Israel's And America's War Crimes From Iraq to Afghanistan to Lebanon to Gaza

Israel's War Crimes in Lebanon & Gaza
America's War Crimes in Afghanistan & Iraq


Obama defends Israel ignores allegations and evidence of War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity- we had expected a little more honest and even handedness on the part of Obama in the conflict between Israel and Gaza.

Obama and his crew of pro-Israeli Hawks will do all they can to make it difficult for the UN or the Hague or any foreign country to take any sort of real legal action against Israel.He too buys into the myth that only deranged anti-Semites and Neo-Nazis would ever dare to criticize Israel. And he seems now to agree with the Republicans and the Conservative movement in America that only deranged individuals would raise the issue of War Crimes committed by a US administration or by US troops .
Remember Americans do not torture except when they do .

They also do not flatten whole cities as retaliation in a disproportionate response except as they did in Fallujah and other cities in Iraq.

We also know from veterans of the Iraq war that much of Iraq was a free-fire zone and soldiers did and still do as they please. But the American public still wants to believe that their armed forces would never commit atrocities but they have.

Meanwhile some 30,000 Iraqis are in medieval style prisons because the American troops and the American public doesn't believe that Arabs or Muslims should be treated fairly and justly.

Besides the War Crimes alleged to have been committed by Israel in Gaza are very similar to how the US forces have operated in Iraq and Afghanistan


Gaza War Crimes Anne Wright



Chronic shortages in Gaza fuels black market-Feb. 12, 2009 Al jazeera

While the gates remain closed, much needed aid is piling up on the Israeli side of the border.

Inside the Strip, one million Gazans rely on food hand-outs to survive.

But they're also desperate for other every day items - and it's leading to a thriving black market.

Al Jazeera's Mike Kirsch reports from Gaza city.



For more details on the wounded in Gaza see: Global Research Gaza: Inside The World's Biggest PrisonFeb. 13, 2009


and so much of Gaza has been reduced to rubble as the Siege on Gaza continues: as for Gaza the Israelis have destroyed thousands of homes, apartment buildings, schools hospitals , civilian industrial sites from chicken farms to concrete factories - meanwhile Israel and Egypt have closed the borders once again.

If this doesn't count as a War Crime then what would - will the UN and especially the United States keep blaming Hamas and ignore the crimes of the Israeli government - surely merely a rhetorical question the People of Gaza the Palestinians are on their own and if Israel decided to starve all of them to death or drop Nukes on Gaza we can expect more lame rationalizations from Obama who is surrounded by Pro-Israeli hawks such as Hillary Clinton who see defending Israel as part of their Spiritual Mission and part of God's Mission for America .

From the point of view of millions of American Evangelical Christians the more war and suffering in the Middle East the better for to them it only hastens the Apocalypse and the Second Coming. So the deaths of a few thousand or hundreds of thousands mean nothing in this global Spiritual War because those who are among the chosen it appears will rise from the dead at some future date so not to worry. One wonders if President Obama who is also an Evangelical Christian also is waiting for the Second Coming and merely sees these troubles as Condoleeza Rice put it a few years ago quoting the Bible as "The Birth Pangs" but the birth of what a new Middle East with Israel completely dominant and extending its borders as far the Israelis see fit ? Does it mean an Israel containing no Muslims or Arabs ? Or is the next stage a limited nuclear war engineered and overseen by Israel and the United States? Hillary Clinton and George W. Bush and Cheney and Rumsfeld and John McCain all have argued over and over again that in the so called War On Terror all options are still on the table including pre-emptive Nuclear attacks.

