Tom Cooney and General Custer

national | miscellaneous | news report Tuesday April 15, 2003 11:33 by James McKenna jimmymac61 at hotmail dot com

What's the difference?

Last night on Questions and Answers Tom Cooney of UCD showed us his intellect and it wasn't a pretty sight.

Cooney: It (this war) wasn't pre-emotive in a pure sense because if you take it with resolution 1441 Saddam Hussein had an obligation to disarm immediately, fully and unconditionally, right...

John Bowman: Weapons that the Americans have not yet found?

Cooney: So, so?

Bowman: So, well if they don't find them...?

Cooney: So, are you saying they won't find them? Do you know that they won't find them?

Bowman: No, but do you know that they will?

(Loud audience applause)

Cooney: I have confidence that they will

Bowman: If they don't find them then was the whole adventure wrong?

(Here's the classic Cooney Slither as he dodges that question)

Cooney: There is a double-barell rationale for this war both morally and legally. One is resolution 1441. The US and Britain should have been able to go to the US Security Council and look for a second resolution. Before France even saw a draft of the second resolution it said it wouldn't vote for one.

Mitchell McLoughlin: Because it believed the arms inspectors were doind their job successfuly.

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Eoin Harris also tripped on his own sword on RTE radio Sunday morning when he insistently and repeatedly claimed Richard Downes had justified the war and said it was just. Richard Downes was not long about calling the show and stating categorically that he had never said any such thing .

Harris mumbled something about looking at the tape of the Late Late Show again but didn't say sorry to Richard Downes.

How do the likes of these guys make it to be media pets? Is it a throw back to the 1980's when RTE ran self-censorship and Micthell McLoughlin woulnd't have been allowed to have a say and Cooney could have continued his flawed argument uninterrupted. Is it in any way part of the Irish peace process that people like these who have been most unhelpful at resolving the conflict but rather have driven it with their bigotry should be decomissioned from the airwaves?