Obama's speech in Cairo Egypt - Rachel Maddow points out that Obama says a number of things which American Presidents usually avoid - Obama uses his speech as a teachable moment -
Uses his middle name Hussein to appeal to the Islamic audience though conservatives & Republicans during the election campaign used his middle name as a smear along with the fact that his father was from Kenya & a Muslim and that Obama lived in a predominately Islamic country- The conservatives then & now use these facts as a smear & claim that Obama is a Muslim or a "secret Muslim" as an attack on his character. The bigots like Limbaugh, Beck, Hannity, Fox News & others are still making these attacks on Obama. There are still those who make the erroneous & outlandish claim that Obama 's birth certificate showing he was born in Hawaii is a forgery & that he is not therefore an American citizen & should be removed from office.
In the same way Karl Rove & his parrots in the Republican Party & the Conservative Movement of rich white men claim Obama is UnAmerican since he is a secret Terrorists because they say and they are wrong about this that Obama hangs around Domestic Terroists such as Bill Ayers. They also argue Obama is a socialists or even a Communists because he wants to raise taxes on the super-wealthy or because Heaven Forbid he wants to improve Health Care System for all Americans & not just the wealthy. Most European countries & Canada & Britain have Universal Health Care & no one calls those countries Communist. But to many conservative Americans it is supposedly in their view ok for people to die or to go bankrupt because Health Care is so costly in America.
But what can we say Obama is president of a country in which there is a significant number of powerful people & special interests with no interest in Social & Economic Justice.Just listen to these mainly angy people like Hannity, Ann Coulter , Laura Ingraham , Lou Dobbs etc. who have no sympathy or Empathy for the average American citizen. So they use their bull pulpits & TV broadcasts & the Internet to spew their venom, their ignorance & propaganda believing that the American people are too ill-informed to catch on to their propaganda & chicanery.
Israel must accept the creation of an autonomous Palestinian
That the Palestinians must accept the legitimacy of the state of Israel
condemns Israel's settlements
denounces Arab attacks
calls Iraq war as a war of choice
admits the US overthrew the legitimate government of Iran in 1953
dismisses 9/11 conspiracy theories
attacks Holocaust denials
criticizes Arab Democracies
admits to US torture as a mistake
Rachel Maddow: The 3rd Rail - Obama's game-changing speech in Egypt
06_04_09 visit: http://firedoglake.com
Obama should also be praised for making the observation that the Shoah (Holocaust) was the culmination of centuries of anti-Semitism in Christian Europe (Christendom)promulgated primarily by the Church.
So he agrees with most historians that Hitler didn't spring freshly from the earth as the first person in European history to preach anti-Semitism as many argue especially Conservative Christians & Christian Apologists who claim that Anti-Semitism was a minor problem before the rise of the NAZIS. The Jewish Ghettos existed all over Europe & Pogroms and massacres of Jews were common to almost all European Nations. Jews were kicked out of various nations at one time or another.
as I have argued in previous posts Anti-Semitism was embedded in Christianity from its very beginnings or at least since the writings & preachings of Paul of Tarsus infused Christian teachings & doctrines with a dismissive attitude towards Judaism & placed the blame of Jesus death on the Jews & said they were to be cursed forever for Deicide . Anti-Semitism among Christians is found embedded in the New Testament & in the writings of the early Church fathers to the founding of the Roman Christian Church which continued into the Crusades & the Holy Inquisition down unto the present time-anyone who has studied the history of Western Civilization & the History of Europe & of Christianty knows this to be the case. And anti-Semitism didn't end with the Reformation & Martin Luther's rebellion against the Church of Rome but continued as part of the Protestant Creed so it was not just a prejudice of the Catholic Church.
During the Christian Crusades which many Christian apologists erroneously see as some glorious moment for Europe & Christendom but in fact was an unnecessary war of aggression to attempt to wipe out Islam & more often than not was also seen as an excuse to kill off so called Christian Heretics & the Jewish populations in Europe & in the Holy Land.
The Reasons for the Crusades had more to do with conquest & looting the rich lands of the Middle East than with some Holy Mission. The Pope found it convenient & politic to send the squabbling nobles of to fight far from Rome so that they were less of a threat to Rome & the Papacy. There were those who fought believing as the Pope had told them that if they were to die in a crusade they would be granted remissions of all their sins & would get into Heaven or Paradise without having to wait in Purgatory .( Now isn't this quite similar to what some Islamic extremist teach that those who die in a Jihad in battle or as a suicide bomber they will go to Paradise & get their reward of 70 virgins The Vikings believed if they died honorably they would go to Valhalla to live with the Gods forever 7 who is to say which is right or wrong maybe as in Kurt Vonnegut's play Happy Birthday Wand June you get to go to Heaven to play on God's Bowling Team )
The Inquisitions did not just take place in Spain but spread across Europe killing hundreds of thousands of Europeans most of them Christians accused of Heresy. The God-Fearing paranoid deluded European Christians also believed that besides the Heretics & the Evil Jews & Muslims they also had to battel those whom they called witches whom they believed had been possessed by demonic forces or who took Satan as their True God and so they had to be killed as well. All in all Millions were murdered for being Heretics, Jews , or Muslims or being in league with the Devil. This is the sad blood soaked history of Christianity. Of course when Christians were not out hunting Heretics & Witches they were killing each other over pieces of property over land & wealth.
