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From: renner@uiucdcs.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.politics
Subject: Re: Innuendos and Facts
Message-ID: <29200177@uiucdcs.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 15-Dec-84 10:42:00 EST
Article-I.D.: uiucdcs.29200177
Posted: Sat Dec 15 10:42:00 1984
Date-Received: Mon, 17-Dec-84 04:08:55 EST
References: <649@ihopb.UUCP>
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Nf-ID: #R:ihopb:-64900:uiucdcs:29200177:000:1606
Nf-From: uiucdcs!renner    Dec 15 09:42:00 1984

Did the Iranians fake the assault on the hijacked airliner?  Were they
cooperating with the hijackers?  The available information boils down to
this:

1.  One of the surviving Americans, and a British pilot say they saw no
    evidence of cooperation.  Two Pakistani passengers say the Iranians
    *were* cooperating with the hijackers.  I don't imagine that the
    passengers were in a good position to judge whether the assault was
    faked, and in any case, the passengers disagree.

2.  TV coverage of the assault revealed several anomalies.  (The use of
    smoke *is* unusual, because it blinds both good and bad guys; flash 
    and concussion grenades are preferred.)

I really can't form a strong opinion on this kind of evidence.  Maybe they
faked the attack, and maybe they didn't.

Andy Berman doesn't have any trouble making up his mind about this.  He's
certain the Iranians didn't have anything to do with the hijackers, and
furthermore, he's convinced that Reagan is manipulating the news to make
things appear otherwise.

The US government didn't have any trouble arriving at the opposite
conclusion with respect to the Iranians.  I haven't heard what the State
Department has concluded about media manipulation yet.

I think both Mr. Berman and the US government are leaping from the evidence
to a conclusion that fills some sort of need.  In Berman's case, the
conclusion fills his need to believe that Reagan (or the US, or whatever)
can do no good; likewise the US government needs to believe, or at least to
claim, that Iran works evil.

Scott Renner
{ihnp4,pur-ee}!uiucdcs!renner