Archive/File: orgs/american/ihr express.011792
Last-modified: 1993/05/18
XRef: ihr express.011092 contains the article Mark Weber replies to here.

East Bay EXPRESS  [Transcribed and republished to UseNet with permission]

LETTERS

In Defense of Liberty

To the Editor:

Paul Rauber's recent column about Mark Lane ("Sticks & Stones," January 10),
Liberty Lobby, and the Institute for Historical Review contains factual
errors and misrepresentations. For one thing, Rauber is simply wrong in
asserting that "Noontide Press is an imprint of Liberty Lobby." Noontide
Press and the Institute for Historical Review are entirely independent of
Liberty Lobby.

To prove just how wicked Noontide Press really is, Rauber cites precisely
three titles (from among hundreds) listed in its catalog. Noontide books
represent a range of political views, and no one person could possibl agree
with the ideological bent of all of them. As for the 'Protocols of the
Elders of Zion," this notorious work is offered for sale with a disclaimer.

Rauber's brief summary of Holocaust survivor Mel Mermelstein's long-standing
campaign against the IHR is likewise erroneous. In fairness, Rauber might
have also mentioned that Mermelstein's $11 million lawsuit against the IHR
and Liberty Lobby ended September 19 in a resounding victory for the
defendants. After Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Stephen Lachs threw out
as lacking in merit the malicious prosecution portion of the case,
Mermelstein and his attorneys gave up what was left of their lawsuit, and
voluntarily withdrew complaints of libel, conspiracy to inflict emotional
distress, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. And during his
session on the witness stand, Mermelstein was shown to be a deceitful and
prevaricating witness.

"Astute listeners" of the KPFA radio interview who "sat with bated breath"
hoping to hear Mark Lane explain his relationship with Liberty Lobby and
Willis Carto can satisfy their breathless curiosity by reading Lane's new
book, 'Plausible Denial.' In it Lane discusses at some length precisely this
relationship.

Although we cannot speak on behalf of Liberty Lobby, it seems odd to
characterize an organization as anti-Semitic that reposes great trust and
confidence in a Jewish attorney, Mark Lane.

Mark Weber
Associate Editor
Institute for Historical Review
Costa Mesa
=30=

PAUL RAUBER REPLIES: Weber's claim for the "independence" of IHR is marked
by the same disingenuousness that characterizes the institute's
"scholoarship." In 1980 the business license for "The Noontide
Press/Institute for Historical Review" was filed by Elisabeth Carto, wife of
Liberty Lobby founder and treasurer Willis Carto. Carto himself is listed on
IHR's letterhead as "founder." IHR's activities are regularly promoted in
'The Spotlight,' Liberty Lobby's newspaper, as are the racist and
anti-Semitic books by Noontide Press, which are advertised as part of the
Lobby's "Liberty Library."

The legal battle between Mermelstein and the IHR has devolved into a
complicated series of suits and countersuits alleging defamation and
malicious prosecution. While Judge Lachs dismissed the latter part of
Mermelstein's suit, Mermelstein is appealing the decision. None of this,
however, should cloud the major result of the case: that IHR was forced to
make good on its offer to pay $50,000 to anyone who could prove that the
Holocaust actually took place. Mermelstein did so, and IHR was forced to pay
him.
=30=

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