The link: http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/
So, tonight Seymour Hersch was on the Daily Show, and he had the usual “bemused liberal” attitude, where they're just amazed how stupid and blindered the current administration is. I guess he subscribes more to the directionless wandering our proud Democratic party is putting on display. I guess to that sort of a person, having concrete goals looks awfull rigid and unquestioning. However, what Seymour lacks in concrete goals, he makes up for in concrete predictions. He said, very directly, that American forces will conduct air strikes inside Iran this summer. He's pretty sure of it. He's got “sources” and he's got “serious fact checking.” I just love when people cite “fact checking” as why you should believe something that has yet to happen.
So, I'm officially taking out a one-sided bet with Mr. Seymour. Here's the stakes: If we bomb Iran this summer, you are officially a serious newsman, who breaks big stories. If we don't bomb Iran this summer, you will shut your stupid, biased, crap-spewing mouth, and stop acting like random conspiracy theories are news. In order to make your humiliation complete, I will define “summer” as “now until November 1st, 2005.” Gives you a nice big window, Nostradamus. Real simple. Let's all sit back and watch.
Of course, this is a one sided bet, as I said. When November 1st rolls around, and no bombs have fallen on Tehran, Mr. Hersch will have written five hundred thousand more articles about how “fact checked” Bush's evil is, and will have made a dozen more smug proclamations to Jon Stewart's glowing approval. Long story short, he's not going to shut up, he's going to keep blathering angry bias, he's going to keep calling it “fact” and nothing is going to change.