Only in Chomskyland is that joke funny.
I wish it were a joke.
That’s a great repartee in Chomskyland.
As an all-American, flag waving red blooded radical lefty, I think Noam Chomsky is rather a good linguist, although I remain somewhat skeptical about notions of innate grammar. Be that as it may, ad hominem is always pretty weak, second hand ad hominem by inference and insinuation? Perhaps you are already embarassed by that, lets be generous and assume so.
It wasn’t one of our better moments, was it? Somewhere north of a hundred thousand innocent Iraqi citizens dead. We don’t have a really good number for that, ghosts don’t answer a census. Quite a few, though. For no reason whatsoever. Perhaps, for the sake of good form and propriety, even a half-hearted apology might be in order. Don’t recall ever hearing one. Do you?
If we are to have peace with Iran…even a tentative, prickly peace…they are going to have to trust us, at least to some degree. Have we given them any good reason to trust us?
What we did was wrong, John. Terribly wrong. Mocking people who recognize that, and recognize that it has consequences, isn’t realistic. Look into your heart for the answer: if you were not an American, would you trust America?
I tend to blame American’s sometime extreme ignorance on foreign policy and matters of military action around the world to be more related to an absolute lack of any sense of the need for personal responsibility to become informed fully with a curious framing of the details and facts that would be available to them with just a little effort on their part to get it.
The US government did not create an impression and instill it in my mind that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Saddam Hussein were belligerent toward the West and toward Israel. The US givernment could not convince me that after 2002 Saddam Hussen continued to be belligerent after he allowed the UN inspectors back in and was cooperating ever so proactively prior to the US invasion. And likewise at the present moment the US givernment at least the Adminisrration did not convince me that Rouhani is not really a moderate and does not want to complete a peaceful deal. The Obama Admin is arguing the opposite of what you are claiming.
I recognize moderation and cooperation as I see it. And Saw it in 2003 and I see it right now. I was not fooled by Dubya and it is my contention that Obama is not trying to fool any of us now. That effort begins at the American Enterprise Institute and flows into the public mind through Fix News and the conservative radio talk network.
Shall we have a handshake on refraining in the future on the tu quoque, then? Seems like a fair deal. Shoot, I would settle from you acknowledgement of your past arguments as being such, rather than the pleas of “But it IS relevant!”
It’s their choice. They can trust or not. If I were then, I’d go for trust. They have much, much more to lose than we do. Besides, after a disastrous war, we seem to be good for about 30 years. But frankly, we have to apologize to Iran about wrt Iraq. We are talking about Iran here. In fact, we seem to have done them a rather nice favor on that point.
Now, did you have an answer to the questions I asked?
Ugh, so many typos…
If I were them
But frankly, what do we have to apologize to Iran for [del]about[/del] wrt Iraq?
I haven’t heard a peep from him-earlier, he was talking about how iran was on the verge of making an A-bomb.
Why the silence?
It’s because he doesn’t like you.
Read my reply once again …
Note, ***“vis-à-vis the U.S. and Iran” ***
As much as 2.346% !? Oh my God! Wait till Iran hears of this, they’ll want to discontinue import of Canada Goose jackets for sure! 
He might have been trying to say, “The CIA is right because Iraq kicked America’s ass” but the words got stuck in his throat at the very end.
I’ll have to defend your countrymen on this point.
The only truth available to Americans these days is what they read in Wikileaks, Manning dispatches, and what Snowden reveals while talking in his sleep.
Here in my country, if I want to know what’s happening in the world I can turn on the TV and see interviews and documentary films from virtually every nation in the world. These without politically biased talking heads’ comments of praising or discrediting the premise of the film. Everything is in the original language with subtitles. In this way we are not only allowed, but encouraged to make up our own minds. Americans do not have this source of information, what we call freedom of choice, freedom of expression, freedom of speech, well … DEMOCRACY.
I assume you are fortunate by the fact that you are not lazy. But really, education is the yearn to learn … and then make it happen.
All in all, the U.S. is not an educated population, derived by the fact that there reside an enormous number of illiterate and semi-illiterate citizens. I recently got an e-post (from an American acquaintance) that is so full of misspelled words and rotten grammar that it’s impossible to understand how English can be considered the lingua franca of the United States. The point is, with such a population that can hardly read - and have little or no interest in education - would it not be reasonable to say that these people won’t be cross-checking official government statements or seeking out information other than asking their neighbour what time the 7-11 is open? These things are the fault of the government … not the fault of the population.
Eh. When you’re ready to post in plain language and answer simple yes/no questions let us know. I’m not into trying to decode your cryptic postings.
We’re speaking about Iran, yes? “much, much more to lose”? What might that be exactly? What is it they will lose if they continue with whatever it is that you and the U.S. want them to stop with? Please feel free to open your mind and enlighten me.
No. You have go apologize to Iran about Iran.
Oh, I see.