Hyman Pimps for a Liar

Does the name “Jerome Corsi” ring a bell? If you watched Mark Hyman’s latest commentary gushing over Corsi’s upcoming book (published by radical right publishing house WND) , you probably felt you’ve heard the name before.

Given that the book discusses the possibility of Iran weaponizing its nuclear program, you’d guess that you heard of Corsi because he’s an expert in Middle East affairs, nuclear weapons, or international law.

But that’s not why you’ve heard of Corsi. You’ve heard of Corsi because he was co-author of “Unfit for Command,” the now-discredited book that slandered Senator John Kerry during the presidential campaign. You also might remember the lies he and his co-author, John O’Neil, told about Corsi’s role in writing the book, their political ties to right wing extremists, and O’Neil’s account of his own service record.

You might also remember that Corsi was exposed as a racist and bigot, having written numerous public statements attacking Jews, Muslims, Catholics, Democrats, women, gays and lesbians, the Pope, Chelsea Clinton, Martin Sheen, and John Lennon (apparently being a pop star who’s been dead for a quarter century doesn’t stop you from being an enemy of the state in Corsi’s book). In short, Corsi despises anyone who doesn’t look, act, vote, love, pray, or believe exactly as he does.

But the fact that Corsi is a hate-mongering liar who has no particular expertise in the subject doesn’t prevent Hyman from turning “The Point” into a two minute infomercial for his upcoming book.

Apparently, Corsi’s book is intended to flame fear of Iran that will pave the way for yet another war. It’s not clear how the U.S. is supposed to invade yet another country given that the military is already stretched beyond its capabilities, but let’s not get bogged down in details.

More importantly, it’s not clear why Iran (or any other country) would be deterred from producing nuclear weapons. After all, as the Bush administration’s adventuring in Iraq has proved, you don’t need to actually have nuclear weapons, or even a nuclear program of any kind, to have the possibility that you might have such weapons used as a pretext for the preemptive invasion and occupation of your country. The U.S. invades Iraq, a country with a decimated military, no control over their own airspace, and no nuclear program. Meanwhile, the U.S. negotiates with North Korea, a country with nuclear weapons, missiles that can deliver them, and ties to terrorism. Given this, it’s hard to blame the Iranian government, or that of any other country that considers America an antagonist, for trying to obtain nuclear weapons. The Bush administration has taken away the last motivation to not pursue such weapons: the desire to avoid being attacked.

But that’s probably a moot point for Corsi, Hyman, and others on the radical right. War is an end in itself, and it’s the best solution for the world’s ills, in their book. But we’re just wondering: given our lack of military resources, will Corsi and Hyman volunteer to lead the charge to Tehran?

And that’s The Counterpoint.