Years ago, Bill Kristol railed against intellectual elites meaning liberal college profs.
Codi and Kristol have proven that what we have to fear is right wing intellectual elites who are cluless about mindsets othere then those they know.
As someone else pointed out except it wasn’t to resettle German Jews but all Jews in Europe who had been oppressed . In fact Germany pre Hitler treated it’s Jews better then Poland or Russia.
As crazy as it sounds, of we can take in all the illegal immigrants we do, perhaps resettling Jews here wouldn’t be impossible except for the religious ones and there has been seen a need by Jews for a homeland where they will be safe

JChelton: Mate, that spoof was GREAT! Spot-on the way you take the piss on muddled neo-Nutsies. You are truly a “mind scientist” as you put it. Of course, if you meant to be serious, I’d say the “ever-burning sun” must have affected your brain. Keep up the “semantics” boyo…

To JChelton, comment 15866

Thank you for your courage and for being on the side of justice and truth. To be a free thinker and a man of truth and justice is indeed the greatest act of heroism and patriotism these days, when the evil sowrd of Zionist blackmailing, named anti-Semitism, is always drawn for attack. People of your caliber are increasingly becoming a rare breed. And I don’t want to loose the opportunity to thank him or her when I spot one.

Besides, I learned from you a few facts I didn’t know about the United States moving 1000 Nazi Rocket Scientists and 800 Nazi Mind Scientists in Operation Paper Clip to the United States after WWII. This helps me understand the mindset of the neocons, who should rightly be called the Neo-Nazis. Thank you for this invaluable information. It certainly will help me with a book project abount the history of militarism in the U.S.

Again, thank you for being a pragmatic man and suggesting a real plan to solve the Mideast problem by moving Jews to Texas. This is indeed a practical solution that should make all the parties happy; should all the parties involved be rational thinking human beings.

Having been depressed over the last thirty days or so, reading your piece has helped alleviate my pain; thank you for that too, may I say friend!

The Answer to the Middle East

I think it is about time to talk frankly and openly about the Conflict(s) in the Middle East. I do not care if I am called names, labeled as “Anti Semantic” or anything else my own citizens of the United States think, or the “Jewish Faith” in general.

Ever since WW2 ended and 3 Caucasian leaders of the 3 “Super-Powers” decided to “return to their homeland” the “Caucasian German Jews” to a piece of Land they carved out, in Arab Land, later to become Israel, there has been killing, oppression, and to me almost 60 years of pure evil, coming out of that part of the world.

The question is, did these 3 leaders of the Super-Powers make a grievous error in ‘Re-Locating” these Caucasian German Jews back to their supposed “Holy Land”? I think it is safe to say, looking at the last 60 years, that yes this was the dumbest idea in the last 70 plus years.

I am a very spiritual man, but since the current local and world news make mistakes all the time on their reporting, who the heck can prove that Caucasian German Jews, came from that part of the world? Neither science nor anything else can prove that. In fact due to the climate conditions, and the “Darker Skin” of the Arab people protects them from the ever burning sun, it makes sense that “Caucasian People” did not come from that part of the world.

For 3 Caucasian leaders to randomly decide what they did and to basically steal land from the people whose homes and livelihood depended upon that land, is not only wrong, but to me, it is inhumane.

Why couldn’t they just remain in Germany, the West German side of course? Why couldn’t we have moved them to the United States, like we did with the 1000 Nazi Rocket Scientists, and 800 Nazi Mind Scientists, in Operation Paper Clip?

This comes down to plain simple math. It comes down to what is in the best Interest(s) of the United States. Someone needs to move.

So what is the answer to this grave World War 3 problem? I believe it is, moving the State of Israel to the United States, and returning the land to the Arabs that it was stolen from 58 years ago.

What would Israel lose? They have the strongest, most powerful lobbyist(s) in the United States already. They have the Anti-Defamation League already; they own quite a number of large Corporations in the U.S. etc.

I even know where we could carve out a piece of Land and give Israel their own State, within the United States. Not a Sovereign Country within the United States, like that ungodly place they call Washington D.C., but a real State, just like I live in the State of Washington.

The Land we could give them could be in the large State of Texas, right near the Mexican border. Think about it. That way when we re-located them to their new State, they could bring along their world class wall they are building, and we could use it along the Mexican Border. Then we can give them all jobs in guarding the Mexican border, so we could stop all the illegal immigration into this Country, via that route. It is obvious the Sovereign Country within the United States, Washington D.C. is useless in protecting our borders, and in fact, I believe encourages illegal immigration.

All I know is that if something drastic is not done soon, regarding Israel and our support thereof, we will be involved in a large war, World War 3, which believe me, will make WW2 look like a joke.

It is time for the people in the United States, excluding that Sovereign Country within the United States, Washington D.C., to wake the hell up, and consider the blood all over their hands, and adjust their thinking, way of life etc., to what is good for the Whole World.

The other choice is to continue to do what we do and hand this world over to your Children, Grandchildren, and Great Grandchildren, a world 100 times more dangerous, to suffer through what certainly will become a very meager life.

In reply to blueboy “Scheer ......correctly clarifies just how disastrous the vengeance driven (Bush: “After all, this is the guy that tried to kill my dad at one time!” Houston, 9-26-2002)

raises the timely question;

Who killed JFK and JFK jnr? Wayne Madsen (May 14 2003, counterpunch) stated “… historians and the media should concentrate on the sordid history of the Bush family.
Through three generations, the Bushes have been the dots who have connected American business to the Nazis (Prescott or “Grandpoppy” Bush was a notorious financial underwriter of Nazi German industries during World War II), the assassination of President Kennedy, the Iran-contra scandal, the stealing of an American presidential election, and now, sadly and according to Florida Senator Bob Graham, may have had foreknowledge of the September 11 terrorist attacks, the results of which, in effect, abrogated the U.S. Constitution.

