Duped by his self-promotion, no less than four Dehai writers spent a great deal of time and energy writing serious critiques of the man and his work in March and April 1999. (all available at Dehai's Selected Articles.) What have we learned since then?

The man who at one time escorted Meles Zenawi down the halls of US congress and sold himself as influential in American policy has no influence. After spending millions of dollars to influence US policy (probably upon the advice of Mr.Henze), Ethiopia was bested by Eritrean citizen ambassadors who have managed to convince key American policy makers of the truth: that the Ethiopian Government is interested neither in peace nor impartial justice. [Note to Henze: Congressman Gilman's blistering article was not the result of zombie citizens who get their marching orders from the Eritrean embassy. It was the result of the work of ordinary Eritreans concerned about their country. (BTW, congratulations to our citizen ambassadors in Quadrant 1A). To deal with Ethiopia's loss of its historic diplomatic adeptness, Ethiopian writers have been reduced to posting chain letters of an "Open Letter A Day to make Gilman Go Away". The tone of these "Open Letters" has ranged across four of the five stages articulated by noted psychiatrist, Dr. Elisabether Kubler-Ross, in her seminal work on death and dying. The days of Ethiopia nursing at the tits of America unmolested are gone. We hope that, eventually, Ethiopians will accept the loss and move on towards peace.

There is nothing new in Henze's latest hit piece on Eritrea and its leaders that appeared on Walta and the Ethiospokesperson web pages. His hit piece had to appear as an "article" because it was too long to be a "press release." Besides, the official Ethiopian story is that its forces have never, ever been to Somalia which Henze is kind enough to let us know that it has. So, how to respond to his hit piece? Easy. If he can peddle the same tired 20-year old allegations, then it is fair game that we repackage the same responses from March and April 1999 that were put forth by :

1. Amare Tekle, from his sober "Paul Henze and the Eritrean-Ethiopian Conflict",
2. Selam Nerayo from his deligtful piece "Foreign Agents, Headless Chickens : Paul Henze & His Woyanie Friends",
3. Aradom Iyob, from his six-strike expose "Insulting Intelligence: Habit of Image-Maker "
4. (Webmaster's note: check the article: Taking a Look at Paul Henze. Out of modesty, its author had chosen not to mention it.)

These put the man in his rightful place: The Hall of Irrelevant Fame.

1. ON HENZE's PREVIOUS LABOR OF LOVE TOWARDS ERITREA:

   Selam Nerayo writes:

   " Folks, this is the type of person who always parrots at every opportunity the old tired shibboleth of 3000 years history of Ethiopia and its Ankober elite genealogy and yet, when it comes to Eritrea and Eritreans, oh! he has used every invective that ever exists in the English dictionary. Even the use of salacious phrases are not out of his ethical boundaries. It is to be remembered that in the late 80s, he and his Ethiopian friends such as Hannah Yulma (a founder of the CIA funded Ethiopian Peoples Democratic Alliance - EPDA) are on record going to the end of the earth, to the extent of painting the EPLF as "Kink Marxists." [John Sorenson, Page 101] Also too, on his three consecutive articles in Encounter, a well known CIA subsidised British monthly, and another one in the Wilson quarterly, all of them 1986 issues, Mr. Henze poured all kinds of half truth and innuendoes about Eritrea and the EPLF and worst of all making no distinction with the Dergue. Thus, in light of that tradition, Mr. Henze recent venom is not new."

   Amare Tekle describes Henze's motives as follows:

   " Having been an Ethiopian propagandist and having been engaged in the business of delegitimizing Eritrea for almost thirty (30) years, it has been very hard for you [Henze] to accept Eritrean independence. Indeed, your conversation with Meles Zenawi in 1990 on the future of Eritrea seems like a reflection of your wishes and his desire to accommodate them. You have now found a golden opportunity to engage in your previous practice of demonizing Eritrea and Eritreans. Thus, you wish Ethiopia more and more victories until the destruction of Eritrea. To this, I say "Merde a Paul Henze".

2. ON HIS PRETENSIONS TO BEING A SCHOLAR

   Amare Tekle writes:

   "One reassuring note and a warning. First, the good news: Henze is held in very low esteem and, particularly in academia, his opinions are viewed with suspicion and his integrity is tarnished. For example, the eminent political scientists Edward S. Herman and Noan Chomsky find in his writings "complete absence of credible evidence, a reliance on ideological premises, and internal inconsistencies". (Herman and Chomsky: Manufacturing Mistake P147.) Others accuse him of deliberate distortions and biased interpretations.

