Today I have posted a few articles on my blog that target US and Israeli policies in the Middle East.
I want to try and put them into perspective.
Dilip Hiro and Dahr Jamail both wrote extensively about how Israel’s and the US’s actions in Lebanon (we are financing and “rushing” Israel “precision guided” bombs to use, so our involvement is not in dispute, or at least should not be) and how that is increasing the strength of Hezbollah.
Which is bad news for us who care about what As’ad Abu Khalil called “women's rights, multiculturalism, secularism, individual liberties, and reason.”
Even the political science professor at the University of Tel Aviv, Ze’ev Maoz, has criticized the aggression against Lebanon as “unjust”:
“This war is not a just war. Israel is using excessive force without distinguishing between civilian population and enemy.
…
“Worse yet, bombing infrastructure targets such as power stations, bridges and other civil facilities turns the entire Lebanese civilian population into a victim and hostage, even if we are not physically harming civilians. The use of bombings to achieve a diplomatic goal - namely, coercing the Lebanese government into implementing UN Security Council Resolution 1559 - is an attempt at political blackmail, and no less than the kidnapping of IDF soldiers by Hezbollah is the aim of bringing about a prisoner exchange.
…
“We owe ourselves to confront the bitter truth - maybe we will win this conflict on the military field, maybe we will make some diplomatic gains, but on the moral plane, we have no advantage, and we have no special status.”
William Blum has delivered with his monthly anti-Empire report, this time pointing out:
“I would like instead to first express what I see as two essential underlying facts of life which remain from one conflict to the next:
1. Israel's existence is not at stake and hasn't been so for decades, if it ever was. If Israel would learn to deal with its neighbors in a non-expansionist, non-military, humane, and respectful manner, engage in full prisoner exchanges, and sincerely strive for a viable two-state solution, even those who are opposed to the idea of a state based on a particular religion could accept the state of Israel, and the question of its right to exist would scarcely arise in people's minds. But as it is, Israel still uses the issue as a justification for its behavior, as Jews all over the world use the Holocaust and conflating anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism.
2. In a conflict between a thousand-pound gorilla and a mouse, it's the gorilla which has to make concessions in order for the two sides to progress to the next level. What can the Palestinians offer in the way of concession? Israel would reply to that question: "No violent attacks of any kind." But that would still leave the status quo ante bellum -- a life of unmitigated misery for the Palestinian people forced upon them by Israel. Peace without justice.”
Now, on to our mess in Iraq:
Patrick Cockburn wrote another wonderful article on our failing occupation in Iraq and the disasters that are coming with it. His title for the article says it all: “Civil War Won't End Until Troops Leave Iraq.”
The available polls from Iraq uphold this view. The vast majority are opposed to our presence (between 82 –87%), in favor of us leaving and don’t feel we are helping with security (only 1% feel we have helped according to last Augusts’ poll by MoD).
With Shiites turning against us and no sign of the Sunni’s loosening up their resistance, the US is now about to get involved in more aggression against the Kurdish rebels in Turkey. The article quickly noted that the move “would upset the relatively calm northern area of war-torn Iraq” which is dominated by Kurds who support the Kurdish resistance in Turkey.
It has almost been four years since the Pentagon noted quite eloquently why Muslims “hate” us.
We don’t seem to be heading in a different direction so the future is still just as easy to predict.
People, we have solutions but the US and Israel are being obstacles to them. It is the civic and moral duty of us in “free societies” (like the US and Israel) to do something about this. We should not leave these actions up to the occupied and oppressed (whose only feasible tool is violent resistance while we have much more non-violent tools that could possibly be more effective). So long as the US utilizes its veto power to keep these crimes going and so long as Israel continues to reject peace (like it has been doing continuously for more than 30 years) we can only expect things to escalate.
The time of inaction and apathy are long over.
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