Ann Wright who is a retired Colonel of the US Reserves writes about the devastation she saw in her recent short visit to Gaza. The trip was cut short because the Egyptians and Israelis were once again shutting down the borders. As she says Gaza has become a prison for one and a half people . There is almost no employment since everything is at a stand-still. Few supplies are getting in . Most supplies are going into Gaza by way of hundreds of supposedly illegal tunnels which lead from Gaza to Egypt. Humanitarian aid groups including foreign medical personnel are only allowed in for short periods of time. The situation is desperate for the majority of the people yet the world turns away . The US of course is not interested in doing anything to help the Palestinians because they see such help as a betrayal of their ally Israel . The US is also not interested in helping to investigate allegations of War Crimes committed by Israeli forces because the allegations might turn out to be true and this for Obama might prove embarrassing. So Obama would prefer not to know otherwise he might have to reconsider his unwavering unconditional support of Israel. The US one had hoped under the Obama Administration would be more even handed in dealing with Israel and the Palestinians but this is but a faint hope.

Another problem with the allegations made against Israel for alleged War Crimes is that what Israel has bee accused of doing in Gaza the US has been doing the same things in Iraq and Afghanistan . The American forces have also used disproportionate response to insurgent and terrorists attacks and have shown little regard for noncombatants, and American have also been accused of using illegal weapons such as White Phosphorus, cluster bombs etc. and have also fired upon humanitarian aid personnel and medics and ambulances and have targeted journalists and have destroyed whole neighborhoods , villages, towns and cities because insurgents were suspected to be in the area or just to take revenge for American soldiers killed, the Americans also destroyed civilian infrastructure; roads, highways, bridges and factories , schools , hospitals , water and sewage treatment plants and Electrical Power Stations and the lists goes on. So if Obama agrees to investigate Israel's alleged War Crimes then he might feel inclined to investigate America's alleged War Crimes and that he nor most of the people in his administration would want to do that.

see:
" Under Siege Again, But Gaza Will Not Die " by Ann Wright at MWC Feb. 12, 2009

and:
The Israeli Smashing of Gaza and International Silence by Ann Wright CommonDreams.org Feb. 13, 2009

SILENCE from the International Community

The sights we saw in Gaza were tragic-a Goliath Israel pounding a small Gaza David with international silence and complicity in the 22 day military attack on Gaza and on the 16 month siege of Gaza. 1330 Palestinians have died, 5400 have been wounded and hundreds of thousands with memories of the bombings and invasion and occupation. Over $2 billion will be spent on rebuilding destroyed homes, businesses and factories. And there is SILENCE!!

Smashing of Gaza is a War Crime

I deplore the use of rockets against Israeli towns by Hamas and other groups in Gaza which have killed approximately 20 Israelis.

But, as a military officer who taught the Geneva Conventions and the Law of Land Warfare in US military schools, I fully believe the disproportionate response by the Israeli government and military in the smashing of Gaza is a violation of international law and a war crime.

Gaza being used to test new weapons ie. DIMEs

Gaza: Death's Laboratory by Conn Hallinan at Foreign Policy In Focus Feb. 12, 2009(CommonDreams & SabbahBlog)

The specific weapon is called a Dense Inert Metal Explosive (DIME). In 2000, the U.S. Air Force teamed up with the University of California's Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The weapon wraps high explosives with a tungsten alloy and other metals like cobalt, nickel, or iron in a carbon fiber/epoxy container. When the bomb explodes the container evaporates, and the tungsten turns into micro-shrapnel that is extremely lethal within a 13-foot radius. Tungsten is inert, so it doesn't react chemically with the explosive. While a non-inert metal like aluminum would increase the blast, tungsten actually contains the explosion to a limited area.

Within the weapon's range, however, it's inordinately lethal. According to Norwegian doctor Mad Gilbert, the blast results in multiple amputations and "very severe fractures. The muscles are sort of split from the bones, hanging loose, and you also have quite severe burns." Most of those who survive the initial blast quickly succumb to septicemia and organ collapse. "Initially, everything seems in order...but it turns out on operation that dozens of miniature particles can be found in all their organs," says Dr. Jam Brommundt, a German doctor working in Kham Younis, a city in southern Gaza. "It seems to be some sort of explosive or shell that disperses tiny particles...that penetrate all organs, these miniature injuries, you are not able to attack them surgically." According to Brommundt, the particles cause multiple organ failures.

