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From: franka@mmintl.UUCP (Frank Adams)
Newsgroups: net.politics
Subject: Re: Whom Should We Believe
Message-ID: <913@mmintl.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 18-Dec-85 21:10:26 EST
Article-I.D.: mmintl.913
Posted: Wed Dec 18 21:10:26 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 22-Dec-85 02:58:27 EST
References: <36@decwrl.UUCP>
Reply-To: franka@mmintl.UUCP (Frank Adams)
Organization: Multimate International, E. Hartford, CT
Lines: 34

In article <36@decwrl.UUCP> schneider@2littl.DEC (DANIEL SCHNEIDER) writes:
>>I have no reason to believe that news report [on Mexican television news -DS]
>>any more or less than I
>>believe news reports about the contras killing innocent people. Do you?
>
>To summarize I believe whom I believe after considering the vested interests
>of  the  sources  of  information. From this method, I have determined those
>seeking  to  overthrow  the  Nicaraguan  government have indirectly condoned
>atrocities against other people. If I were to accept the political arguments
>against  the  Sandinistas,  I  would  still be against the methods currently
>being used by the Contras and funded publicly by the American government and
>privately by many conservative organizations.

Your arguments about vested interests are appropriate concerning the Falwell
group.  They are not appropriate concerning Mexican television.  Mexico has
generally supported the Sandinistas and opposed the Contras.  Since the
issue is the creditability of the source, mentioning that the same thing
is being stated by a non-credible source is at best disingenious.  The fact
that Falwell says it in no way makes it less likely; he would certainly
pass on these things if they were true.

So let's ignore the irrelevancy; the subject is the reliability of the
Mexican television report.  Do you have any real reason to think it
unreliable?

By the way, the Contras are by no means monolithic.  The sources I have
seen (mostly newspapers) indicate that some groups of them do engage in
atrocities, and some do not.  Likewise, it is quite believable to me that
an isolated group of soldiers might engage in some raping, looting, and
killing, without that being the policy of the Nicarauguan government.
After all, those are time-honored military traditions.

Frank Adams                           ihpn4!philabs!pwa-b!mmintl!franka
Multimate International    52 Oakland Ave North    E. Hartford, CT 06108