   " Now the warning. When you read any of Henze's work, or listen to him in any discussion, you need to control yourself because he can be infuriatingly liberal with his language and his illogic. He surely has the capacity to bring the base instincts of the average decent person."

   Selam Nerayo writes:

   "Folks we are fortunate that John Sorenson, in his marvelous book, Imagining Ethiopia: Struggles for History and Identity, have allocated a whole chapter (see 126 to 145) exposing the gibberish and partisan nature of Mr. Henze. I hope Mr. Serenson doesn't mind if I present one page that tells the background of Mr. Henze. Those of you who have the contact with Mr. Sorenson, I beseech you to get permission from him and post the whole chapter that deals with this evil person. The following is Mr. Henze's background which I would like to share hopefully those who do not know him will have a fair idea about his motive and the structure of his political DNA.

   "According to Mr. Sorenson, "Paul Henze is a prolific contributor (I should say for the wrong and uninformed reason) to the production of the discourse concerning the Horn of Africa. Although Mr. Henze identifies himself as independent scholar, those who knew him intimately like Herman and Chomsky (1988:145) identify him as 'a long time CIA officer and propaganda specialist,' stating that his CIA career began under a cover of Foreign Affairs Advisor in the Defense Department in the 1950, followed by six years as a policy advisor to the CIA controlled Radio Free Europe in Munich. In 1969, he became CIA station chief in Ethiopia, then assumed a similar post in Turkey in 1974 before becoming a National Security Council representative in the White House in 1977. Afterwards, Henze was a Wilson Fellow at the Smithsonian Institution and then became a consultant for the Rand Corporation, a US military allied think tank. Herman and O'Sullivan (1989:86-87) charge that Mr. Henze's move to the Rand Corporation provides a veneer of scholarly objectivity to what are in fact CIA propaganda and misinformation operation (Sorenson : Page 127)"

   "In his writing on the Horn of Africa, Mr. Henze makes no reference to any CIA background, stating only that he has 'traveled, lived, and worked in Ethiopia over the past two decades.' This experience allowed Mr. Henze (that's what he thinks) to become a prolific commentator on the region and thus be acclaimed as an expert. For example, at a Michigan State University conference on the Horn, Mr. Henze was welcomed as 'former government official who has built an impressive new career as a scholar.' Yet Mr. Henze's work has been sharply criticized in many ways and at different times. Discussing his book on the purported Bulgarian plot to kill Pope John Paul II, Herman and Chomsky (1988:147) finds 'complete absence of credible evidence, a reliance on ideological premises, and internal inconsistencies.' Similar assessments have been made of Henze's work on Africa. Aseffa (1989-90 : 53) remarks that although Henze 'provokes serious issues,' his writing is 'elitist, paternalistic, complacent, and based on biased premises.' (Sorenson : Page 127)"

3. ON HENZE'S CLAIM THAT ERITREA COMMITTED AGGRESSION AGAINST ETHIOPIA (a conclusion not even reached by the beloved OAU):

   Amare Tekle writes:

   " The official UN definition of aggression, as is inscribed in GA Resolution 3314 of 1974, is, inter alia, (1) the invasion or attack by the armed forces of a state of the territory of another state, (2) bombardment by the armed forces of a state against the territory of another state and (3) the blockade of the ports of a state. Honest third party verification informs us that it was Ethiopia that crossed into Eritrean territory in July 1997 and again on 15 June 1998 after the Ethiopian Prime Minister declared war on 4 June 1998. It was Ethiopia which announced to the World that it has blockaded the Eritrean sea coast and Eritrean airspace; it was Ethiopia which bombarded Asmara International Airport. (See for example, Paul Harris' article in Combat and Survival, Vol. 10, Issue 7, October 1998).

   " Again, it is Ethiopia which, in February 1999, broke the air moratorium brokered by the US. It was Ethiopia which committed aggression along three fronts of the border in February 1999. It is Ethiopia which refuses the cease fire and the cessation of hostilities demanded by the UN and - hear this - it is Ethiopia which has finally showed its true colors and objectives by rejecting the validity of Colonial borders. It is also to be noted that even the OAU request for withdrawal from Badme and its environs which Eritrea has now accepted, hinges on "goodwill". Mr. Henze, are you not rushing in where real experts have so far feared to tread? - to paraphrase Alexander Pope."