If by some miracle victims resist those conditions, they are almost certain to develop rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS), a particularly deadly cancer that deeply embeds itself into tissue and is almost impossible to treat. A 2005 U.S. Department of health study found that tungsten stimulated RMS cancers even in very low doses. All of the 92 rats tested developed the cancer.

...The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) also made generous use of white phosphorus, a chemical that burns with intense heat and inflicts terrible burns on victims. In its vapor form it also damages breathing passages. International law prohibits the weapon's use near population areas and requires that "all reasonable precautions" be taken to avoid civilians.

...Donatella Rovera of Amnesty International said: "Such extensive use of this weapon in Gaza's densely-populated residential neighborhoods...and its toll on civilians is a war crime."

Israel is also accused of using depleted uranium ammunition (DUA), which a UN sub-commission in 2002 found in violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the UN Charter, the Geneva Conventions, the International Convention Against Torture, the Conventional Weapons Convention, and the Hague Conventions against the use of poison weapons.

War Crimes?

Other human-rights groups, including B'Tselem, Gisha, and Physicians for Human Rights, charge that the IDF intentionally targeted medical personal, killing over a dozen, including paramedics and ambulance drivers.

The International Federation for Human Rights called on the UN Security Council to refer Israel to the International Criminal Court for possible war crimes.

...The Geneva Conventions require belligerents to at "all times" distinguish between combatants and civilians and to avoid "disproportionate force" in seeking military gains.

Hamas' use of unguided missiles fired at Israel would also be a war crime under the Conventions.

"The one-sidedness of casualty figures is one measure of disproportion," says Richard Falk, the UN's human rights envoy for the occupied territories. A total of 14 Israelis have been killed in the fighting, three of them civilians killed by rockets, 11 of them soldiers, four of the latter by "friendly fire." Some 50 IDF soldiers were also wounded.

In contrast, 1,330 Palestinians have died and 5,450 were injured, the overwhelming bulk of them civilians.

"This kind of fighting constitutes a blatant violation of the laws of warfare, which we ask to be investigated by the Commission of War Crimes," a coalition of Israeli human rights groups and Amnesty International said in a joint statement. "The responsibility of the state of Israel is beyond doubt.

...Enter the Hague?

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said that Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann would coordinate the defense of any soldier or commander charged with a war crime. In any case, the United States would veto any effort by the UN Security Council to refer Israelis to the International Court at The Hague.

But, as the Financial Times points out, "all countries have an obligation to search out those accused of 'grave' breaches of the rules of war and to put them on trial or extradite them to a country that will."

That was the basis under which the British police arrested Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet in 1998.

Also see: Palestine: Peace through devolution not evolution " by Ben Tanosborn at Media With Conscience News (MWC) Feb. 12, 2009


also see: Universal Declaration of Human Rights & Palestinians by Gideon Polya, MWC ,Jan. 24, 2009


Israel’s Lose-Lose Election by William Pfaff, TruthDig.com,Feb.12,2009

The continuing reality will be that the Palestinians remain the segregated military prisoners of the now-militarized state of Israel, which has no basis in international law to hold them prisoners.

and concludes thus:

The Israelis have done pretty much what they pleased with the Palestinians, taking their land for their own, and for immigrant American religious fanatics; annexing Palestinian farms and destroying their crops; seizing control of the water resources of the West Bank; building “separation walls”; and sequestering Islamic and Christian places of worship. These actions have shamed millions of their American supporters, and inspired others to form vigilante bands to silence Israel’s critics and persecute Arab professors at American universities.

This has won Israel nothing but hatred. What actually is happening is that the Palestinian occupation is driving numbers of Israelis and their supporters toward moral and political suicide, so that one may ask if in a hundred years, or a thousand years, there will any longer be an Israel where Jewish worshipers will recall the psalm “God is a Righteous Judge, strong and patient; and God is provoked every day.”

Also see article calling on President Obama to end the US ongoing disastrous policies towards Israel and the Palestinians.