Until the American people can stand up to the Bush family....and impeach or arrest, you will have no peace in the world.

To research the facts
this is as good a place to start;
http://www.truebritsjournal.co.uk/links/hazel8toplist.htm
and http://www.angelfire.com/ky/ohwhy/Bush.html
and
http://www.thelawparty.org/KennedyAssasination.htm

http://www.angelfire.com/ky/ohwhy/Bush.html

On October 26th 2002, the US anti-war senator Paul Wellstone was killed in a plane crash two miles from the runway in Minneapolis, along with his wife and daughter Suzanne Goldenberg, and three campaign staff and two pilots.
Many reporters have already pointed out how convenient it is that that George W. Bush’s most outspoken opponent was killed in a plane crash less than two weeks before an election in which his victory was essential to maintain Democrat control of the Senate. As a direct consequence of Wellstone’s death, Bush now has control of both Houses of Congress.
In America ,it has already been pointed out that John F. Kennedy Jnr. died in plane crash, as did Mel Carnahan of Missouri when running against John Ashcroft two years ago. http://www.fantompowa.net/Flame/wellstone.htm

and carefully analyse please;
THE MURDER OF JOHN F. KENNEDY, Jr
AN UPDATE by Sherman H. Skolnick

What Happened To America’s Golden Boy. WHO BENEFITS? That is a question that should be asked following a political assassination, or even when foul play is suspected. The monopoly press, from the time of Abraham Lincoln to date, never asks THAT QUESTION. Common Americans are to be fed from a bottomless garbage can of “lone assassin”, or “accident” rubbish.

John F. Kennedy, Jr., most would have to admit, was charming and articulate, and had none of the ghosts and scandals in his closet that others of his relatives seem to have had or have. If he ran for important public office, he most likely would sweep the field if not just giving every other candidate a hard time.

There are two reasons for his death, one being the main one and then, for some, an alternative. Main reason:

His family knew he planned, on August 1, 1999, to announce, that like his father, he was going to run for President. His relatives, however, warned him that the U.S. Secret Service would not and could not protect him and they did not protect his father. The head of what is now called the U.S. Secret Service, Lafayette C. Baker, was part of the plot to murder President Abraham Lincoln. ["The Lincoln Conspiracy” by Balsiger, was also a movie in the 1970s.]

The presidential guards likewise permitted an assassin to murder President James Garfield and President William McKinley. Both were anti-British, pro-American at a time when Great Britain persisted in their schemes to take back this Continent as their puppet colony [an ongoing plot from the time of the War of 1812 to now.] Further, the Secret Service allowed a plot to go forward to disable or murder in 1981 newly-elected President Ronald Reagan. A so-called “lone assassin”, Hinckley, part of a family close to oil-soaked family of George Herbert Walker Bush, then Vice President, was blamed. A trial that might have brought out inconvenient facts was cut short by a purported insanity plea by the would-be “lone assassin”. Two TV network reporters stated live that there were shots from another gunman, a matter never repeated on the air but never rescinded.

John F. Kennedy, Jr., made one grave mistake. He trusted the presidential campaign officials of Albert Gore, Jr. to know that JFK Jr. planned to announce on August 1, 1999, that he was going to run for President. That would have interfered with the plans of Gore as well as George W. Bush, the Texas Governor. The Gore campaign reportedly promised total secrecy, a pledge they never kept. The Elder Bush, George Herbert Walker Bush, was reportedly part of the scheme to assassinate President Kennedy. According to the book not allowed for many years to be openly sold in the U.S., “Farewell America”, the oil industry wanted President Kennedy dead, dead, dead. JFK wanted the oil cartel’s tax dodge, the oil depletion allowance, to be cancelled. [The book was written under the pen-name “James Hepburn” by the French CIA that infiltrated the plot. In the 1970s, I and another assassination researcher were the only ones to get copies into the U.S. Alas, I have only one copy left now.] What’s that? So you did not know or believe books are suppressed in the U.S.? Too bad for you.

The latest front for the oil fraud, George W. Bush, likewise would most naturally have an interest in the demise of JFK, Jr. George W. just before the fatal plane take-off, somehow was near the New Jersey airport where JFK Jr. kept his plane without proper security. A coincidence?

After all, JFK Jr. was a captivating speaker and would have most likely swept the field of Presidential candidates. Conservatives and liberals, both could join together to support America’s Golden Boy.

According to our best, long-time reliable sources, Jr.’s sister, Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg likewise warned her brother that running for President would be a death warrant. Nevertheless, she reportedly said she would support his plans. After his death, reportedly feuding with the Kennedy family, she did not go to the family get together. Her family reportedly threatens to silence her with a “Marilyn Monroe” needle, by a psychiatrist to change her views. [Remember, Marilyn Monroe was planning to go public at a press conference with details of her sex episodes with President Kennedy and brother Bobby, Attorney General. A psychiatrist reportedly gave her the “needle”.]

To understand why and how the Kennedy family financially benefits by not fighting or exposing the cabal murdering their family members, visit our website, the four part series, What Happened to America’s Golden Boy. Have you forgotten the attempt in 1964 to murder Teddy Kennedy by a sabotaged plane crash? Or the frame up in 1969 at Chappaquiddick?

