WHO is this guy? Where was he when the lights went out? DId he use invisible ink to ask these questions? Stay tuned for another edition of Jepardy!

Well he mixed in every whacky conspiracy theory. More flavors for the KoolAid bunch.

who is he?

this should say it all,

member of: Palestine Right to Return Coalition

I mean really, like isreal would ever allow all the people who left to fight, rather than live with jews back into isreal.

What IS it with the Pals, there has never been nor will there ever be a more conspiracy-suspicious bunch. Nothing is ever face-value, but always just the tip of the iceberg...the iceberg that is always in the way of the Pals being able to ever have a rational thought about anything on the planet. Arafatism is really good, it is really effective, to have so scrambled these people's ability to order their thinking. No wonder it's still around.

Click on the hyperlink on his name and you read his bio. It says:

Mazin Qumsiyeh, associate professor of genetics and director of cytogenetic services at Yale University School of Medicine, is founder and president of the Holy Land Conservation Foundation and ex-president of the Middle East Genetics Association. He is co-founder and national treasurer of Al-Awda, the Palestine Right to Return Coalition.

So, he's got credentials, and is not just another perpetual-war advocate. But, there are still two sides to the right-of-return issue...and two facts stand out: One, the "return" spells the demographic end for Israel's ability to defend itself, under current conditions, and, two, who gets to pick where the clock starts on the land-title search? Why 1948? Thw world has records that go back further, let's start with the earliest proven ownership rights, anything else is arbitrary and opportunistic, and fully partisan.

but that would mean that the jews have a right of return to the west bank and gaza...I thought the settlements were illegal and an abomination. Maybe we'd better ignore persian, greek, and roman records, otherwise exterminating the jews could become difficult.

[end sarcasm]

Het, look - I can use scare quotes too:

* Who is this "person? An academic "researcher"? Who is this "scientist" talking about the right to return to "Palestine"?

Now, here's what I think:

> Why was the airport the first important asset handed over in
> Baghdad with little resistance?

Ummm.. Could it be that it was the first place attacked? Maybe because it was on the outskirts of the city and would provide a means for resupply in case the city took weeks before it fell? Maybe it was "handed over" because Iraqi soldiers were by and large about as willing to die uselessly for Saddam's regime as the good Doctor Qumsiyeh, who obviously didn't leave the comforting halls of American academia to take up the jihad to extend a brutal dictator's rule by a few weeks? Maybe they too can now sit back and ask "questions."

> What was the real purpose of the surprise entrance of American
> troops into the heart of Baghdad and quick retreat into the
> airport

Maybe it was because the "Information Minister" said no American troops were within a hundred miles of Baghdad, and the "reporters" continued to say brilliant things hinting that they believed the "Iraqis" more than the Americans. Maybe because it would also show the "Defenders" that the regime's time was up, that the "truth" the regime proclaimed were lies, and that it made far more sense to go home than to man the bunkers to defend their "leader."

> Why did the Iraqis leave bridges standing unscathed (a basic
> feature of any rational defence near rivers is blowing up the
> bridges)?

Hmmm.. Tough one. Special forces and rangers securing bridgeheads, the way they've been trained? Allied bombing driving the "defenders" away? A decision on the part of the Iraqi "leadership" to allow the Americans into the city to engage in street to street fighting where they could claim "civilian" casualities and challenge the American will to continue while inflaming the "Arab street"? All of the above?

Argh. "Threats to the homeland" makes the US like thte Nazis? Isn't the Arab cry against Israel that the Israelis are a threat to Arab lands? Wasn't the French, Polish, et ceteraa, buildup in the 1930's a reaction to German threats to their land? Isn't *every freaking conflict* a reaction to some kind of threat?

Jeez. Some people...

-BF

Exactly. The "right of return" principle, applied to any other dispue-circumstances, wouldn't even make it to a U.S. civil court, even IF you could find a lawyer to argue the legalities. The Pals oughtta call it the "right of extermination", and then at least have the virtue of honesty.

Why is this guy 1) even allowed in this country; and 2) teaching at Yale?

One thing the professor's comments make clear, is that having a college degree, and being a professor at one of our more famous universities, does not imply that one is logical, truthful, or possessed of even a single clue.

Let's remember that the next time someone starts yelling that they want an "expert" opinion.

Dude, that is so right! Why? Why? Why? Da Man always wants to mess with your head, man. Whoa, this is some good shi.............

I motion that the Palestinian Right to Return Coalition be renamed. The "Palestinian Right to Israel Coalition". This makes for a much more appropriate acronymn. Can I get a second????

Nice work at debunking the good professor.

It is the easiest thing to ask "reasonable" questions that cast doubt (or worse) but offer no explanation themselves. What's amazing is the appetite conspiratorialists have for that ploy.

We should also note that the professor's credentials are in the hard sciences, not politics, diplomacy or even military theory. So although he may be intelligent and well-employed, he is no expert on the topic at hand. Al-jazeera doesn't miss the opportunity to get marquee value out of the "Yale professor" appellation, though.

I have no problem with him being in the country, nor with him expressing his views. Blocking him from entering the country means blocking 9 others who become productive believers in the American Way. I have at least that much confidence in America's essential, seductive Goodness (and in our ability to track down the 1 bad apple amongst the 10).

But you do have to question Yale's intelligence in employing him, given that most Yale parents, IMHO, would be shocked to find their kids taught - even non-political subjects - by this America-hating wacko.

I have a response to this dude on blog:

ww.rogerlsimon.com

I like the parallel with Germany's "slowly fading democracy". Bullshit.

In Hitler's FIRST year as Chancellor, he:

abolished all parties except for the Nazi Party
abolished all of the state parliaments of Germany
abolished freedom of speech and the press
abolished labor unions
abolished all democratic associations
removed Jews from public and professional positions
had all legislative athority transferred to himslef and his cabinet

Poland wasn't invaded until five years later.

When Bush does any one of the above things, only then will I listen to any Nazi parallels.

Why are people so ignorant? You think someone with this guy's education should know better.