"Obama Will Need All of His 'Out-of-The-Box' Thinking to Tackle Israel "by Anne Penketh, The Independent UK, Feb. 12,2009

and so it goes,
GORD.

Republican & Conservative Echo Chamber Attack Distinguished Journalist Helen Thomas

UPDATE: Get Bill O'Reilly to Apologize -Feb. 13, 4:29 PM.

Make Bill O'Reilly Pay for Insulting Helen Thomas

, The Women's Media Center ,Feb. 11, 2009 at AlterNet.org

To recap: On O'Reilly's February 9 show, he compared Thomas to "the Wicked Witch of the East" along with disparaging remarks about her appearance and age. Journalist Bernard Goldberg was a guest, who added his own insults, and even Alan Colmes, while ostensibly defending Thomas, laughed along and didn't seriously object. This kind of verbal degradation in the guise of humor is unacceptable, and as Media Matters has documented, it's part of an on-going pattern where O'Reilly has targeted Thomas.

It was an attack no woman deserves -- including Helen Thomas, an accomplished, award-winning journalist working in the White House press corps, where women are underrepresented. The Women's Media Center demonstrated that sexist remarks went unchecked by networks during the primary season in our Sexism Sells But We're Not Buying It viral campaign. Now, as then, the WMC demands accountability.

An immediate public apology is required.

Click here to join the WMC in demanding an on-air apology from Bill O'Reilly.

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

Anyway with all the problems and crisis facing the United States the Conservative & Republican spin doctors and their media talking heads spew their venom against legendary and distinguished Washington Journalist Helen Thomas.

They do not merely attack Thomas for her opinion or analysis but inevitably attack her for her age and her looks and the sound of her voice etc calling her "That old lady " or "The Wicked Witch of The West ". As Glenn Beck and Bill O'Reilly also do is to show that they are bothered by Thomas' appearance to the point of physical revulsion- is this the way professional journalist ought to behave that is in this childish prepubescent manner. But these characters on Fox News etc. who are just a bunch of cheerleaders for the Bush Regime which they seem to think is still in power. Their other role as spokespersons for Bush & the Republicans is that of vicious attack dogs. When they can't attack on substantive issues they attack someone's personality , their character and their physical attributes as they for instance making a big deal about in News Headlines " Obama in a Bathing Suit " or his middle name is Hussein etc.

The ideal of journalism is to be somewhat objective but this does not mean that one cannot form an opinion based on the analysis of the facts and discern between facts and spin and lies and propaganda. This also does not mean that one should not show outrage over certain events when this is the normal human response. It is merely a sign of being human to be outraged after viewing pictures of the abuse at Abu Ghraib and to know that as many as a million Iraqis have died due to an unnecessary and ineptly handled invasion and occupation of Iraq. Bill O'Reilly or Glenn Beck or Rush Limbaugh are outraged when American soldiers are killed but they are unable to sympathize or empathize with those hundreds of thousands of dead Iraqis or dead Afghans or a thousand dead Palestinians or Gazans. Their view is that only American lives count . They are ghoulish in their celebrations of more dead Iraqis or more dead Arabs or more dead Muslims since they hate them all and can't see any difference between terrorists and non-combatants.

Under the Bush Regime Lies and Propaganda is seen as a legitimate part Public Relations. The PR person tries as it were to calm the waters or to attack any who dare disagree with the policies of the US government under George W. Bush. Over and over the Media and the public were told they had no right to criticize President Bush in a time of war. As Bill O'Reilly said in a time of war if you disagree with the president's policies you should keep it to yourself and " Just Shut the F***-Up !". So what was it that US journalist were then permitted to talk about or to ask the president at a News Conference. What Helen Thomas insisted on doing which few American journalists did in the Bush years was to ask the important and tough questions.

