Well said, Issodhos.  But what about the issue of who is telling the
truth here?  You seemed to indicate earlier that there was credible
evidence debunking LM's claim that the report by Penny Marshall was
falsified. Do you still think so?

Peace,
Ken Freeland

-----Original Message-----
From: The philosophy, work & influences of Noam Chomsky
[mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Issodhos @aol.com
Sent: Saturday, March 18, 2000 11:24 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [CHOMSKY] FW: LIES OF THE MIGHTY


In a message dated 3/18/00 2:25:36 AM Eastern Standard Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:

>  The wire is clearly turning away
>  from
>  the people - that is, the men are standing near the OUTSIDE corner of
a
>  barbed wire enclosure. If you are unsure, show it to anyone who has
>  worked in
>  construction or agriculture - where they handle barbed wire.

     None of this seems new to me.  I seem to remember seeing an
American
television program or a magazine that quite clearly made the case that
the
filming was being done in such a way as to give the impression that the
film
crew was looking in rather than looking out through the wire.  The
general
theme was that the camp was misrepresented, at least in degree.  Of
course,
this does not mean Serb forces or Albanian forces were somehow angels.

     Anytime there is a conflict, especially military, one will be
exposed to
propaganda.  It is, in fact, a vital weapon that is always employed by
opposing participants.  Whether the lies are told by the 'leaders' of
Chechnya, Russia, America, North Vietnam, China, Serbia, Croatia, Cuba,
etc.
to create hatred for the 'enemy', generate a sense of righteous
indignation
leading to 'humanitarian' crusades, or simply to confuse and demoralize
the
'enemy', lies have been and will continue to be employed as a military
weapon
in the "war effort".

     On the home front, propaganda is also needed politically BEFORE and
AFTER a conflict because the stated purpose in sending citizens to kill
and
maybe die rarely has any relationship to the real reasons behind an
endeavor.
 WWII was not fought to save Jews, the cause of the American Civil War
was
not slavery, The Russian/Chechnyan conflict is not a result of a blown
up
apartment building in Moscow, Hitler's and Stalin's move into Poland was
not
to protect Germans living there, Vietnam was not caused by attacks by
the
North Vietnamese against American warships in the Gulf of Tonkin, etc.,
etc.,
ad infinitum.

 Whether Socialist, capitalist, or theocratic, lying is innate to a
government, thus it is incumbent upon us to recognize and not be
manipulated
by such conduct.  Hint:  Government controlled school systems do not
provide
such armor.:-)
Yours,
Issodhos