Re: Kiwi jailed for his efforts to help the British think for themselves...

In message <87hd4pfdfk.fsf@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Gareth McCaughan <Gareth.McCaughan@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

The Second Gulf War ended in 1991, which fits with what
I thought I'd heard elsewhere about when S. left Iraq.
Are you sure it was "about two years"?

Andy has kindly written to me privately to suggest that you are mistaking
the Iran-Iraq war for the first Gulf War.

But S. doesn't offer eyewitness testimony about the key point
at issue, namely whether Iraq in 2003 had weapons of mass
destruction which it shipped to Syria just before the invasion.
He wasn't an eyewitness. As I understand it -- please correct
me if I've got this sdrawkcab -- what he offers is an uncorroborated
claim that a couple of un-named Iraqis were eyewitnesses and told
him that Iraq had WMD and shipped them to Syria.

Unfortunately the book is down in Bromyard, but as I recall he doesn't even
claim that a couple of un-named people told him xyz. He merely says that xyz
happened. The point is that he moved in circles where it was possible for
such information to become known.

To take an illustration: if you and I were to make contradictory statements
about the proceedings of Rhyl Cytun (Churches Together) you might be
entirely correct and I might be entirely wrong, but people aware of our
geographical locations would be entirely reasonable to consider that I was
in a position to know more about the subject than you are. Without
additional evidence to support your statement or refute mine, it would be
reasonable to accept my account in preference to yours.

That doesn't constitute eyewitness testimony. I have no reason
to believe that S. is telling the truth.

But have you any reason to believe that he is *not* telling the truth? (or
at least, the truth as he understands it)

I have no reason to
believe that S.'s informants, if they do in fact exist and did
in fact say what he says they say, were telling the truth.
It isn't difficult to think of possible motivations for *not*
telling the truth in either case.

A statement that could be used to discredit *anyone*.

God bless,
Kendall K. Down

--
================ ARCHAEOLOGICAL DIGGINGS ===============
| Australia's premier archaeological magazine |
| http://www.diggingsonline.com |
========================================================
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Kiwi jailed for his efforts to help the British think for themselves...
    ... I thought I'd heard elsewhere about when S. left Iraq. ... I am considering the Iran-Iraq war to be the first Gulf War. ... But have you any reason to believe that he is *not* telling the truth? ...
    (uk.religion.christian)
  • Re: Re: Wont this stupid bitch ever shut up?
    ... have racked my brain to find some reason, any reason, to understand why ... very real fact that the whole Iraq mess was illegal from the start. ... If that isn't hate filled speech I don't know what is. ... She says the truth. ...
    (alt.smokers.cigars)
  • Re: Re: Wont this stupid bitch ever shut up?
    ... have racked my brain to find some reason, any reason, to understand why ... very real fact that the whole Iraq mess was illegal from the start. ... If that isn't hate filled speech I don't know what is. ... She says the truth. ...
    (alt.smokers.cigars)
  • Re: Kiwi jailed for his efforts to help the British think for themselves...
    ... I thought I'd heard elsewhere about when S. left Iraq. ... see much reason to take what he says on this subject seriously. ... Eyewitness testimony is usually taken seriously. ... in fact say what he says they say, were telling the truth. ...
    (uk.religion.christian)
  • Ayn Rand on Nietzsche
    ... He proclaimed that the ideal man is moved, not by reason, but by his ... ruled by nothing, not by God, not by reason, not by anything except ... the demands of existence alone, ... Ayn Rand finds for the existence of truth, ...
    (rec.arts.books)