The interview itself is not treasonous. But knowing where Saddam is, and not telling the US government about that location instantly, is treasonous.

Actually, CBS showed the location via satellite photos from, where else, US craft.

Rather’s pleading to have Saddam speak English was what I would expect of a 13 year old Iraqi schoolgirl.

Not asking Saddam about his treatment of political prisoners and attempt to assassinate Bush-41 was what I would expect of a CBS reporter.

Brian, we really can’t use the 17+ Broken Resolutions arguement without also pointing out that
Israel broke 69, HAS WOMD’s, and HAS attacked it’s neighbors as well(besides “Palestine”.)
Get Saddam out, fine.
But if we are to use the Broken Resolution arguement at all, then any country that has broken them should be punished as well.
It shouldn’t matter that Israel is a ‘democracy” (without a Constitution)
it should only matter that Israel is a proven aggressor and has broken UN Resolutions, 32 more uncounted after they were vetoed by BushCo.
It refuses to sign the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and bars international inspections from its sites.
I read somewhere that Israel has broken more UN resolutions than any other country on the planet.

Couple of points, Sylvain. The vast majority of the anti-Israel resolutions are non-binding, and had nothing to do with the Israeli government’s ability to stay in power. The anti-Iraq resolutions are binding, and stipulate that the reason we left him in power was because he promised to abide by them. Second, the anti-Israel resolutions are, for the most part, trumped up charges passed to blame Israel for things that the Arabs themselves do everyday. Mistreat the Palestinians? They can become citizens in Israel and Jordan, but nowhere else in the Middle East. Attack its neighbors? Israel is beset on all sides by enemies that want to destroy it—most of its pre-emptive actions have been later justified by the facts. For one example of that, had not Israel destroyed the Osirak reactor in 1981, Saddam would have nukes today and would have been able to take over as much of the region as he wanted in 1990-91. Israel was condemned for the Osirak air strike at the time by the US and much of the world, and the UN passed resolutions against it, but it was right to do what it did. It’s just a fact that when free states defend themselves from despots, those despots use their superior numbers in the UN to pass resolutions against the free state. The US took similar resolutions for bombing Libya in the wake of Ghaddafi’s murderous rampage—should we also come under some kind of UN rule or sanction, as you seem to advocate for Israel?

But I’m curious about something. Why do so many people immediately try to blame Israel for everything bad in the Middle East, and try to deflect the heat on Saddam. Arafat and others by pointing out Israel’s flaws, but seldom actually look at what the Arabs do to themselves and each other? Egypt and Saudi Arabia have been every bit as mean toward the Palestinians as have the Israelis, but because they are in the region’s dominant group they get no UN reprimand, and next to nobody in the West says a word about it.

Why, Sylvain? Is it ignorance of the facts or plain old hatred of the Jews that animates so many of Israel’s critics?

Rather was not being polite to Saddam, he was just plain scared.

Plus they had Robert Blake on ABC.

Leno had a spoof with Saddam interviewing Blake. Hilarious.

” Why do so many people immediately try to blame Israel for everything bad in the Middle East, and try to deflect the heat on Saddam. Arafat and others by pointing out Israel’s flaws”

Well,I can’t speak for anyone else…
I don’t hold Israel responsible for everything bad in the ME,but I won’t exclude them either.
For my part, alot of it is ignorance as I am still learning quite a bit about world politics and the roles certain countries have played.
Certain things about Israel stand out to me- like the fact that they are the only democracy in the ME, and the only democracy in the world without a formal Constitution (that I know of).
Also, I am bothered by the fact that they feel they have a right to that land because of an ancient, questionable religious text.
It just doesn’t sit right with me.
Nor does alot of the sentiment against non-jews within that text.
So maybe there’s some hostility on my part towardds Israel because of it’s religious nature.I think you know by now how I feel about religions-that they are the cause of the majority of the world’s ills.
If there were no fundamentalist Islam, for example, we wouldn’t be debating this. There wouldn’t be a fundamentalist Islam if there were no Islam at all.……
and hey, I’ll freely admit I’m not a teeribly bright person..just learning as I go.
As you might know, I am a big fan of the JYB, despite our differences of opinion.

One point, Sylvain. The UK lacks a formal constitution. Their system is based on the Magna Charta, other documents scattered through time and unwritten “common law.” So Israel isn’t alone in that regard.


I do know your religious views, so it makes sense to some extent that you’d be more skeptical of Israel than I tend to be. I obviously don’t agree with your contention that religion is the source of most of the world’s ills, so there’s no point in arguing that further. Humans by our very nature need a spiritual element to life, and the deprivation of that element has unquestionably led to brutality that dwarfs purely religious wars. That being said, the misapplication of religion has caused and continues to cause strife around the world.

I’m glad you’re a fan of the JYB. Sometimes I wonder why given our disagreement on so much, but I take it as a sign that you’re open to views that oppose your own. That’s characteristic of an inquisitive mind, and one that’s open to change based on new evidence. Which is a good thing.