4. ON HENZE'S CLAIM THAT ETHIOPIA IS A DEMOCARACY:

   Amare Tekle writes:

   " I was amused by the polite skepticism of the editor [of the Journal of Democracy (Vol. 9, No. 4 1998) who was "concerned by some of its empirical assertions and philosophical assumptions" and had, in his outrage, to request your permission to solicit rejoinders which would appear in the same issue. This was unusual editorial pressure but, under the circumstances, he had to safeguard his reputation and the integrity of his journal. I read with great satisfaction the articles by John Harbeson and particularly the inimitable Richard Joseph who writes about your article as follows:

   "I had not anticipated being confronted with such a stark demonstration of how the idea of democracy can be distorted and turned into a shield for what are at best semi-authoritarian practices. My task has thus become the unpleasant one of identifying the threat that such a treatment represents, not just to struggling democratic movements world-wideIII"

   "Let me quote from one AmharicIJournal. In an article entitled "what I do not understand, what I cannot understand, what it is not possible for me to understand" appearing in the February 1993 issue of the Amharic Journal Tobia, Tsegaye Gebre-Medhin Araya writes:

   "We are scared to discuss national issues openly, in a country which is supposed to have allowed the exercise of unfettered democratic rights. We are scared of the President. We are scared of the Prime Minister. We are scared of the authorities of the day empowered as they are by political power and the barrel of the gun. We are scared of our immediate bosses and our colleague who is from the ruling ethnic group; we are scared of our wives and our in-laws; we are scared, scared, scaredI.We are scared of going to jail, being sacked from the job. We are scared of deathI..We are scared of everything."

   "I can assure you there was more democracy in East Germany (which technically was also a multi-party state) than present day Ethiopia."

   Aradom Iyob writes:

   " In October 1998 Henze wrote an article about Ethiopia for the Journal of Democracy. In this article he quixotically anoints Ethiopia a democracy. In that same issue Emory University's Political Scientist Dr. Richard Joseph seriously criticizes Henze's declaration that Meles Zenawi's Ethiopian government is democratic in structure, substance and practice. Dr. Joseph says, "By simply echoing the EPRDF's claims and denials, and adding his own obfuscations, Henze has done a disservice to the Ethiopian government, its people, and the community of scholars and policy analysts." (Pg. 60) With respect to Henze's assessment of Ethiopia's government, Dr. Joseph is not alone. On Henze's view, the editors of that same issue of Journal of Democracy state,"This is a view that runs counter to the assessments of most scholars and international monitoring organizations, who generally regard the EPRDF rule as falling well short of democratic standards." Again, on the same issue and same publication, John W. Harbeson of the United States Institute of Peace adds," In my view, Henze conveys a highly misleading account of Ethiopia's post-1991 political transition by glossing over or completely overlooking some of its most important dynamics."(Pg. 66)

   "That there is no democracy in Ethiopia is an open secret. In its August 16, 1997 issue The Economist appropriately describes Ethiopia's form of government as a "Federal Sham." Paul Henze's position on the nature of Ethiopia's present form of government, then, clearly manifests - among other things - a serious and harmful lack of intellectual integrity."

5. ON HENZE'S CLAIM THAT THE ERITREAN REFERENDUM WAS A SHAM

   Amare Tekle, addressing Henze directly, writes:

   " Your claim that you were an observer in the Eritrean referendum is not substantiated by the records. That notwithstanding, I do not believe that you understand that the purpose of a referendum is to present to a population a simple, clear and unequivocal proposal on any public issue. In fact, if you had been an observer, you would have remembered my answer to this question at that time. I answered: "It is not possible to present multiple choices for the simple reason that it would not be possible to arrive at a conclusive decision. It would be however entirely possible to administer another referendum with another proposal in the absence of a clear choice." The Eritrean Referendum Commission did just that. And the results were unambiguous. The UN and other agencies which were consulted approved the framing of the question that was asked. All government, including the Ethiopian and US governments, NGOs and IGOs were satisfied with the framing of the question and described the referendum process as one of the fairest and freest of referendums ever. In fact, there was near-universal acclaim of the administration, conduct and supervision of the process. Just the same, why are you raising this issue now? Do I sense a freudian slip of information acquired by a regretful Ethiopian Government?"

