From: davidba@carmel.technion.ac.il (David Ben_Ami)
Subject: Re: The left lies pathetically (was Re: 3rd WORLD RESOURCES: PAMPHLETS/ARTICLES (Vol 8, No 2))
Organization: Technion, Israel Inst. of Technology
Date: Wed, 12 Aug 1992 19:45:39 GMT

In article <1992Aug10.132028.249522@cs.cmu.edu> anwar+@cs.cmu.edu (Anwar Mohammed) writes:
>
>I remember the point in my life when I realized that the american left was as
>sleazy as the far right.   It was several weeks after Kuwait was invaded and
>the various organizations mobilizing to oppose both U.S. action in the Gulf
>region and, in some cases, sanctions against Iraq were beginning a long propaganda
>campaign marked by an embarrassing departure from the facts, susceptibility to
>Iraqi propaganda, and vacillation on condemnations of Iraq's aggression and
>human rights violations.
>
>The outright lies regarding Kuwait's origins and Iraq's claims were recently
>repeated here by Phill Hallam-Baker and "prince lev".  While this was the most
>common distortion, the following contributed to the distortions:
>
>Jesse Jackson's claim that Iraq had "legitimate claims" while it was hold U.S.
>hostages and committing the most atrocious human rights violation in occupied
>Kuwait.
>
>Ramsey Clark, the Worker's World Party, and their Stalinist cronies claimed that
>Kuwait was stealing Iraqi oil, encroaching on Iraqi territory, and was conspiring
>to destroy Iraq's economy.  These particular groups went so far as to oppose UN
>sanctions to end Iraq's occupation of Kuwait, as they supported Iraq's
>annexation!
>
>Publications like The Nation, Mother Jones, the L.A. Weekly, and our local Village
>Voice/L.A. Weekly rip-off newspaper freely repeated these lies again and again.
>
>One local group touted an Iraqi national as a "Kuwaiti who opposed the war" and
>tacitly approved of the occupation.  This "Kuwaiti" had lived in Kuwait for
>8 years, grounds for citizenship in the eyes of the loony leftists.  This
>group obviously felt it had the authority to grant said citizenship as well.
>Unfortunately, incidents like this were surprisingly common.  Our local papers
>featured interviews with "Kuwaiti students" (in one case, Palestinians whose
>education in the U.S. was being funded by the Kuwaiti government) who opposed
>actions taken against the occupation and approved of aspects of Iraq's
>invasion.
>
>Now we have the latest distorting report:
>
>While it accurately reports the deportations of Palestinians in the country, it
>misattributes the post-liberation vengeance campaign to the government, which, I
>admit with a good deal of shame, were mostly spontaneous campaign of retribution
>by Kuwaitis hit hard by the occupation and furious with Palestinian support for
>Saddam Hussein.   Attributing these killing to the government is ridiculous, as
>the government took steps to stop the vengeance attacks by restricting the
>movements of *Kuwaitis* in Palestinian neighborhoods, most notably Hawalli and Nugra.
>
>[ I note again here that the likes of Harel Barzilai were busy during the occupation
>of Kuwait complaining about Kuwait's large foreign population.  After the occupation,
>Harel and friends now condemn the deportations of the largest portion of this foreign
>population. ]
>
>Rape has never been reported by Amnesty, Middle East Watch, any news organization,
>or any other human rights organization *as being part of any government-organized
>campaign* (or any vengeance campaign).  Where rape *was* reported was in the case
>of the abuse of several score of Phillipino women who worked as maids in Kuwait.
>This had more to do with the racist attitudes of a small minority of Kuwaitis
>who hired these women.  It is comparable to the mistreatment of illegal aliens
>and migrant workers in the U.S. rather than the "government's post-war campaign
>for vengeance."
>
>I wonder to what degree the publishers of this "news"letter have embellished the
>Middle East Watch report:
>
>In article <9208100614.AA07454@poly.math.cornell.edu> harelb@MATH.CORNELL.EDU (Harel Barzilai) writes:
>>Topic 115       PAMPHLETS & ARTICLES, 8:2 - 1992        Response 10 of 10
>>tfenton
>>twr.nl  12:21 am  Jun 28, 1992
>>
>>    ***<A VICTORY TURNED SOUR: HUMAN RIGHTS IN KUWAIT SINCE 	
>>    LIBERATION.> Aziz Abu Hamad. Middle East Watch, c/o Human Rights
>>    Watch, 485 Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10017-6104. <Middle East Watch
>>    Report.> September 1991. 63 pp. Notes.
>>
>>    "Despite the prominent role played by calls to defend human rights
>>    in rallying support for the war against Iraq [in early 1991], the
>>    reinstated Kuwaiti government has trampled on those rights at
>>    nearly every turn, often with the use of violence," this Middle
>>    East Watch report charges.
>>
>>    Citing evidence gathered during fact-finding missions to Kuwait in
>>    early and mid-1991 Aziz Abu Hamad, senior researcher at Middle
>>    East Watch, describes and examines all aspects of what he calls
>>    the Kuwaiti government's post-war "campaign for vengeance." These
>>    aspects include extrajudicial killings, disappearances, torture
>>    and ill-treatment, rape, prolonged incommunicado detention,
>>    arbitrary arrest and detention, summary expulsions, and more.
>>
>>    In a concluding section of <A Victory Turned Sour> Aziz Abu Hamad
>>    describes the U.S. government's stance regarding human rights
>>    violations in Kuwait, contending that "the U.S. Administration has
>>    shown a disturbing unwillingness to protest severe abuses in
>>    Kuwait." "Evidently more concerned with reaping the political
>>    dividends of the Desert Storm military victory than with
>>    highlighting anything that might tarnish that endeavor, the [Bush]
>>    Administration has acted far more as a defender of the Kuwaiti
>>    government--rebutting human rights criticisms and actively seeking
>>    to deflect attention from Kuwaiti abuses--than as a government
>>    intent on living up to the human rights principles which formed
>>    part of the rallying cry for war with Iraq."
>>
>
>
>--
>Anwar Mohammed                           Graduate Student
>anwar+@cs.cmu.edu  (NeXTmail welcome)    School of Computer Science
>Voice: +1 412 268 3043                   Carnegie-Mellon University
>Fax:   +1 412 681 5739                   Pittsburgh, PA  15213-3890