In this clip Helen Thomas ask Obama about whether Taliban or so-called terrorists are hiding out in Pakistan. For this she is mocked by these simple-minded Bushites. Her question is really asking why Obama has sent in drones to bomb Pakistan on the one hand and on the other are his targets really terrorists- ie how does he know-
The other part of her question has to do with Israel's nuclear capability and whether the US should just admit that Israel is a Nuclear Power and if this is so then why pick on Iran or other countries that might want to build nuclear weapons. The assumption made by US presidents and the American public is either Israel does not have nuclear weapons and if it does it would not use them unless it were necessary to do so. Firstly it is an incontrovertible fact that Israel has nuclear weapons secondly who knows what some right wing government in Israel is capable of doing . I would not rule out the new government in Israel of considering the use of nuclear weapons on Iran or possibly Gaza or some other Arab country. Some of the members of the Knesset are fanatical and want to drive the Arabs / Palestinians out of the occupied territories and beyond til they have finally created what they call Greater Israel / Eretz Israel.

O'Reilly and Goldberg Mock Helen Thomas

Bill O'Reilly and cowardly Bernard Goldberg were pinheads as they childishly smeared respected veteran AP reporter Helen Thomas.



Note While insulting Helen Thomas Glenn Beck makes another stupid remark about Canadians. These ultraconservatives still think Canada should be more like America. It will take time to dumb us down to their level though.

Glenn Beck & Michelle Malkin Bash Helen Thomas!-Jan. 21, 2009



Why they Hate Helen Thomas

Helen Thomas wants to know how many Iraqis have died or been killed since the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq. This sort of question is seen as in bad taste and as UnAmerican and seditious according to the Bush Regime and their true believers in the Echo Chambers of Fox News & Bill O'Reilly,Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter , Sean Hannity and Michelle Malkin etc.

Dana Perino Spins Out of Control thanks to Helen Thomas-Dec. 05 ,2007



Helen Thomas asks George Bush about Iraq-March 22, 2006



Helen Thomas grills spokes bimbo on torture- Torture Has Not Occurred



Veteran Journliast Helen Thomas on the Worst President Ever-April 20, 2007



When Truth goes on a Holiday
Helen Thomas: "We Have an Imperial Presidency!"

On April 12, 2007, Helen Thomas shares her views on President George W. Bush Jr. She said that the war in Iraq is "illegal, immoral and unconscionable." Ms. Thomas is a veteran White House journalist and the author of four book. She spoke at McDaniel College, at the Decker Center, to a large audience. The school is located about 30 miles west of Baltimore City. Ms. Thomas said that the "imperial presidency" was aided by "Chicken Democrats," and that the White House is presently "under siege," which reminded her a lot of the "early days of Watergate."



and so it goes,
GORD.

Are Israel and America Guided By Divine Providence

UPDATE: 1:44 & 1:57 & 2:40 PM Feb. 12, 2009

Obama & Hillary Clinton & Unconditional support of Israel
Not all critics of Israel are anti-Israel or anti-Semitic
anti-Semitics as paranoid & delusional who believe in such fraudulent documents as The Protocols and who deny the Holocaust
Evangelicals & Israel's role in the End-Times
Israel and America and their Fantasies of Being Guided by Providence and God leads to dangerous rhetoric and deadly actions

Hillary Clinton at Democratic debate April 16, 2008, MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann April 21, 2008 and ABC's Good Morning America, April 22, 2008



John Hagee says God Sent Katrina to punish US for not Supporting Israeli Settlements
PBS: Bill Moyers Journal
John Hagee says that God sent Katrina to punish US for allowing Jewish settlers to be displaced from land that they stole after 1967



In the above clip notice that the audience is told by

Brigitte Gabriel of The American Congress For Truth (see video below)that they as Americans should be spying on their Muslim neighbors and on the local Mosque and taking down names and details and reporting these to the FBI or Homeland Security. Then the speakers go after academics at universities and colleges claiming that they should take note of any criticisms of Israel or of American/Israeli foreign policy . They are also told to monitor their local newspapers and the Media and internet to out any who are critical of Israel. Hagee and his supporters see no difference between a Holocaust denier or anti-Semitic and someone who is open to debate on Israel's policies on the Palestinians etc. So if some students are in a class at university and they debate about the morality of Israel's treatment of the Palestinians or discuss whether or not such a policy is beneficial or not to Israel then I guess the professor should be fired and the students shunned who willingly took part in such a discussion.

