraq

[Jon]

David Morris wrote:
> --- Jon <jmsmall at vheissu.freeserve.co.uk> wrote:
> > Conversely, what you have said is "intelligence reports have said that Sadaam
> evacuated truckloads of them to Syria" followed by a request for me prove that
> this is not true.
> 
> Wrong.  I mentioned an "intelligence report" which by definition may or may not
> be true, and I didn't profess my faith, just a possibility.  You, on the other
> hand dismissed it as a lie.  It was your certainty I challenged.

I did say it made me laugh, I didn't say it was a lie. It made me laugh
because it was an unsubstantiated claim which I heard coming from one of
the proponents of the war, as a news "soundbite". We get so many of
those, which later disappear without trace, that they often make me
chuckle - often the source of the humour is the fact it has been
reported at all, with no further investigation, then just disappears and
later turns out to have been untrue. This indicates journalism which is
lazy to the point of being dangerous. As for this particular claim -
it's not necessarily a lie, I would like it to be further investigated,
but I doubt we will ever hear it again. You can hold me to this - if
it's true, I'll buy you a beer. I'll even send it airmail across the
Atlantic.
 
> > If it is proved I will gracefully apologise for doubting Mr Rumsfeld and Co.
> Until then I will be treating it like all the other unsubstantiated claims and
> counter-claims from professional propagandists to which we have been subjected
> over the past months.
> 
> Which would be to reject anything which doesn't agree with your viewpoint.  Can
> you see how this is like the pot calling the kettle black?

Being sceptical about such statements on face value is different from
being sceptical about such statements without proper evidence. I doubted
that particular statement, I doubt most things I hear which come from
interested parties whose position it supports, until they are
corroborated. Doesn't everyone? Isn't that the way we avoid being
manipulated and keep ourselves fully informed? You're claiming that I
apply this principle selectively - I don't think this is supported in
what I've written.

Jon