[larrys]

You've raised some interesting points and I don't know enough to know if this is correct (other than what you are referring to and I don't even come close to knowing how to vet anything on this). But I do know that currently Mandela is seen as a saint (just watching the news last night alone would tell you that).

So I wonder if anyone with mainstream credibility has written or will write some definite document that confirms or denies what people are saying on either side of this issue?

[ismail]

I think the media you are watching are doing you a disservice and quite possibly the world media. They are portraying Nelson Mandela as some kind of grand-father to the country, and yes in the last 15 years he has grown into that role, but there was more to the man that.

He was not GREAT because he was a SAINT or a pacifist or forgiving. He was great, because he knew what needed to be done, and he did it at the right times.

When the peaceful resistance, the marching, the uprisings were not working, it was time for the armed resistance.

When the country was at the brink of civil war he reliased unity would be needed to ensure the country and people would be truly free.

He was great, because he could get people to see his view of the world, not by force, not by demanding but just by speaking to them.

He was not this cuddly teddy bear/saint that some here seem to think he was. When the time came, and he did what needed to be done, not for himself but for the people, for a cause and for freedom.

[larrys]

If anything it shows that you never obviously know the real story if you don't know all the details. Something that I always think and why I am so cynical and skeptical most of the time. There is always spin.

[at-fates-hands]

Here's an account of the trial which I thought was pretty detailed: http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/mandela/mandel...

I thought it was pretty telling he was offered his freedom if he denounced the violence the ANC was taking part in and he refused.

[larrys]

Actually now that I'm thinking about it last night I think Brian Williams (NBC) said that but he said it in a tone of voice that didn't make it seem bad. I thought about it a bit but forgot until you just made your comment. Shows you how the press can infer importance or not just by the way something is presented.