tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4307187040250193857.post5191352663139553238..comments2024-03-20T03:33:22.357-07:00Comments on Skeptophilia: The problem with SeymourGordon Bonnethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06003472005971594466noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4307187040250193857.post-43108272139824052402015-05-16T08:00:51.267-07:002015-05-16T08:00:51.267-07:00It's true Hersh is only offering a narrative f...It's true Hersh is only offering a narrative from some sources * ... but how is that different from the official story? Why does the burden of proof only fall on a person challenging the official line? To me - the only way to judge them is analyze which one is more plausible.<br /><br />The official story made no sense to me then, and it makes no sense now. Obama launches a strike in a nuclear-armed country, steps outside of a major military base, with no air cover, without any notice..... all because he thought Bin Laden was MAYBE there? And then, within hours, they magically do a DNA test (never explained how) and inexplicably dump him in the ocean... because that's a proper Muslim burial (it's not).... I mean, give me a break! And Pakistan had no idea the most wanted man in the world was living under their military leaderships nose, and just sat idly by while foreign attack helicopters invaded their country.<br /><br />The problem with Vox's critique is it seriously misreads Hersh's story: <br /><br />"Why, for example, would the Pakistanis insist on a fake raid that would humiliate their country and the very military and intelligence leaders who supposedly instigated it?"<br /><br />Did Vox read a different story? The Pakistanis did no such thing! The plan all along was for NO ONE to know of the raid: "[The agreement was that] Obama would announce that DNA analysis confirmed that bin Laden had been killed in a drone raid in the Hindu Kush, on Afghanistan’s side of the border." The raid wasn't "fake", it was real... it was just resistance-free... but it was supposed to stay a secret.<br /><br />The VOX piece is full of these errors. It cites the outcomes of a broken agreement as evidence there was never an agreement to begin with. It basically says, "there couldn't have been US-Pakistani cooperation... because look how frayed the US-Pakistani relationship became afterwards" - totally ignoring that the reason things soured was because Obama reneged on their deal. <br /><br />* more journalistic corroboration: http://www.alternet.org/amidst-media-backlash-key-part-seymour-hershs-report-bin-laden-killing-corroborated<br /><br />OPhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10247436288606046315noreply@blogger.com