Re: Boycott Brand America

Torsten Brinch <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> staggered to the nearest keyboard
and wrote:

>>As for the methodology, this presumably 
>
>Presumably?
>
>>is detailed in the HRW
>>publication "Endless Torment: The 1991 Uprising in Iraq and its
>>Aftermath" (New York: Human Rights Watch, 1992) which is cited on the
>>web posts. 
>
>Er, it is not described in that publication  even remotely.  

The book was footnoted close to the figures, hence my "presumption"
about the methodology.  (I try to be careful to qualify what I presume
to be true, as opposed to what I can verify.)  I would be interested
to know of sources for more credible figures about the number killed
under Saddam's regime, if you have such sources available.

>> HRW is by no means in collusion with the US government --
>>quite the opposite, if anything -- so there is no reason to think the
>>figure was inflated for the purpose of justifying the war.
>
>What are you on about now, I certainly didn't suggest any 
>such thing. However, you appear to be implying that  if the US
>government has had a hand on the process leading to those 
>figures, there is  reason to think they  have been inflated?
>Why do you say that, and  what's this got to do with justifying the
>war? 

I am on a diet, so stop putting words in my mouth -- where did I say
you suggested the figures were inflated?  I was pointing out that
there was no obvious reason for HRW to inflate the figures; to my
mind, this implies the figures are more likely to be credible than if
they came from an institution having an interest in making Saddam look
bad.


--
hambu n hambu hodo