I was sorry to hear that Paul Foot, one of Britain’s most dogged journalists, died of a heart attack last Saturday. The Telegraph obit does him justice. His Marxist views were silly when they weren’t fueled with anger and hatred, but he had a keen nose for actual injustice and often sniffed it out. I liked this testament: “There are more people walking the streets of Britain who have been freed from prison by Paul Foot than by any other person.” They were all innocent, of course. And few journalists can claim to have done such tangible good in their lives.
TOWARD CLARITY ON IRAN: Amir Taheri agrees with the Dish that the subject should be front and center in the campaign.
SOMERBY ON WILSON: Bob Somerby’s a major hater of this blog, but he’s often got good things to say and a sometimes extraordinary diligence in rooting out the truth. He’s no fan of Bush’s, to say the least, but he can see through the Joe Wilson carapace of cant:
Let’s compare two important statements-Bush’s famous 16 words, and Wilson’s amazing new admission:
BUSH: The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.
WILSON: I never claimed to have “debunked” the allegation that Iraq was seeking uranium from Africa.
Finally! This is what we’ve always told you – Wilson had no way of knowing if the 16-word statement was right or wrong. He had no way to debunk it! But throughout his thrilling and best-selling book, he calls this statement a “lie-lie-lie-lie,” over and over and over again. But then, grinding overstatement like that has been the problem with Wilson all along (as the three senators correctly note). And now, alas, Dems will start to pay a price for investing so much in his presentations.
Well, they would if the media were willing to debunk the fraud they so ably hyped. But they won’t, will they?
The Dish 