An alternative reason, which some accept, is that JFK Jr. was going to run, not for President but for U.S. Senator from New York. Thus interfering with the plans of what we call The Dragon Lady, Hillary Rodham Clinton.[Visit our website.] Visit, as well, various websites of the Clinton Body Count. Upwards of a hundred eyewitnesses have been “suicided”, “accidented”, or plain murdered, who knew too much about the criminality of the CIA couple known as Bill and Hillary. So, as an alternative, if Jr. were planning to run for U.S. Senator from New York, who benefits from his demise? Hillary. So you think that she did not know or suspect early on that her original opponent, Rudy Guiliani, was going to remove himself from the Senate race, because of cancer treatment, or marital scandal? Hillary reportedly knew that when Guiliani was Chief Federal Prosecutor in New York, he reportedly covered up plenty in the worldwide cases called the “Pizza Connection”. The Rodham family reportedly are tied to Gambino crime family in Pennsylvania. Visit our website: “The Government-Criminal Connection”. Hillary’s original opponent, Rudy, was plenty blackmailable.

The FBI covered up the bombing of JFK Jr.’s plane. We obtained the details of the secret FBI report which was not to have been disclosed for 30 years. {Naive people heckle me claiming they cannot “find” it on the FBI’s website. See: Golden Boy on our website, Part 4.] Within 48 hours of the time the FBI knew we had their secret report, they mysteriously announced, without explanation, that henceforth all public visitors would be cancelled to the Bureau’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. They claimed unspecified “terrorists” were threatening them. By the way, Hillary put me and my TV show assistant, Joseph Andreuccetti, on an “enemies list” falsely labeling us as “domestic terrorists”. A crooked, blackmailable federal judge in Chicago dismissed our case without legal formality against Hillary and others.

The National Transportation Safety Board, NTSB, released a report claiming the JFK Jr. plane crash was due to “pilot error”. Over the years, the federal crash investigators have covered up several sabotaged plane crashes. For details on the long-time lies and frauds of the NTSB, visit our website story “Air Crashes, Black Boxes, and Unsafety Boards”.

John F. Kennedy, Jr. was murdered before he could get to his planned announcement of August 1, 1999. If he lived and ran for President, he would have been 40 years old just after the 2000 Presidential election. Slightly younger than his father when he ran for President.

Has the murdering of the Kennedy would-be dynasty ended with the rub-out of Jr.? We intend to post more updates on What Happened to America’s Golden Boy. Stay tuned. .

----------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------

Since 1958, Mr.Skolnick has been a court reformer. Since 1963, founder/chairman, Citizen’s Committee to Clean Up the Courts, disclosing certain instances of judicial and other bribery and political murders. Since 1991 a regular panelist, and since 1995, moderator/producer, of one-hour,weekly public access Cable TV Show, “Broadsides”, Cablecast on Channel 21, 9 p.m. each Monday in Chicago

I believe that Bush’s remaining in the whitehouse for another 2 1/2 years is one of the greatest dangers facing our republic. 

If we face the type of voting fraud in the 2006 elections that we experienced in 2000 and 2004 and the neocons illegally remain in power in Congress those of us, who still believe in the American dream, will have to make some sobering and hard decisions regarding the taking back of our country.

Labor pangs?  Ms. Rice’s trips to the Middle East is but a pseudo cover for the Bush administration’s attempt to fool the people one more time.  The hotter the war grows over there, the greater the chance Bush has of hitting Iran with a nuclear bomb.  If he’d wanted a cease-fire, he would have acted immediately.  With weapons supplied by the US, Israel would not have committed the over-kill it’s engaged in; ALL for 2 captured Israli soldiers!  The odds simply doesn’t make sense with Israel holding
hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and killing nearly as many.

When madmen lead nations, madness naturally ensues.  America can no loinger lay claim to being led by sanity while rhetoric continues that only the Middle East is lead by insanity.  The tangled web woven by Bush, Inc. in invading Iraq can only end in disaster for the whole world.  If we examine Hitler’s artwork we will see that a mind with a world vision created it.  If Hitler had had access to nuclear bombs, I would not be sitting here writing.

BIRTH PANGS

Secretary of State RICE:  “What we’re seeing here, in a sense, is the ... the birth pangs of a new Middle East.”

“birth pangs,” indeed.

i am reminded of Mary Shelley’s novel: ”Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus”…

=> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankenstein

...where Frankenstein = the creator, not the creature; and, Prometheus being the mythic, forever cursed bringer of the immortals’ Fire to mortal mankind.

The novel (~1831) is almost entirely obscured by 20th Century films’ re-interpretation of Shelley’s original intent and inherent ironies, including: our modern re-naming, and henceforth false association of “the creature” after its creator, Victor Frankenstein; and the “birth pangs” process of creation, written, perhaps as only a woman could ~ interpreted, as somehow “horrible” beyond imagination; the creature, “grotesque” to behold (to the male/father’s psyche?)

“...the creature was not an “evil creation”. It was born an innocent blank slate; it was Frankenstein’s REJECTION of the creature that taught it to be evil.”