6. ON HENZE CONGRATULATING ETHIOPIANS FOR THEIR "VICTORY" AND PREDICTING FUTURE VICTORIES

   Aradom Iyob writes:

   " On March 17 Marek NCN News Briefs stated: " NCN has been told by a highly reliable Washington source that the reports that Ethiopia lost perhaps as many as 10,000 soldiers in the last major battle, dubbed "Operation Sunset" by the Ethiopians, that occurred on February 23-26. Ethiopia claimed total victory in that battle, and there was massive jubilation in the streets of Addis Ababa. What Ethiopians have not been told is the enormous toll on their forces. In that battle, Eritrea said 9,000 Ethiopian soldiers were lost as they launched old-time Chines-style human waves assaults against Eritrea's heavily fortified defensive emplacements. NCN has now been informed that the Eritrean estimate is accurate"

   With respect to the equally intense battle at the Tsorona front on March 13-16, Eritrea claimed that more than 10,000 Ethiopian troops were killed. In its March 18 piece titled Eritrea Displays Enemy War Dead 'Drama Staged,' Ethiopia Claims, The New York Times corroborates, "Foreign diplomats in both nations said they generally believed Eritrea's version of the battles."

   " In addition to the human rights violations renowned news media such as BBC, AP, Reuters, Corriere della Sera continue to expose Ethiopia's lies and fabrications as to its performance in the battle field. Corriere della Sera's February 16 piece titled Etiopia, La Trincea Dei Fantasmi by Lanfranco Vaccaro is a classic. In his battlefield reportage Vaccaro reveals the extent to which an Ethiopian colonel goes in order to prove Ethiopia's military control of Geza Gerlase. In this derisory article the colonel submits a mere sack of abandoned bread as evidence of intense battle between Ethiopian and Eritrean forces."

   To Aradom's points, one can also add that the Ethiopian Government lied about an alleged bombing of Adigrat on February 5, 1999. (Reuters, February 5, 1999); the Ethiopian Government lied about capturing Geza Gherehelase on February 8, a report refuted by Reuters (February 8), BBC (February 8), AP (February 9) and most devastatingly by Corriere della Sera (February 16.) The Ethiopian Government lied about hitting the Assab water reservoir (AP, February 16, 1999) The Ethiopian Government lied about the sequence of the air raids on June 5. The Ethiopian Government lied about how many planes it lost in the bombing of Asmara. (Reuters, June 7, 98).

   The Ethiopian Government lied about the June battle in Zalambesa so blatantly that even reserved journalists said that Ethiopia's statements were "patently false" (Sunday Times of London, June 14, 1998). Here is how David Hirst put it: "To someone like myself, who twice visited Eritrea when its present leaders were still rebels in the bush, it all had a familiar feel. First, the clear Ethiopian lie: petty, perhaps, but typical of the self -delusion with which, first under the Emperor Haile Selassie and then under Colonel Mengistu, the state conducted its counter-insurgency. Almost to the end, the rebels were dismissed as mere "bandits" on the brink of obliteration. Second, the Ethopians' dogged reliance on vastly superior but ill-trained and little-motivated manpower."--The Guardian June 10, 1998

7. ON HENZE'S CLAIM THAT THE ERITREAN GOVERNMENT IS NOT SUPPORTED BY ERITREANS:

   Aradom Iyob writes:

   The Washington Post's February 14, 1999 quote of the day was: " Issaias Afwerki is the George Washington of EritreaIHe is the one who most people consider brought them their freedom and sovereignty" [A29].

   "The same cannot be said about Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, the present leader of the Ethiopian government. Unlike Afwerki, Zenawi has been regarded as the architect of Ethiopia's institutionalized ethnic nationalism that placed post-1991 Ethiopia on a collision course with civic nationalists who fought for not only a democratic and pluralist Ethiopia, but also a unitary nation. The March 1999 issue of the Ethiopian Register published how some Ethiopian students chose to celebrate Ethiopia's pyrrhic victory in Badme in the midst of celebrating the historical Battle of Adwa in March: "Later more students decided to join the demonstration and changed the spirit of the demonstration from support for the government to solidarity with the Ethiopian Forces. It was in this context that some students carried placards saying Ke Badme mels wede Meles! "After the return from Badme let's march on Meles" [pg. 11]

CONCLUSIONS:

Mr. Henze will forever cling to the notion that Eritrea cannot be a viable country and that Ethiopia is making "staggering" progress towards democracy. He has to; to not do so would be to admit that he has been wrong for the last 30 years. If truth-in-advertising laws extended to pundits, Mr. Henze would be forced to walk around with a tatoo that reads: "Warning, This Man Has Been Wrong On Eritrea For The Last 30 Years. Heed His Advice At Your Own Peril." Fortunately for pundits, no such rules exist and they are allowed to pontificate with impunity without anyone asking them the obvious question: why should we listen to you?