In reply to “Israeli Leaders Dial Back Iran War Rhetoric After Meetings With US Military Officials,” by Jason Ditz, 09/06/12:
You did not mention Iran’s threats to wipe Israel off the map.
Ben Novick
In reply to “Dempsey’s Dissent,” by Justin Raimondo, 09/05/12:
Today I was taken aback by Justin’s article referring to Israel as that Shitty Little Country. I clicked on the link and saw that it was an alleged remark made by Daniel Bernard, but the sentence reads as if Justin wanted it to be read that way — perhaps he did.
Whether that’s what Justin wanted or not is really not the issue (I personally do not like the comment) as I’m more worried about the tone in some of the content of Antiwar.
I really enjoy the non-partisan reporting and consistency in being an actual watchdog on not only the main stream press but the government as well. I believe that what Antiwar does is very important and needed while people cheer for never-ending military adventures and opaqueness in our institutions all in the name of our safety. It’s for these reasons that I have donated to the site.
The goals of Antiwar are to shed light on these issues, report the truth, call bullshit on the lies, and most importantly: Get out the message to as many people as possible and inserting it little by little into the mainstream. Ron Paul was able to see some success in this strategy and I think we can all agree the national debate is all the better for it no matter how much they still insist on diluting/distorting/ignoring his message. And one of the reasons his message became more discussed was because he did it with consistency and without all the innuendo and personal attacks.
I believe Antiwar’s case speaks for itself and doesn’t need all the STFU kind of comments that make it much less likely to be taken seriously (as a whole) by other media outlets or in the court of public opinion. I didn’t like seeing Scott Horton get the chop and I’d like to see Justin and other Antiwar contributors get more invitations to the nauseating shows on MSNBC, FOX and CNN because a lot of people watch it. I just don’t think it’s going to happen when people read these kinds of statements.
Ryan Pinion
Justin Raimondo replies: Your point is well taken. However, I don’t agree with the premise: That the introduction of humor is necessarily unserious. I did hesitate before writing that partricular phrase, and I can see that in at least one case my attempt at humor flopped.
In reply to “UN: 100,000 Syrians Fled Civil War in August,” by Jason Ditz, 09/04/12:
Syria’s neighbours, foremost Turkey, claim they can’t cope with some ten thousands of Syrian refugees, have closed their borders and demand no-fly areas in Syria for safe havens. How hypocritical. Syria has been sheltering some 1.6 million Iraqi refugees for the last decade. I don’t recall Syria ever asking for help or claiming they weren’t up to the task.
L. Wengel