We could apply Shelley’s allegory to either “the creature” of Judaism, ISRAEL, or the latest “creatures” of ISLAM ~ with equal facility: both Theocracies, both REJECTED as “evil”, thus…

...the latter, most recent “creatures” being those Islamo-Fundamentalist offspring of Mr. Bush and Ms. Rice’s “democracy,” progenies they now reject as grotesque, evil inherent ~ and seek to destroy…

...the delicious irony (Mary Shelley would have approved) is that Mr. and Mrs. Frankenstein’s infanticide is initiated in the same week that Andrea Yates, convicted of murdering her own children in a bathtub, is found “Not Guilty: By Reason of Insanity.”

CONDI’S “BIRTH PANGS” RIVALS HER “FEWER TROOPS WAS BEST”

CONDI to RUSSERT: FEWER TROOPS WAS BEST

Condi (paraphrased) said, “there were those who argued for a larger footprint which would have left nothing to be done by the Iraqis.”
She is boldfaced arguing that fewer troops was a reasoned decision to allow the Iraqis autonomy to construct the new Iraq.
I have never heard such a purposely deceitful philosophical argument in my entire life.
If you deconstruct this argument she argues that looting, twenty thousand dead or injured GIs, 100,000 dead Iraqis and establishing a training ground for thousands of Jihadis is not only acceptable but preferrable to having secured the peace with more troops.
She is a brilliant woman but she is ill served to argue that horseshit does not stink.

1st posted 5/22/2006

To: C Quil

“What would Condoleezza Rice know about birth ‘pangs’ or anything else about giving birth, for that matter? How patronizing to talk about ‘pushing forward’ and other birth-related metaphors.”

I disagree. Condi is giving birth to twins: the new American emperor, Caligula Bush and a world war, WWIII.

It seems like Bush and Co. are just using this “war” to: 1) help everyone forget about their Iraq disaster and have no real foreign policy 2) fan up their christian base into masturbatory urgency about the upcoming armageedon (their 10 minutes of fame) 3)Once again try to ‘makeover’ the Middle East in a not thoughtout, simplistic and utopian policy (like Iraq) of total Israeli support and green light to try to eliminate Hezbollah which will never happen and 4) keep America’s TV programmed, brain dead, militarized soaked reactionary masses paranoid and militarized by using the right wing “echo chamber” of World War III clap trap and comparisons by getting corporate media to aid and abet the process in return for campaign contributions and favorable legislation. Has anyone notice how convieniently we threw aside democratic movements in Palestine and Lebanon with the drop of a hat to support fellow occupiers Israel? America’s tv trained parrots, swirling in their hubris, arrogance and ignorance won’t (as usual) but the rest of the world sure does.

Rogelio:  Actually, you are not the only one exaggerating loses: the Lebanese government has just stated that, “We believe around 600 people are dead.” Of course, only 382 are known for sure, having been counted in hospital morgues; another 58 are “known to be buried under the rubble”; and 150 are “reported to have gone missing” (590 total), according to an AP story released at 5:35 PM EDT.  They have not been “murdered” as you say, any more than the 40 or so Israelis killed by Hezbollah rockets.  They are the unfortunate casualties of hostilities precipitated by Hezbollah, if not at the instigation of Iran, at least with Iran’s tacit approval, and with Syria’s concurance.  As with children, the disabled and ill are somebody’s responsibility, and it is those who are, or should be, responsible, who should be blamed for their deaths; although I have yet to see any documented evidence that they make up any significant part of the “civilian” dead.

I do not believe that anything I’ve said lends any support to your contention, or “suspicion,” that I “feel that even the disabled and ill” need to shift for themselves.  It is always a bit risky ascribing the motives of others from a few blog pronouncements.  I hope that you will not try putting words in my mouth or feelings in my heart again.  I believe that this whole mess is most unfortunate, but that it is in part the product of a toleration for terrorists in their midst that have brought this destruction and loss of life upon the Lebanese.  That toleration was purchased with Iran’s funds in a cynical campaign to lull the civilian population of South Lebanon into allowing Hezbollah’s terrorist military arm to operate with impunity in their back-, and indeed front-, yards.  They have died because they are complicit (children excepted, of course) in the general hatred of Israel that glorifies terrorists like Hezbollah because that organization’s mission is to wipe out Israel, just like Iranian president Ahmadinejad stated when he said it should be “wiped off the map.” In order to actually do that, the entire population of Israel would have to be annihilated, as we all know.  We are also becoming aware that Iran wants to aggrandize its regional status by becoming the “peacemakers” in this mayhem that its Hezbollah proxies started, with its blessing.

As for the Lebanese government acting alone to quell Hezbollah, it didn’t have to.  It could have appealed for international assistance, which it appears likely it will get, now that Hezbollah has raised its ugly head yet again.  Meanwhile, Israel is completely justified in defending itself from Hezbollah’s terrorist aggression, since nobody else appears willing to do it for them.

If these are the birth pangs, the baby will be still-born.  Too bad the Administration is hostile to abortion.  They might have been able to save the mother’s life.

In response to Blueboy1938 comment, I have overestimated the number of innocent casualties for the simple fact that I am outraged. I have purosefully neglected the news because of their pro-Israeli stance. Therefore, the murdering of 400+ Lebannese is justifided because they have failed to get out of the crossfire? Therefore, the ignorant Americans that failed to flee Katrina are to blame for not having left? I suspect that you feel that even the disabled and ill should find a way to the north. It is foolish to assume that the unstable Lebanese government can control Hezbolla since the nation has been in shambles/chaos for the last 25 years.

The U.S. has failed to do anything about the murdering of innocent civilians becasue we are doing just the same in Iraq.

