[Peace-discuss] Comments by William Blum

[Morton K. Brussel]

This is an excerpt from William Blum , author of Rogue State. He has  
lots more of insightful thoughts in his latest contribution at

http://members.aol.com/bblum6/aer41.htm

Unwelcome guests at the table of the respectable folk
Sen. Joseph Biden, Democrat from Delaware, the new chairman of the  
Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has announced four weeks of  
hearings focused on every aspect of US policy in Iraq. He really  
wants to get to the bottom of things, find out how and why things  
went so wrong, who are the ones responsible, hold them accountable,  
and what can be done now. The committee will hear the testimony of  
top political, economic and intelligence experts, foreign diplomats,  
and former and current senior US officials, like Condoleezza Rice,  
Brent Scowcroft, Samuel Berger, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Henry Kissinger,  
Madeleine Albright and George Shultz.[20] All the usual suspects.

But why not call upon some unusual suspects? Why do congressional  
committees and committees appointed by the White House typically not  
call experts who dissent from the official explanations? Why not hear  
from people who had the wisdom to protest the invasion of Iraq and  
condemn it in writing before it even began? People who called the war  
illegal and immoral, said we should never start it, and predicted  
much of the horrible outcome. Surely they may have some insights and  
analyses that will not be heard from the mouths of the usual suspects.

Likewise, why didn't the September 11 Committee, or any of the  
congressional committees dealing with the terrorist attack, call upon  
any of the numerous 9-11 experts who have done extensive research and  
who question various aspects of the official story?

Traditionally, of course, such committees have been formed to put a  
damper on dissident questioning of official stories, to ridicule them  
as "conspiracy theorists", not to give the dissidents a larger audience.
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