Thanks for the link. It is really long and I only read about the first half or so. Nothing in there seems to support Cal's claim (one that I'm assumin you agree with). Lots seem to confirm the claim that they thought the paper was bad science, though.
Below is some excerpts which seems to me to support the position that they opposed it because it was flawed (I'm not saying they are correct and that it is flawed, I'm saying that the emails state that their reasons for opposing it is because they think it is flawed/bad science). Of course, they could be lying and use these reasons as bogus arguments - but they seem to do a good job hiding that sentiment if that was true. Also note that the paper was indeed published - I thought one of the claims were that contrary papers would never be allowed to be published.
So could you point to me the section that seems to support your position?
Here are some excerpts that I noticed:
From: Dec 4 2009 [1196795844]
"To me, the fundamental error is 2.3.1 [Note a]
Does IJC publish comments?"
....
It sure does! Have read briefly - the surface arguments are wrong. I know editors have difficulty finding reviewers, but letting this one pass is awful - and IJC was improving
6 Dec 2007 [1196956362]
No, this would not be dire. What is dire is Douglass et al.'s willful
neglect of any observational datasets that do not support their
arguments.
10 Dec 2008 [1197325034]
I think the scientific fraud committed by Douglass needs to be exposed. His co-authors may be innocent bystanders, but I doubt it.In normal circumstances, what Douglass has done would cause him to lose his job -- a parallel is the South Korean cloning fraud case. I have suggested that someone like Chris Mooney should be told about this.
12 Dec 2008 [1197507092]
The Douglass et al. paper was rejected twice before it was finally accepted by IJC [Note a]. I think this paper is a real embarrassment for the IJC. It has serious scientific flaws. I'm already working on a response.
Phil can tell you about some of the other sordid details of Douglass et al. These guys ignored information from radiosonde datasets that did not support their "models are wrong" argument (even though they had these datasets in their possession)[Note b]. Pretty deplorable behaviour...Douglass is the guy who famously concluded (after examining the temperature response to Pinatubo) that the climate system has negative sensitivity. Amazingly, he managed to publish that crap in GRL.
10 Jan 2008 13:00 [1199988028]
Quick publication of a response to Douglass et al. in IJC would go some way towards setting the record straight. I am troubled, however, by the very real possibility that Douglass et al. will have the last word on this subject. If IJC are interested in publishing our contribution, I believe it's fair to ask for the following:
1) Our paper should be regarded as an independent contribution, not as a
comment on Douglass et al. ...
2) If IJC agrees to 1), then Douglass et al. should have the opportunity
to respond to our contribution, and we should be given the chance to
reply. Any response and reply should be published side-by-side, in the
same issue of IJC.