Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: Notesfiles $Revision: 1.6.2.17 $; site uiucdcs.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!mhuxt!mhuxj!houxm!ihnp4!inuxc!pur-ee!uiucdcs!renner 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> Lines: 35 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