In Wake Of Qana, Israel & U.S. Seen As Terrorists - Time For A Clean...

[bridgit]

Break With Israel ~

The ghastly human carnage at Qana, Lebanon, should awaken everyone to the grim reality that our nation's attachment to Israel is bad news. It entangles America in one awful mess after another: first 9/11, then Afghanistan, then Iraq, and now Lebanon. None would have occurred if our government had refused to support Israel's long subjugation of the Palestinians.

Instead of continuing to ignore this entanglement with near-total silence, our citizens should now seek a way out through civilized open debate and discussion. If so, Qana will be a silver lining--although a bloody one--in this otherwise engulfing cloud.

Striving as usual to live by the sword, Israelis seem unwilling to face the stark fact that they will never be truly secure until Palestinians feel secure in an independent state of their own. Hezbollah's recent border skirmish was motivated partly by leader Hassan Nasrallah's desire to show solidarity with the Palestinians in their lonely, desperate struggle for survival in Gaza.

http://democracyrising.us/content/view/533/164/

[acmavm]

1. Our government is full of terrorists itself. What would be the

reason for a 'break'?

Birds of a feather...

[bridgit]

4. sure, they kiss our babies & eat our corndogs at the state fair but...

they are terrorists in their hearts and that is where the war is waged

[KoKo]

2. Was just listing to a discussion on NPR's Diane Rheem show about

whether we should withdraw from Iraq or not and how close is Iraq to Civil War.

She had the usual Think Tank Guests but it seemed to me listening to the discussion one comment stood out. Laurence Korb (Center for American Progress) said the Iraqi's aren't fighting for Iraq and that's why it's difficult for them to organize their police force and why our own Military has to support them.

What stood out to me was the difference in Lebanon where Hezbollah seems to be fighting to keep Israel out of their country and that the Lebanese have a pride about their country that Iraq doesn't because Saddam unified the waring factions by ruling as a dictator and the Iraqi's never developed a sense of pride about Iraq (it was cobbled together anyway so tribal loyalty was more important than loyalty to a patch of ground).

What is worrysome about Israel's destroying the Lebanese Infrastructure and Economy is that is shows the penalty for "national pride" is destruction by Israel. This would seem to set an example to the Arab States that having pride means you will be destroyed. So it's a lose/lose situation. Iraq doesn't have pride and so it's sliding into Civil War and being destroyed by the US and Lebanon does have pride and is being destroyed by Israel.

The only "Pride" left in the ME might be a Unified Islamic Population rising up from the grassroots saying "A Pox on all of them." Was this what the NeoCons really wanted in their World War III Scenario? If that's the case then how will Israel exist or are we to think that the Saudi's will end up controlling the whole ME because we with Israel's help will have bombed any country that we or Israel deem as a "terrorist state" back to the stone age? Surely the only ones left to benefit are the United Arab Emerates, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the few others who have benefitted from corruption and selling out their own people for International dollars or because they have oil.

[bridgit]

3. the way i've come to understand it, Iraq/Babylon/Mesopotamia is...

and has always been since the dawn of time, the most loosely affiliated collection of tribes. Ascendancy of leaders & kings occurring at the end of seemingly somehow common, somehow routine, and severe episodes of extreme violence, chaos & mayhem...it is their way to put it simply.

Everyone but for this George Bush, including his father, understood that.

It seems there'll be no two groups working together in Iraq, without a 3rd man, or group, ready to chop heads unless they do. It is a most peculiar, and maddeningly violent environment over there.

We were simply not prepared this time. Too many rosy scenarios imo

[orwell]

5. Pride doesn't seem to matter...

...only the projection of force by the strong against the weak to implement very clear geopolitical strategic goals.

Both the violence in Lebanon/Israel/Gaza and Iraq reflect the long term goal of the US to:

1. Keep a thumb on global oil supply
2. Blunt China's growing political and economic power
3. Attempt to stalemate the rising influence and strength of Iran, but not so much as to remove them as the new "badguy du jour."

As a side benefit, war is very profitable, both to the companies that supply the munitions and to the oil companies that benfit from the risk-distorted high price of oil.

If you don't care about human suffering, especially by brown-skinned proxies, it is a win-win situation for the crony capitalists.