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CounterPunch
January
30, 2003
Justice is On
Your Side
An Open Letter
to France
By WILLIAM HUGHES
On January 25, 2003, Jonah Goldberg, a syndicated
columnist, insulted you, saying, "The French are liars."
Then, he went on to make fun of your
accent and your skill at cheese-making. He also derided your
ambassador to the UN, Dominique de Villepin, and also your president,
Jacques Chirac. He chided them for attempting to lift the genocidal
sanctions imposed on Iraq. Goldberg insisted the sanctions haven't
really being working because of "French efforts to undermine
them." He said, too, you "shame" yourself, when
you advocate containment against Iraq, just because it worked
"in the Cold War." He insisted that your cry for "peace"
is motivated by a desire for "oil."
These gross offenses to your people and
to your nation, appeared in the pages of the "Washington
Times" newspaper. To sum up Goldberg's nasty diatribe, entitled,
"France's Latent Motivation," it was a smear job on
you for having the courage to say "no" to a U.S. led
war on Iraq.
Goldberg's article was a classic example,
too, of pro-Zionist propaganda (a/k/a "ZionProp").
This is where a pundit covertly advances the Zionist cause on
a controversial issue, without even mentioning Israel, or Zionism,
or Ariel "The Butcher" Sharon by name. Goldberg is
a master of this technique. Sometimes, he does it openly, like
when he did a hatchet job on the Palestinian Chairman, Yasser
Arafat (12/05/01). (I'm going to get to that rant in just a moment.)
Goldberg knows the Zionist Cartel wants this war with Iraq. I
suspect that is the real objective of his phony spiel of January
25th.
Just Imagine, now, if I had written:
"The Israelis are liars."
Well, before the ink was dry on the paper,
the cadres from the U.S. Anti-Defamation League would be out
in full force. Its "Media Assault Brigand" would be
activated. Steam would be coming out of Abe Foxman's ears, and
he would be heating up the tar. Meanwhile, his crony, Mortimer
B. Zuckerman, "Mr. Zionist, USA," would be supplying
the feathers. Then, yours truly would be targeted, and unceremoniously
run out of town on a rail provided by Israel's "Amen Chorus."
I'd also be tagged forever as "a raving Anti-Semite,"
by one of its media lackeys.
Never mind, the U.S. Constitution or
the Bill of Rights, They don't apply when the Zionist boy-ohs
get their collective yarmulkes up. I'd have breached a big taboo:
Calling little Israel a bad, hurtful name. Hughes would have
to go.
But, Hughes DIDN'T say, "The Israelis
are liars." Jonah Goldberg, however, DID say, "The
French are liars."
Will Goldberg have to go? Or, will the
World Zionist Community issue an apology on its behalf to you
because Goldberg insulted your national honor? If Arafat is responsible
for all the Palestinians, then why shouldn't the Zionist elite
be responsible for the conduct of its sympathizers, like Goldberg?
Will Goldberg also be made to apologize? Stay tuned.
It was you, France, who came to our aid
during the darkest days of our Revolutionary War. It was your
fleet that blockaded the Chesapeake Bay, under Admiral Francois
de Grasse, and your gallant soldiers, too, that aided General
George Washington's victory over the British forces at Yorktown,
in 1781. America's true patriotic sons and daughters will always
remember you, and also the magnificent contributions of Major
General Marquis de Lafayette to our struggle. I suggest that
Mr. Goldberg has excluded himself from this latter category,
either because he is ignorant of American history or his myopic
political agenda will not permit it.
This is the same Goldberg, who recently
penned an even dumber piece that suggested the U.S. should "bomb
Canada!" After a furious response from our Canadian neighbors
to that nonsense, he said that he was only kidding. He also rarely
has a good word to say about Islam, and when he's asked to cite
an authority for his dubious anti-Arab opinions, he invariably
cites the inherently biased Muslim-basher, Daniel Pipes.
On the slanted Arafat piece, Goldberg
unfairly ripped into the Chairman for not being a good "partner
in peace," and, for rejecting the Zionists' so-called "Most
Generous Peace Offer." However, Dr. Jeff Halper, a brave
Israeli, in "The Link," (10/02 issue), rebutted that
cock-and-bull story, by clearly demonstrating that the "offer"
would have turned a "Palestinian state into a prison, where
all the borders [would] be controlled by Israel, and three million
Palestinians [would] be living under siege."
Goldberg's inflamatory opinions are his
own and, mercifully, reflect the views of only a few mouthy pundits
in this country.
France: in response to your courageous
stand for peace on Iraq, please know that justice is on your
side. I feel confident that most Americans will join with me
in declaring: "Vive la France!"
William Hughes
is the author of "Baltimore Iconoclast" (Writer's Showcase).
He can be reached at liamhughes@mindspring.com.
© William Hughes 2003
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January 25
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