We must kill innocent people to bring about democracy. If we kill all the bad guys then all that we will have left is good guys. What perfect logic! However, is Saudi Arabi and Kuwait democarctic?

Unfortunately, Ms. Pourade, Bush’s poll numbers have gone up to 39%, according to the latest NBC/Wall Street Journal poll, reported July 26, 2006.  So there’s even more to “convince.”

And, Rogelio, “thousands of innocent Lebannese [sic]” have not been murdered, though 400+ have been caught in the crossfire.  These deaths are unfortunate, but are a byproduct of the failure of the Lebanese people to demand the disarming of Hezbollah, entranced as they are by the hypocritical largesse of Iran-funded social programs and the embedding of Hezbollah’s terrorist military establishment within the civilian population it pretends to benefit through them.  Israel has tried to get the “civilian population” to decamp to the north.  Unfortunately, some stayed, to their detriment.  People with children who keep them in harm’s way are to blame, not the Israelis.

Scheer’s revelation of al Maliki’s tutelage during the 20+ years of his exile, spent in BOTH Iran AND Syria since Saddam’s death sentence upon him in 1980, correctly clarifies just how disastrous the vengeance driven (Bush: “After all, this is the guy that tried to kill my dad at one time!” Houston, 9-26-2002) Iraq “adventure” is and will be, with its current power elite beholden to fellow-Shiites in Iran for all that time spent as their quests.  It’s no wonder that al Maliki feels perfectly comfortable whining for more American dollars and more American troops to die supporting his lame government in its total ineptitude in dealing with the burgeoning, deadly ethnic strife, while making statements IN SUPPORT of Hezbollah ON AMERICAN SOIL!  Hastert is nuts to say that, because al Maliki SAYS he is opposed to terrorism, that includes the Hezbollah proxy/clients of his pals in Iran.  Iraq may not yet be in something you can call an outright civil war, but “what’s in a name” after all, since it already walks and talks like an explosive duck.

Thank you Mr. Scheer for an excellent piece on the frightening downward spiral of our foreign policy.

One of these days, many years hence, we will discover the reasoning behind this seemingly irrational policy in the middle east.  I just hope we survive long enough to see that day.

The devil roves among us, amused at our jabberings. In 1819, when a sperm whale rammed and sank the whaleship Essex, Hermann Melville was inspired and went on to great lengths to show us to ourselves. But we didn’t get. The whale was a rogue we decided, a terrorist in fact, preying on innocent sailors, and kril. The devil was amused. Go on, talk amongst yourselves he said, heh heh, there’s plenty more fish to fry.

As I read the opinions and reactions to this article it strikes me that most of them are quick to point out the history and bad decisions that have led to this sad reality...none, however, really offer suggestions for improving the situation. Maybe that seems to oversimplify the need for a better approach, but to have such strong views against Bush and Rice - one could conclude that you must have some better ideas???

I am no expert by any means on Isreal or Lebanon...I am a citizen who looks for change and feels less than empowered. I am not a journalist, but if I were I would be doing more than criticizing - offer some suggestions why don’t you! You have an audience - you have people’s ears - that is power to make change. The truth should be told - don’t get me wrong - but to stand up and speak and express what you find fault with, demands that you fill the need for alternatives with your wisdom.

As usual, I have to say bravo to Robert Scheer for another sober and super piece. However, I didn’t like the part he devoted to talking about the Pakistani nuclear issue, while totally ignoring the Israeli nuclear issue, especially at a time when the focus is on the Israeli terrorism in action. For this little oversight I forgive Robert Scheer and I’d rather have him and read him over all the so-called journalist of this nation combined.

As to Ms. Rice, I have nothing but scorn for her for being the advocate of evil and for her cheering the Israeli terrorist war, so that Israel can have enough time to create facts on the ground, and come up a winner as always.

Big crises have a way to bring out the worst and the best of human beings, depending on the original metal one is cast from. That’s why today, after being seriously depressed for over a month, I found great comfort after reading a piece by a conscientious Israeli. I am attaching his piece below, and I am sure you would agree that professor Oren Ben-Dor’ metal is cast from gold. Here is a friend of the truth whose piece is even more relevant than Scheer’s. 

The Independent & The Independent on Sunday
26 July 2006 06:22 Home > Comment > Commentators

Oren Ben-Dor: Who are the real terrorists in the Middle East?

What exactly is being defended? Is it the citizens of Israel or the nature of the Israeli state?

Published: 26 July 2006

As its citizens are being killed, Israel is, yet again, inflicting death and destruction on Lebanon. It tries to portray this horror as necessary for its self-defense. Indeed, the casual observer might regard the rocket attacks on Israeli cities such as Haifa and my own home town, Nahariya, as justifying this claim.
While states should defend their citizens, states which fail this duty should be questioned and, if necessary, reconfigured. Israel is a state which, instead of defending its citizens, puts all of them, Jews as well as non-Jews, in danger.

What exactly is being defended by the violence in Gaza and Lebanon? Is it the citizens of Israel or the nature of the Israeli state? I suggest the latter.

