In this entry, I went after Dana Cloud, a professor at the University of Texas who wrote a scathing letter to the Daily Texan, excoriating the US for just about everything and anything. I was not alone; she got fisked by a lot of conservative commentators, including Andrew Sullivan. Well, she responded, although her new entry has a boatload of errors and distortions. I will only point out a few portions of her post; read the whole article for the full effect.

If you have read any history (I recommend Howard Zinn's People's History...)

If the title doesn't make it clear, Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States is a Stalinist, revisionist history tract. His rewriting of history would be somewhat more compelling if he cited his sources with footnotes or endnotes, but the book lacks either. Of course, the socialist left loves this book as much as they did Disarming America, and for the same reasons.

Persian Gulf War, which resulted in more than a million-and-a-half civilian deaths

This figure (for casualties of the sanctions) has been thoroughly debunked. Matt Welch wrote an article for the March 2002 issue of Reason . As for the war itself causing the deaths, as Cloud asserts, that is simply preposterous.

IMF-imposed policies of production for export over meeting human needs

(in order to keep receiving money from the IMF). I suppose Cloud feels that we should just keep sending money to these countries, and not expect them to repay it? I don't think so...

Madeleine Albright admitted her belief that the deaths of 5,000 children a month in Iraq as a result of U.N. (really U.S.-imposed) sanctions were a reasonable price to pay for U.S. foreign policy objectives.

Albright should have corrected the reporter before she made that statement. Refer to the Welch article, where this is discussed in some detail.

Thomas Jefferson (leaving aside his fondness of slaves for a moment)

Can a leftist academic in America mention Thomas Jefferson without raising the slavery issue? Please point one out to me. The slavery reference is totally gratuitous.

It targets me and my family for personal insult, exile and even violence.

I cannot support anyone who threatens her (or even more repulsively, her family) with violence. Personal insults, on the other hand, are part and parcel of public pronouncements. If you write an insulting piece like that, you are likely to get condemnation from those whose views are different than yours. People have the same right to criticize as you do to air your views.

(Link courtesy of The Corner)

posted on July 12, 2002 08:55 PM



Comments:

It targets me and my family for personal insult, exile and even violence

Sounds amazingly similar to the wailings from George Micheal. Surprising, but I never knew that was the sound made by ten pounds of manure in a five pound bag when prodded...learn something new every day, I guess

posted by Wind Rider on July 13, 2002 11:23 AM

---

Definitely some "cloudy" thinking there. I read that she wrote her alternative "pledge" for her young daughter. My hope for the Prof is that when "Mama's li'l dumpling" hits that rebellious teen stage, she turns into the next Ann Coulter. Wouldn't that be nice?

posted by BarCodeKing on July 14, 2002 12:52 PM

---

Here's a post on my own blog about Matt Welch's article on Iraqi deaths (generally I think Matt wrote a great piece, but I point out a few areas where we disagree).

With regards to the claim that 1.5 million Iraqis died, which you say Matt refutes in his article: I note that Matt was focusing on child deaths, not total civilian deaths.

There may indeed have been over 1 million civilian deaths if you include both children and adults in your tally.

posted by Jim on July 15, 2002 08:31 PM

---