[lit-ideas] Re: Mirembe and the need for Blackwater
- From: "Lawrence Helm"<lawrencehelm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 19 Sep 2007 23:40:09 +0000
Why oh why do all you myriads of non-leftists who take offense at my wanting to
wait until all the facts are in before judging Blackwater -- who take offense
at my thinking security forces a good thing -- who take offense at my
delineating the"typical" Lit-Ideas member as Leftist -- who take offense that I
could possibly think a former member of Lit-Ideas might have, gasp, been
Leftist, who took offense at virtually every pro-American, anti-Jihadist
statement I've made -- why have none of you purportedly ubiquitous Lit-Ideas
non-Leftists taken offense at one of your fellow members who wrote:
"BLACKWATER -- has there ever been a more appropriate name for an evil
enterprise? I predict that in the near future "Bush" will become a curse word
even for conservative Americans. Then Cheney will to Leahy say, 'Bush you.'"
And then in a subsequent note: "They are hired killers, Lawrence. They are in
the business of killing people, they have no other motive but making money.
Self-defense, righting wrongs, freedom, justice, democracy, etc. all those
"noble" motives we cover ourselves with mean nothing to these companies or to
those who work for them. Maintaining a military is probably a necessary evil,
but evil none the less. However, these mercenary companies are evil through
and through, there's no necessity about them whatsoever. They're a scourge to
the human race."
Can it be, oh myriads of ubiquitous copious non-Leftist Lit-Idears that you,
cough cough, don't find them offensive?
Lawrence
------------Original Message------------
From: Robert Paul <rpaul@xxxxxxxx>
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Wed, Sep-19-2007 4:16 PM
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Mirembe and the need for Blackwater
> I was slandering Mike not Mirembe.
That is, you were trying to slander Mike, by slandering Mirembe? (I'd
look up the meaning of 'slander' before I admitted to engaging in it,
if I were you.)
> I know that in recent notes she is described as not commenting on
> this issue > but someone, early on, did comment.
Mirembe, and other State Department officials did. She happened to be
the embassy spokesperson when the Blackwater incident took place. What
was said, and by whom, was covered by sources you may not consult,
e.g., the NY Times and the Washington Post. In any event, nobody from
the embassy (or from the State Department) is talking about
responsibility. The word is that the US and the Iraqi governments are
conducting 'a thorough investigation,' etc. It surprises me a bit that
someone of your sophistication would believe that in speaking as the
spokeswoman for the US embassy in Baghdad, Mirembe was speaking for
herself.
> I'm amazed that you can remember every note Mirembe posted. I can't
> even remember every note I posted.
I can't, of course, remember every note she or I or anyone else
posted. But I'd have remembered something so out of character and so
out of keeping with the hopes she had for a list devoted to original
aims of Phil-Lit and its successors. I might not remember every pail
of milk with a piece of straw in it,
but I'd remember the one with the trout.
> And, sorry, but the predominant political position of those who post
> on politics -- here on Lit Ideas (and also on Theoria by the way)
> is Leftist.
By your definition, perhaps; but your definition of 'Leftist' is so
ludicrous that it does no work in a discussion: e.g. your constant
identification of Leftists as 'anti-American' jihadist supporters, etc.
Finally, here's a clip of a session in which Mirembe and an Army major
general answer questions regarding the Blackwater incident.
http://dodvclips.mil/index.jsp?auto_band=x&rf=sv&fr_story=FRsupt217597&rf
Don't be surprised that at first, Mirembe begins to screech; that's
the translator. She gets her own voice back soon.
Robert Paul
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