Newsgroups: talk.politics.mideast
Subject: Re: The left lies pathetically (was Re: 3rd WORLD RESOURCES: PAMPHLETS/ARTICLES (Vol 8, No 2))
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Organization: Technion, Israel Inst. of Technology
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In article <1992Aug10.132028.249522@cs.cmu.edu> anwar+@cs.cmu.edu (Anwar Mohammed) writes:
>
>I remember the point in my life when I realized that the american left was as
>sleazy as the far right.   It was several weeks after Kuwait was invaded and
>the various organizations mobilizing to oppose both U.S. action in the Gulf
>region and, in some cases, sanctions against Iraq were beginning a long propaganda
>campaign marked by an embarrassing departure from the facts, susceptibility to
>Iraqi propaganda, and vacillation on condemnations of Iraq's aggression and
>human rights violations.
>

This War made the Kuwaitis suffer what we suffer all the time. Of 
coures this is Ironic because the Kuwaitis themselves used to help
thier "brethren" use the same tactic against Israel. The "Holy Wrath"
of Anwar reminds me of the "unjustly treated Cossack".

Arab propaganda used to lure "the loony left" into bashing Israel and
Zionism to no end with the same nutty arguments of "Israel stealing
and oppressing poor Arabs". "The Arabs are just claiming their own
and have justified claims".

The same isolationist and bleeding-heart liberals are the spearhead of
the "Anti-Zionist" (c.f. Arf and Yigal Arens). It is indeed engrossing
to see these 2 opposite groups unite against Israel amd later against
Kuwait.

Anwar might say: "well, but you [the Israelis] are indeed thugs and
murderers, we were genuinely innocent" he might even compare the Palestinians
are to be the analouges of Kuwait. This of course shows how deep the brainwash
agianst Israel had run. The Kuwaitis felt the cold and cynical machine
that they supported against Israel turn around against them. The Palestinians 
who cried wolf after they got kicked justly from Kuwait [Paraphrase of
your position in the argument with Anisa] are crying wolf against Israel
knowing they will get away with mischief with their rich "brethren".

The Kuwaitis felt also the boot they supported all these years (against
Israel as well as against Iran). They're squeals are indeed genuine and
I pity them for they're naivette (or playing naive in the case of the
officials). I hope they will they learn their lesson and stop all support
the Arab vicious regimes (Assad/Arafat are no better then Saddam) and
sympathize with Israel as we sympathized with them during the Gulf.
[if not for the Arab request we would be glad to help free Kuwait and
 cause we were appaled by the atrocities of the Iraqis in Kuwait, 
 knowing very well we would face the same if not worse if we are ever
 defeated in battle].

>Anwar Mohammed                           Graduate Student
>anwar+@cs.cmu.edu  (NeXTmail welcome)    School of Computer Science
>Voice: +1 412 268 3043                   Carnegie-Mellon University
>Fax:   +1 412 681 5739                   Pittsburgh, PA  15213-3890

David.
-- 
=============================================================================
  David Ben-Ami (irc: bigdav)      |   "I can resist anything but Temptation"
  s2780369@Techst02.Technion.Ac.Il |       Oscar Wilde
  davidba@Carmel.Technion.Ac.Il  davidba@Moav.Techniona.Ac.Il
Newsgroups: talk.politics.mideast