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To: George W. Bush
You underestimate him. He didn't make Johnson's enemies list by being an incompetent. He has been a thorn in the side of the Left and Right for decades. As I mentioned before, he is unrelentingly critical. I wonder if you've ever read his material on JFK or Carter or Clinton. It's pretty choice material.

Can you provide a link or book title? Thanks, Julie

17 posted on 08/14/2002 9:29:33 PM PDT by JulieRNR21
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To: JulieRNR21
One of the more devastating ones was the one he did on the JFK White House, Rethinking Camelot. His writings on the Human Rights Administration of Jimmy Carter, particularly with regard to East Timor, were spread out in various books. Same thing with his writings on Johnson.

ZMag has some of his books online in The Noam Chomsky Archive. Unfortunately, one of his best books, Manufacturing Consent, is only available in print. Some of his newer material like The New Military Humanism: Lessons From Kosovo contain material on Clinton. Check in the Articles section for selections from many of these books. You might want to read Memories, a critique of MacNamera's memoirs. And Clinton Vision: Update on NAFTA, corporate welfare, and other pro-business policies.

One of the things to watch for in his books is the footnotes. His access to materials through the MIT library and other major institutions is a treasure trove of historical information that you won't find in standard history texts. When I was younger, every so often I would stumble over some strange little fact that wasn't in the standard history texts and would wonder why. Like, for instance, the early American (and Allied) military actions against the Soviet Union which I discovered by finding casualty figures in an almanac. It is this sort of information that I meant when I said that Chomsky is good at digging out tidbits of history. Also, Chomsky has done rather well at dissecting the terms and compliance of our treaty with Vietnam. His analysis of the roots of the Vietnam war and how we first supported the French in Indochina, our role in the Geneva talks and treaty, our immediate takeover of the failed French effort, the various phases of the Vietnam war are all classics. It's not necessarily Chomsky's conclusions you will find so valuable. It's the source materials and references and quotes and treaty references, the portions of declassified documents, etc which are pretty difficult to find in the standard literature.

As far as the oft-repeated (and false) accusation that Chomsky was a sympathizer of the Khmer Rouge, I suggest that you read Christopher Hitchen's The Chorus and Cassandra. I thought this article pretty effectively refutes this WSJ attempt to assassinate Chomsky's reputation. Hitchen's is one of the few writers of the Left whose writings have been generally received positively here at FR, particularly his writings on Clinton.
18 posted on 08/15/2002 3:36:07 AM PDT by George W. Bush
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