Israel’s statehood is based on an unjust ideology which causes indignity and suffering for those who are classified as non-Jewish by either a religious or ethnic test. To hide this primordial immorality, Israel fosters an image of victim-hood. Provoking violence, consciously or unconsciously, against which one must defend oneself is a key feature of the victim-mentality. By perpetuating such a tragic cycle, Israel is a terrorist state like no other.
Many who wish to hide the immorality of the Israeli state do so by restricting attention to the horrors of the post-1967 occupation and
talking about a two-state solution, since endorsing a Palestinian state implicitly endorses the ideology behind a Jewish one.
The very creation of Israel required an act of terror. In 1948, most of the non-Jewish indigenous people were ethnically cleansed from the part of Palestine which became Israel. This action was carefully planned. Without it, no state with a Jewish majority and character would have been possible. Since 1948, the “Israeli Arabs”, those Palestinians who avoided expulsion, have suffered continuous discrimination. Indeed, many have been internally displaced, ostensibly for “security reasons”, but really to acquire their lands for Jews.

Surely Holocaust memory and Jewish longing for Eretz Israel would not be sufficient to justify ethnic cleansing and ethnoracy? To avoid the destabilization that would result from ethical inquiry, the Israeli state must hide the core problem, by nourishing a victim mentality among Israeli Jews. To sustain that mentality and to preserve an impression of victim-hood among outsiders, Israel must breed conditions for violence. Whenever prospects of violence against it subside, Israel must do its utmost to regenerate them: the myth that it is a peace-seeking victim which has “no partner for peace” is a key panel in the screen with which Israel hides its primordial and continuing immorality.

Israel’s successful campaign to silence criticism of its initial and continuing dispossession of the indigenous Palestinians leaves the latter no option but to resort to violent resistance. In the wake of electing Hamas - the only party, which, in the eyes of Palestinians, has not yet given up their cause - the Palestinian population of Gaza and the West Bank were subjected to an Israeli campaign of starvation, humiliation and violence.

The insincere “withdrawal” from Gaza, and the subsequent blockade, ensured a chronicle of violence, which, so far, includes Palestinian firing of Kassam rockets, the capture of an Israeli soldier and the Israeli near re-occupation of Gaza. What we witness is more hatred, more violence from Palestinians, more humiliation and collective punishments from
Israelis - all useful reinforcement for the Israeli victim mentality and for the sacred cow status of Israeli statehood. The truth is that there never could have been a partition of Palestine by ethically acceptable means. Israel was created through terror and it needs terror to cover-up its core immorality. Whenever there is a glimmer of stability, the state orders a targeted assassination, such as that in Sidon, which preceded the current Lebanon crisis, knowing well that this brings not security but more violence. Israel’s unilateralism and the cycle of violence nourish one another.

Amidst the violence and despite the conventional discourse which hides the root of this violence, actuality calls upon us to think. The more we silence its voice, the more violently actuality is sure to speak.

In Hebrew, the word elem (a stunned silence resulting from oppression or shock) is etymologically linked to the word almut (violence). Silence about the immoral core of Israeli statehood makes us all complicit in breeding the terrorism that threatens a catastrophe, which could tear the world apart.

okbendor@ yahoo.com
The writer teaches the philosophy of law and political philosophy at
University of Southampton

What can we do to shake up the 37% who still support this demagogic, authoritarian, ridiculously egocentric administration?  If there was a draft, how many thousand American soldiers would have to die before helicopters landed on rooftops to shepard the last Americans to safety?  Would we then recognize Middle Easterns crowding into our country as refugees and victims of America’s hubris or brand them as terrorist and turn them away, for it has never been about bringing democracy to that region.  It has always been about the bases we wanted to establish in the part of the world and our access to the oil.  Always. 
If this truly is the beginning of WWIII who will history say the aggressor is?  The US?  I think so.
So what do we do?  What can we do?  Democrats are plainly too afraid of the Rove Slash and Burn brand of political discourse to mount a challenge, to give us a choice, this year or in two years.  What the last 3 elections have demonstrated is most people don’t care enough to know who they are voting for if they vote at all.  Now two years into his second term and 3 years after claiming victory in Iraq we are being led to war with the same propaganda and media blitz that got us into Iraq. 

This adminisitration relies on America’s stupidity and inattention.  We have no peace and security now, we should not expect any with Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and Rice at the helm.

Thank you Mr. Scheer.  Your thoughtful columns are always welcome reading, disturbing asz they often are.  Keep up the good fight and we will too.

“ A few million hapless civilians” ?

Let us please rephrase that with accuracy

‘A Few Million Hapless ‘ MUSLIM CIVILIANS”

If our media is so “liberal,” then why do I feel the media has been so pro-Israli since their murderous invasion of Lebannon? I love the logic here. The kidnapping of two soldiers justifies the mudering of thousands of innocent Lebannese. I am all for going after the terroist, but at what cost? Does the end justifiy the means? It is pittiful that our commander in chef has failed to do intervene. Then again, he is just like a deer caught in headlights.

Like Mark Berger wrote, “I have but one question. What did we do as a nation to deserve this president?  I am certain the worst is yet to come.”

God please start communicating with our leader!

I just hope that more hapless civilians in the US start to care - - - care that the Neocons and their corporate cronies have hijacked the Constitution, ignited exactly the conflagration scenario they planned in the Middle East, and their “spokesmodel” Condoleezza wouldn’t think of trying to broker a ceasefire when hell is exactly where they wanted this handbasket to go. Bob, thanks for pointing out the fellow-traveling that cable and broadcast news is doing with the rock video branding of “WWIII w/ a Beat”. The mind boggles at the craven, conscienceless Capitalism of it all.  And it makes me weep, because there will be no end to the killing, it seems.

This once shining city on a hill has become a blight on the world landscape. Great article, Robert and great comments everybody else.

