>However, you misread me. I do not
> derogate Russell's opposition to the Vietnam War,


>....he serves merely as a hood ornament on the IAC, much as
>Bertrand Russell did in his dotage for a similar group and its Vietnam War
>Crimes kangaroo court. That's the really disgusting part, not that I point
>it out.

Russell: an ornament (so incapable for critical thinking and rational
attitude), involved in a kangaroo court ( I dont know which way was better
from the standpoint of intelectuals to stress the point that innocent people
are being massacred) , disguisting part ( he is used, as I presume "senile"
as NYT editors repeated joyfully stating that he look like an " ugly bird"
and a"senile icon of the left")

It seems to me that I have overestimated this person; as it oftenly happens
when mediocrecy receaves good education; I have said, earlier, that trecy
creature is a knowledgable and criticaly thinking person, her racist
escapades notwithstanding. But to assert that trial organized by
intelectuals is a show trial- well of course it is! I didnt know that Sartre
was a uper civil servant!- and to derogate the noble attempt of these free
thinkers, is a show of such shelowness, that I must, at the same time,
appologize for being so mild, while saying this in a crude way........

                     Andrej G.

----- Original Message -----
From: Tresy Kilbourne <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, February 04, 2000 12:25 AM
Subject: Re: [CHOMSKY] Bertrand Russell


> Frank: Thanks for the courteous criticism. However, you misread me. I do
not
> derogate Russell's opposition to the Vietnam War, which I lived through
and
> also opposed from the git go. He was right about Vietnam. I have a
bookshelf
> full of Russell's works. I also do not dispute that the US committed war
> crimes in Vietnam. However, the Bertrand Russell War Crimes Tribunal was a
> kangaroo court; ask yourself if any of the procedures of due process were
in
> place? Answer: no, they were not. It was a show trial. Doesn't mean the
> defendants were innocent. It just means it was a show trial.
>
> I really don't mind if you disagree. I may, if I have the time, dredge up
a
> contemporary (c. 1973) article about Russell and the Svengali (a radical
> named David Somebody, name escapes me) who kept him under wraps during the
> whole BRWCT affair, very much like the IAC and Clark; it's been a long
time,
> and needless to say, the article is not on the Net. If I find it, I will
> post what I have the time to type in. The whole subject is dicta to my
> original characterization of Ramsey Clark's involvement with  the IAC
> anyway. In other words, it's beside the point.
>
> The point, again, is that it's not character assassination to point to the
> way Clark has squandered his moral authority through his connection with
the
> Workers World Party. Let's revisit some of the highlights of his
association
> with this "principled" organization:
>
>
> > At the end of 1998 Clark attended a human rights conference in Baghdad,
Iraq,
>
> > where in his keynote speech he pointed out how "the governments of the
rich
> > nations, primarily the United States, England and France," dominated the
> > wording of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which showed
"little
> > concern for economic, social and cultural rights." The social and
cultural
> > rights claimed by his Iraqi hosts include the right to hang opponents in
> > public at the airport, or poison thousands of Kurds and torture and
execute
> > any opponent of the regime. And on the legality of Iraq's invasion of
Kuwait,
>
> > the silence is deafening.
> > When he flew to Belgrade to support Slobodan Milosevic during NATO's
campaign
> ,
> > there was no word about the siege of Sarajevo, the massacre at
Srebrenica or
>
> > the million homeless refugees from Kosovo -- and even less of those
> > olfactorily eloquent mass graves that NATO is now uncovering. But then,
urgin
> g
> > Belgrade to resist NATO, while he was there picking up an honorary
degree, he
>
> > told his hosts, "It will be a great struggle, but a glorious victory.
You can
>
> > be victorious."
> > In Grenada he went to advise Bernard Coard, the murderer of Prime
Minister
> > Maurice Bishop. Other clients include Radovan Karadzic, the indicted
Bosnian
>
> > Serbian war criminal whom he defended in a New York civil suit brought
by
> > Bosnian rape victims, and the Rwandan pastor who is accused of telling
Tutsis
>
> > to hide in his church and then summoning Hutus to massacre them, and
then
> > leading killing squads.
>
> As for the WWP:
>
> > The Workers World Party split from the Socialist Workers Party many
decades
> > ago in support of the Soviet invasion of Hungary in 1956, and it has
remained
>
> > true to its origins. Oddball Trotskyists morphed to Stalinoids, its
members
> > have since then supported the Chinese government over Tiananmen
Square -- and
>
> > of course see the current incumbents in Belgrade and Baghdad as staunch
> > anti-imperialists. By appearing on their behalf, the former attorney
general
>
> > allows their views a vicarious respectability that they could never
dream of
>
> > otherwise. Associates take some small comfort from the WWP's hold on
Clark --
>
> > it means that he no longer carries water for the equally oddball Lyndon
> > LaRouche, with whom he flirted in the '80s.
>
> More--much more-- at
> http://www.salon.com/news/feature/1999/06/21/clark/index.html
>
> I find it discouraging that at the same time listmembers bend over
backwards
> to discredit the ICTY as a creature of NATO, they wax indignant at my
> mention of the obvious travesty of due process that the IAC and its useful
> idiot Ramsey Clark, represent.
>
> Incidentally, I take the time to respond to you because you seem to
respect
> the obligations of fact and reason. I hope we can maintain that standard
in
> our dialogue.
>
> PS Those on this list infatuated with Russell AND the IAC might benefit
from
> reading his scathing attack on Marx and its Stalinoid progeny: "Why I Am
Not
> a Communist." (http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Lights/1040/htmls/why.html)
> Looks like Russell would fit comfortably inside that special circle of
> Leftist Hell reserved for hated "liberals."
>
>
> --
> Tresy Kilbourne
> Seattle WA