Re: [Marxism] Le Monde publishes Ahmadinejad letter

["Eli Stephens" <elishastephens@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Yoshie wrote: "Ahmadinejad's criticism of the US government makes sense, but
why did
he, or his aids, have to mix that with a Holocaust denial (again) and
a 9-11 conspiracy theory?"

I happen to agree that the letter would be better off without those
sections, but let's be clear: the letter does not "deny" the Holocaust nor
propound any "conspiracy theories."

On the Holocaust, here's what it says: "After the war, they claimed that six
million Jews had been killed. Six million people that were surely related to
at least two million families. Again let us assume that these events are
true. Does that logically translate into the establishment of the state of
Israel in the Middle East or support for such a state? How can this
phenomenon be rationalised or explained?"

That hardly qualifies as a "denial" of the Holocaust. A "questioning,"
certainly, but not a denial, and once again, the main focus is on the
RESULT--the establishment of the state of Israel--and its disconnection with
the presumed cause. And, even more to the point, the section which follows,
which details the price the Palestinians, who had NOTHING TO DO WITH THE
HOLOCAUST, paid for this "solution":

"I am sure you know how ? and at what cost ? Israel was established : Many
thousands were killed in the process.

"Millions of indigenous people were made refugees.

"Hundred of thousands of hectares of farmland, olive plantations, towns and
villages were destroyed.

"This tragedy is not exclusive to the time of establishment; unfortunately
it has been ongoing for sixty years now.

"A regime has been established which does not show mercy even to kids,
destroys houses while the occupants are still in them, announces beforehand
its list and plans to assassinate Palestinian figures and keeps thousands of
Palestinians in prison. Such a phenomenon is unique ? or at the very least
extremely rare ? in recent memory."

And on 9/11, here's what he says:

"September eleven was not a simple operation. Could it be planned and
executed without coordination with intelligence and security services ? or
their extensive infiltration? Of course this is just an educated guess. Why
have the various aspects of the attacks been kept secret? Why are we not
told who botched their responsibilities? And, why aren't those responsible
and the guilty parties identified and put on trial?"

He QUESTIONS whether security services may have been involved, and
explicitly says he's just offering an "educated guess," which is hardly the
same as "propounding a conspiracy theory" (as many do, certainly, claiming
that the Pentagon wasn't really hit by a plane, that the twin towers were
brought down by explosives, and other bizarre claims). There is some
evidence that Israeli secret service were tracking the conspirators. How
credible that evidence is, I couldn't say, it's really not a subject that
interests me that much. But I know enough to know that it's not something
that's only believed by "crackpots and dumbasses."

Eli Stephens
 Left I on the News
 http://lefti.blogspot.com



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