The great white leadership of our country has empowered the talibanesque ‘born-over-& over-againer’ segment of our electorate to dictate policy in social matters and in justifying and sanctifying this ‘holy’ war we’ve begun.  Now that Israel’s neo-con ‘brethren-in-arms’ counterparts have entered the fray, tearing out a page of to-do’s from Cheney’s handbook of advice on how to play nice with soverign nations, is there any wonder we are hearing World War III is upon us uttered ad nauseum by the bought-&-paid-for chattering bloviators?  Rice, the haughty hit-lady W chose cause he discovered, to his utter delight ‘she really likes me!, is a perfect spokesperson to elucidate America’s position.  She, unlike Powell before her, not only swallowed the kool aid, but found it soooo tasty she has gallons of the juice stashed in her diplomacy back-pack as she zips round the globe lest she loose some of her authoritarian zing.  As was with her paramour W, world leaders roll their eyes, clench their fists and all too gladly, escort her to another airport to go shuttle someone else.  The dying innocents are an abstraction for this mindset.  ‘Collateral damage’ happens and it’s ‘unfortunate’ are words employed to cover their asses cause they truly believe they are on the Right side in this ‘good vs evil’ struggle.  That, to me, is the scariest of all the arrogant incompetence embodied by our current ruling administration.  Why would any one of these neo-conartists lift a diamond-encrusted pinky to alleviate the pain their misplaced policies have wrought?  Why, when the brand’s selling so well right here?  Perhaps, if there was a draft, we’d be marching our asses off and making some BIG NOISE.  But, too many in our populace feel they have no stake in this ‘game’.  Life goes on with no sacrifice demanded from them and they are guilt free in their loyal compliance with their complete complacency.  Maybe, if televised pictures of suffering Lebanese, Iraqi, Palestinian, Israeli and Afghan ‘displaced’ and maimed humans are finally acknowledged and they realize WE ARE TO BLAME, there will be an uproar in our country to end this constant warfare that has been dragging us down. It has only been about the quest for empire our leaders have envisioned with their truly ‘evil’ eyes and have been doing all in their power to achieve, even though they are stomping over untold thousands of dead, dying, crippled, impoverished and just very Human beings.  I’m too depressed to make any sense of anything anymore.  I hope things change in November!!!  Last I heard, it’s still a democracy, so everyone embarrassed by our leadership HAS TO VOTE!!!  PLEASE.  THANKS.

Will Bush’s insane foreign policy possibly smash the insane speculation that our “Secretary of State” is sufficiently sane to step into Bush’s shoes?

...I don’t think so.

A grinning Condoleesa Rice meeting with Israeli leaders – denying the call for an immediate cease fire and blocking the cessation of the death and destruction being visited indiscriminately upon Lebanese civilians sends a clear message to the Arab street and the Muslim world that the United States is quite willing to continue the sacrifice of their lives in the interests of our client state, a state that has now invaded Lebanon for the third time, that still holds Lebanese territory and who inflicted a military occupation of their country for twenty years.  What irreparable damage this policy and its grinning spokeswoman do to the interest of peace and justice in the area and to our image and the image of democracy in the world.

Thanks again Robert for a very insightful piece.
As a Canadian the escalating scale of this conflict and the bewildering motives of the Republican right are truly terrifying and frustrating.  When people who may run for president and do well would rather talk about WWIII than admit they are part of the problem and back off it is a bad time for democracy. 

And yet america, the cradle of democracy, will not stand up and do something about it.  There are a lot of blogs and a lot of people complaining. But your democrats can’t save you, they dare not speak strongly enough.  The time is coming when the people literally have to take back their democracy. Thats what democracy is all about, look how many times the french and the english had to have civil wars to get it right.  People are dying, and the blood is on lady liberty’s hands.

What would Condoleezza Rice know about birth “pangs” or anything else about giving birth, for that matter? How patronizing to talk about “pushing forward” and other birth-related metaphors.

Pain is also caused by terminal disease, serious injury, or, as several other posters have noted, impending death. What new life can be expected to thrive in a burnt, broken land with its lifelines destroyed and its people killed, injured and scattered.

Condoleezza Rice makes my skin crawl. She is a thoroughly appalling woman, and I apologize to all of womankind when I have to include her in that half of the population. Her expertise was confined to the Soviet Union. Now that it no longer exists, she hasn’t a clue what she’s doing.

Come on Bob, the foreign policy is simple: get the oil, at any cost.

Lebanon is the Med terminus of the Syria Lebanon pipeline from Northern Iraq, and as such is of importance to the USA . . . it’s all about oil, and not about Israel at all. If Israel can be suckered into fighting arabs for us, fine and dandy, but the bottom line is always going to be getting the oil.

You can rattle on about democracy and security and all the usual suspects, but at the end of the pipeline is a big old oil tanker ready for loading. What the hell have furriners got that we want?

That’s right . . . you are starting to learn.

Bravo! Another brilliant assessment by Robert Scheer about the insane events going on lately…
Bush and this administration are not only deaf --they’re deaf, dumb, and blind—with the accent, I’m afraid, on dumb!  Oh,what a nice change it would be to get some smart people in charge...Mr. Scheer, have you considered running for a public office???

Yes, Bush has made a mess, but in order to change who is in charge we need a coherent alternate policy and I am anxiously waiting to hear it.

Only a deaf person cannot distinguish between “birth pangs” and death throes.

