It's not them actually talking - it's a cod written piece. The clue is 'by Jeff Alexander and Tom Bissell'. Chomsky has better things to do with his time than this stuff.

Yeah, he's primarily a linguist - one of the biggest of this generation - but through studies in that field, he slowly became VERY politically outspoken, as I think the writers are trying to have a dig about in that piece. Frankly, Chomsky makes a LOT of sense AND usually has good proof to back it up (he makes a habit of going through US government docs with a fine-tooth comb as they are released and has the memory of an elephant, so he can remember what they said/claimed at the time, the language they used and then compare it with the newly revealed 'truth' - it was how it all started, with his interest in how language can be twisted to hide the truth by goverments).

Zinn, after a quick check, is also someone whose stuff is posted on Z-Net/Z-mag - places that also host Chomsky's work and Robert Fisk's (well known journalist who is also very outspoken about America and the Middle East). Z-Net (http://www.zmag.org/weluser.htm)

Is it funny? Well, I suppose if you think that America was right in going to war in Iraq, then yeah. *shrugs*