Posted on 09/28/2001 3:34:49 PM PDT by jhofmann
Shameless Leftist Lies by Robert Scheer By Brian Carnell Tuesday, May 22, 2001 For the past couple years, David Horowitz has devoted considerable space at FrontPageMag.Com railing at his former Leftist friend Robert Scheer, who now works for the Los Angeles Times. I never paid much attention, but if Scheer's latest article about the U.S. relationship with Afghanistan is any indication, Scheer is in that class of "journalists" who is inane not because he is of the Left or Right but rather because he is simply a liar. The article, Bush's Faustian Deal With the Taliban, is an attack on George W. Bush for changing U.S. foreign policy toward the extremist Islamic government of Afghanistan. Scheer writes,
Enslave your girls and women, harbor anti-U.S. terrorists, destroy every vestige of civilization in your homeland, and the Bush administration will embrace you. All that matters is that you line up as an ally in the drug war, the only international cause that this nation still takes seriously.
That's the message sent with the recent gift of $43 million to the Taliban rulers of Afghanistan, the most virulent anti-American violators of human rights in the world today. The gift, announced last Thursday by Secretary of State Colin Powell, in addition to other recent aid, makes the U.S. the main sponsor of the Taliban and rewards that "rogue regime" for declaring that opium growing is against the will of God. So, too, by the Taliban's estimation, are most human activities, but it's the ban on drugs that catches this administration's attention.
...
Sadly, the Bush administration is cozying up to the Taliban regime at a time when the United Nations, at U.S. insistence, imposes sanctions on Afghanistan because the Kabul government will not turn over Bin Laden.
The only problem is that almost every sentence in these three paragraphs is incorrect.
First, the United States is not rewarding the Taliban for any change in its drug policies. As Colin Powell and others made clear when announcing the $43 million in humanitarian aid, the money is being sent to prevent a famine that the World Food Programme estimates threatens hundreds of thousands of Afghanis who have been flooding into refugee camps in Pakistan.
Second, the humanitarian aid money is not going anywhere near the Taliban. Like other humanitarian aid from other countries being directed at minimizing the risk of famine in Afghanistan, the United Nations will handle disbursement of the funds -- much of which will consist of surplus food -- directly and through NGOs operating in Afghanistan.
Third, this is doesn't represent any change at all in U.S. foreign policy toward Afghanistan. Probably because he is an avowed Clintonista, Scheer conveniently forgets to mention the tens of millions of dollars of humanitarian aid that the Clinton administration sent to Afghanistan in 2000 to help avert famine. I don't remember anyone on either the Right or Left suggesting that Clinton's efforts to prevent young children from dying of diarrhea in Pakistan refugee camps represented "cozying up" to a terrorist state.
Source:
Bush's Faustian Deal With the Taliban. Robert Scheer, The Los Angeles Times, May 22, 2001.
SECRETARY POWELL: Good morning, everyone. Afghanistan is in crisis. After more than 20 years of war, and now the third year of a devastating draught, the country is on the verge of a widespread famine. Nearly 4 million Afghans are at risk. If the international community does not take immediate action, countless deaths and terrible tragedy are certain to follow.
At the direction of President Bush, I am today announcing a package of $43 million in new humanitarian assistance for the people of Afghanistan, including 65,000 tons of wheat, $5 million in complementary food commodities, and $10 million in other livelihood and food security programs within Afghanistan. We also expect to soon announce additional assistance to Afghan refugees.
Even before this latest commitment, the United States was by far the largest provider of humanitarian assistance for Afghans. Last year, we provided about $114 million in aid. With this new package, our humanitarian assistance to date this year will reach $124 million. This includes over 200,000 tons of wheat.
We will continue to look for ways to provide more assistance for Afghans, including those farmers who have felt the impact of the ban on poppy cultivation, a decision by the Taliban that we welcome.
We distribute our assistance in Afghanistan through international agencies of the United Nations and nongovernmental organizations. We provide our aid to the people of Afghanistan, not to Afghanistan's warring factions. Our aid bypasses the Taliban, who have done little to alleviate the suffering of the Afghan people, and indeed have done much to exacerbate it. We hope the Taliban will act on a number of fundamental issues that separate us: their support for terrorism; their violation of internationally recognized human rights standards, especially their treatment of women and girls; and their refusal to resolve Afghanistan's civil war through a negotiated settlement.
UN sanctions against the Taliban are smart sanctions and do not hurt the Afghan people, nor do these sanctions affect the flow of humanitarian assistance for Afghans. America seeks to help the neediest, wherever they may be. I call upon the international community to mobilize and respond generously to help avert this looming humanitarian catastrophe in Afghanistan.
Secretary General Annan and I have discussed this situation before, and I will ask for his further assistance to raise the international community's awareness about this crisis and to impress upon the international community the necessity to respond with energy and with dispatch.
Colleagues of mine from different parts of the government, as well as including the United States Agency for International Development, will be available to provide more detailed information, should you have questions.
Thank you very much.
[End]
Released on May 17, 2001
Would be great if every day, Fox featured such at least one discrepant writing and it's author. . .so more would really learn. . .Judy did say, we were pretty stupid. . .
Those who are in positions meant to inform, who deliberately poison the well with their lies; who hold Truth in such contempt; when it does not favor their idiological conceptions should be held accountable.
Being a Liberal, means you never have to say 'I'm sorry'. . .
No matter what the reason, the biological determinism of the liberal brain is easy to pinpoint. Just look at Dan Rather who believes in all honesty that he doesn't see any liberal bias in the media.
Finally, this is an evolutionary battle between those who can perceive reality ( conservatives and those who would survive another day) and liberals and suicide terrorists who act on perceptions colored by the distorted filter of their malformed brains.
Scheer "earned" his job by marrying the daughter of the publisher.
No matter how absurd his leftist screeds, no matter how his lies mount, his job is safe.
Note that marrying the publisher's daughter, along with tenure, are about the only way a committed liberal has of keeping a job, though...
. . .there is another possibility. . .Leftie/M meets Leftie/F. . .decide they can be idiological partners. . .Leftie Father thinks Leftie Son-in-Law may have potential or maybe a jerk. . .but doesn't care; just wants daughter to be happy.
Yes, verbally abusing, attacking and degrading those who expose their hypocrisy.
Their only defense, IS their offensiveness.
These people do not have any 'ground of truth to stand on'.
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