Thank you for your latest piece re the Bush cabal’s disastrous Middle East policies and the so-called New Middle East. Given your laser clear perceptions of an ever spiraling out of control world—thanks to Bush—I marvel at your professional prowess not to implode with rage while reporting the blood and carnage this administration has wrought on the Middle East. Sadly your brilliant pieces are not on the front pages of every newspaper in this country. And yes, CNN’s graphics and rock music heralding the latest bloody footage from the war zone is obscene and disgraceful. Where’s the outrage?

Thanks again ...

Jeremy Iacone
Los Angeles

Rice is just a mouthpiece for this kakistocracy now running the US. Anyone with eyes, ears and half a brain would have expected nothing less from from these fools. Yeah, but they got elected to office, right? Well, not exactly, that’s for sure… and history will be the ultimate judge of these people.
As for WWIII, we’re not there yet...this country has not seen a draft in decades (aside from the active conscription of our retireing military who can’t get released from extrended tours of service that they didn’t sign up for), massive mobilization of our industrial complex, rationing of fuel and food, etc.. But maybe total war is what the neocons want in order to bolster our sagging economy.

Jon Stewart said that Bush might just be trying to get Jesus to return when he was interviewing McCain on the Daily Show.

That explains a lot!

You are saying Bush-Cheney-Rice are employing the Katrina Policy in the Middle East?

The U.S. foreign policy is a dialogue between the two deafs. Don’t blame on Bush or else. We have to blame ourself because we were all blind when voted for him, not one but twice. We are so coward and dare not to speak from our deep feeling regarding his 2 terms. Is it time to bring him to impeachment ? I don’t think so because the voice of plutocrats is still the most powerful.

The terminology used by the Bush Administration goes without definition or common understanding; and our obsequious mainstream media are profound failures in clarifying the Bush Administration language.

Questions that need answering:

1. What is meant by ‘status quo ante’ that Sec. Rice talks about?

2. What is the definition of terrorists?  Do our ‘ally’ Iraq have the same definition?

3. What is the meaning of democracy? 

4. Does the definition of democracy include the free election of Hamas representatives by the Palestinian people?

5. Are Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Egypt examples of democracy according to the Bush Doctrine on democratic states?

6. Why is importance put on the capture of Israeli soldiers while the capture and jailing of elected Palestinian representatives ignored?

7. Why is a two-state proposal the only proposal on the table for solving the Israel/Palestine issue?

I’m sure there are many other questions that need answering too.

Ya think the personnel at the WH will read your reality-based observations? Or will they simply wait for the email that suggests you are unAmerican for questioning their hairbrain foreign policy, and then without actually reading your post, pass the email along so whoever reads your post will focus on the messenger, and not on the reality that they (this Administration) have actively screwed the world up in a mere 6 years of human time?

Whoa, these creatures of the neocon gene pool are woeful with their fear and loathing.  It’s too bad they keep pulling the rest of us toward their version of prophecy!

Thank you Mr. Sheer for being a journalist first, and an opinion writer second.  Such training seems to be lost on this new generation of journotainers. -Kevo

I have but one question. What did we do as a nation to deserve this president?  I am certain the worst is yet to come.

Difficult to grasp indeed.

I just read this about Bush and al-Mashhadani in Peter Galbraith’s piece (http://www.nybooks.com/articles/19197):

In response to a question about progress in providing electricity, producing oil, and controlling violence, he [Bush] swerved into a discussion of his encounter with the speaker of Iraq’s parliament, Mahmoud al-Mashhadani. The President didn’t seem to recall his name but readily remembered his religion:

The Sunni—I was impressed, by the way, by the Speaker—Denny Hastert told me I’d like him; Denny met with him. And I was impressed by him. He’s a fellow that had been put in prison by Saddam and, interestingly enough, put in prison by us. And he made a decision to participate in the government. And he was an articulate person. He talked about running the parliament. It was interesting to see a person that could have been really bitter talk about the skills he’s going to need to bring people together to run the parliament. And I found him to be a hopeful person.
They tell me that he wouldn’t have taken my phone call a year ago—I think I might have shared this with you at one point in time—and there I was, sitting next to the guy. And I think he enjoyed it as much as I did. It was a refreshing moment.

I think the tune is familiar one....could you please check it out and if so, bring to the forefront, once again, the spectre of the Project for the New American Century....American Institute...and how this plan appears to be surfacing once again, with most of the same
neocon players, under the cover of some new
verbage ie “world war III” ???  So far, I have seen this alluded to vaguely, but I think it requires your skill and finesse to shine the light of truth on this dreadful prospect!!!

Thanks much for your continuing tireless and inspiring good work...and I, among many others, will miss your presence at this year’s nation’s cruise

More like death-rattles Ms. Rice.

The Bush administration has no interest in anything that does not benefit the oil barons and the military industrial complex, Halliburton in particular. The killing of innocent people in Iraq, for example, has become so common place that it is beginning to diminish in the reporting media, as well as the killing of our own troops. History will treat the whole Bush administration as a hoax on the American people, ranging through the trumped up war in Iraq, lying to the American people, trashing of the constitution, spying on unsuspecting Americans, and it goes on and on. What a sad time for this great nation!

“I have no interest in diplomacy for the sake of returning Lebanon and Israel to the status quo ante.” The status quo previously was no bombing, no airstrikes, and no innocent civilian casulties. Is Rice actually admitting that the administration believes killing innocents is preferable to a ceace fire? Unfortuneately, the United States lacks the moral authority to object to “collateral damage”, having slaughtered 100,000 innocent civilians in Iraq for no reason. At least Israel had a pretext for their aggression.