What is disturbing is that those Christians who are now most adamant about unconditional support for Israel is not based upon respect , understanding or love of Judaism or of the Jewish People but rather on their own twisted interpretation of the Bible in which they claim Israel & America both have a major part to play in the End-Times or the Last Days before the Second Coming of Jesus. And at some point in these End-Times the Israelites having returned to Israel will rebuild the Temple offer up sacrifices once again to Jehovah.
According to Evangelicals Christian Fundamentalist almost all the Israelites or Jews will be wiped out except for a remnant of some 144,000 who will be converted to Christianity & therefore will not just be spared but will be saved along with all of the True Believing Christians . Meanwhile around the Globe all those who have not been re-born & baptised in Jesus Name will be obliterated. That is the time of fire & brimstone raining from the sky ie Nuclear War resulting in rivers of blood. And these Christians think this is a good thing & if they can they will do all in their powere to hasten the End-Times if that means all out war with the Heretical Nations or those Nations which pray to other so called False Gods then so be it.
Obama -People "yearn to speak their mind"
( unfortunately Israel is now trying to suppress any Israeli citizen from speaking about the expulsion & the killing of many Palestinians by Israelis in the act of creating their state. The Kinneset is also trying to pass a law demanding all Israeli citizens to qualify as citizens take an oath of loyalty to the State of Israel as a Jewish State which was granted to its people by God .
also note that Obama mentions the role of the US in overthrowing the Democratic government of Iran in the 1950s
This is the first time any American President has admitted that America has ever been involved in such a criminal activity as the overthrow of a democratically elected government . The main reason for the overthrow was that the government was attempting to take control of its natural resources & ensure a more equitable deal for the people of Iran. Of course Americans have always believed that only corporations have a right to natural resources & the people be damned as Sean Hannity or Rush Limbaugh or the likes of Newt Gingrich would say. That government was then replaced by the Brutal anti-democratic Shah of Iran who had made his Faustian deal with the US & Britain.
For all the talk of change & a new beginning in the Middle East some would argue that Obama is not really going to change its imperialistic role in the Mideast or elsewhere.
For all his apologies to the Islamic world Obama is going to continue America's disastrous policies in Afghanistan & Pakistan while leaving a large US military presence in Iraq to ensure Iraq knows it is now part of the US Empire & will not permit the Iraqi people meaningful sovereignty.Iraq some would argue is now a vassal state just as the US wants to make Afghanistan & Pakistan into vassal states.
Meanwhile President Obama still doesn't want to deal with or even accept the fact that the United States has committed in its so-called Global War On Terror "War Crimes " & " Crimes against Humanity ".
The US knowingly made false claims about WMDs & connections between Al Qaeda & Saddam in order to justify its unnecessary war of Aggression against the Sovereign Nation of Iraq which it then proceeded to wantonly destroy leaving the country in ruin with a million dead & three million refugees. The US was also involved in the abuse & or torture of tens of thousands of prisoners in Iraq & Afghanistan. The US also used banned WMDs such as White Phosphorus on civilian populations etc. When America atones & pays the legal price for these crimes then the world can begin to trust the words of an American president once again.
If Obama really wants to prove to the world that his words have real meaning & are not just a lot of dazzling rhetoric then he show that he & America are mature enough to face up to their misdeeds & its culpability & its willingness to face the consequences. If America is as morally strong as Obama claims then those responsible for these "War Crimes" & "crimes Against Humanity " must be forced to face the consequences of their actions. A special prosecutor should be appointed or selected & given the power to investigate allegations to discover the truth wherever it may lead . This means that those within the Bush administration if found culpable should be tried & if personnel in the US military or the CIA or members of Congress are found culpable they too should be made to face trial. If Obama wanted to get to the truth he could set up a special prosecutor or get some International legal body such as the World Court or Criminal court to take on the task to avoid any appearance of partisan politics.
also see:
Obama Speaks: Will Palestine or Pakistan Decide? Steve Weissman at Truthout.org June 5, 2009
and:
Chomsky: What Obama Didn't Say in His Cairo Address Speaks Volumes About His Mideast Policy By Noam Chomsky, AlterNet. June 4, 2009.
and:
How I Got Gassed in the West Bank at The Daily Beast,by Max Blumenthal May 21, 2009
and:
" Obama Has 250,000 'Contractors' Deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan and is Increasing the Use of Mercenaries " by Jeremy Scahill, Rebel Reports June 1, 2009.
and:
" Experts from Afghanistan Urge Members of Congress to Rethink the War " by Robert Greenwald, Brave New Foundation June 1, 2009.
and so it goes,
GORD.
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