It is disturbing to know that someone as hawkish and as pro-Israel as Hillary Clinton is part of Obama's administration. She has indicated that if she had her way she would be willing to obliterate Iran if Iran attacked Israel with Nuclear weapons. But this leads to a slippery slope of deterrence and pre-emptive strikes. So if Iran is suspected of building nuclear weapons should the US attack Iran to prevent them from building and stock piling nuclear weapons. Hillary Clinton was one hundred percent in favor of the invasion and occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan so she is in favor of retaliation and of pre-emptive attacks on countries deemed to be a threat.Obama has in creating his administration surrounded himself with people who are hawks and pro-Israel.

Hillary Clinton's Fanatical Support of Israel is shown by the fact that she has said she would Nuke Iran possibly causing a Global Nuclear War . Would Russia or Pakistan or China just stand by as Israel & America Nuke Iran. The other issue here is that Hillary like Obama are both in denial about Israel's Nuclear capabilities. Israel in such a scenario has enough Nukes (300-400)that it could easily wipe out Iran and drop a few Nukes on other Arab and Islamic countries to keep them in line.

The fear is she will encourage Obama to attack Iran pre-emptively as America attacked Iraq . It need not be nuclear but by conventional means turning Iran into a graveyard not to protect America but supposedly Israel. Has she and America learned nothing from their fiasco in Iraq. Ah well they didn't learn from Vietnam so don't count on rationality when it comes to any American administration. The US is still being led by people who believe in America's Exceptionalism and that America is fulfilling literally Divine Providence in the same way that Israelis also believe they are fulfilling Divine Providence. When American's say " God Bless America " they take this literally to mean that God is directing America in a certain direction. It also means that when America does something which they believe offends God these "true Believers " claim God chastises and punishes America.

So it is no wonder that to Clinton and Obama Israel's attack on Gaza was a mere skirmish compared to what they will allow Israel to do in the future with America's blessing and full backing . So the deaths of 1,300 Gazans is nothing to them in the scheme of things. Is their backing of Israel pragmatic in the sense of maintaining America's influence in the Middle East .

Is unwavering support of Israel a good strategy or does it do more harm to America's interests and its reputation. It is difficult to expect reasoned arguments in reference to Israel since the issue is a mixture of politics and religion.The fervor with which they defend Israel is such that they characterize any criticisms of Israel as being anti-Israel and anti-Semitic. By doing so they insist on shutting down those who dare criticize Israel or America's support of Israel. They are not willing to have an open debate about issues concerning Israel. As we see the supporters of Israel though go so far as to to publicly denounce any journalist or academic in America who might criticize Israel's policies no matter how reasonable these criticisms are. But to the supporters of Israel there is no difference to be made between a Neo-Nazis anti-Semitism in their attacks on all Jews and that of an academic trying to untangle the complicated issues of the Israeli-Palestinian situation.

As various critics time and again point out that criticizing particular policies of Israel does not mean that one wants Israel destroyed or that one believes in some sort of Jewish Grand Conspiracy. The Grand Conspiracy diatribes one reads and sees promulgated on the net and on YOUTUBE are a continuation of the sort of anti-Semitic nonsense found in the fraudulent , bogus fantasy of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion which was invented or fabricated by the Russian Secret Police at the beginning of the twentieth century . The Protocols were then spread around the world by various anti-Semites and by those who were anti-Communists who believed that by claiming Communism was all part of some nefarious plot by the Jews to take over the world this would undermine Communism and Socialism. In the US it was Henry Ford who published a series of articles base on The Protocols which Ford claimed to be authentic.

So we must be careful that we do not in any way in our critique of Israel that we are seen as tacitly approving of such anti-Semitic nonsense.There are secular and religious Jews in Israel who do not approve of some Israel's policies especially with how to deal with the Palestinians. There are also Jews outside Israel who do not support all of Israel's policies.It also has to be said that there is nothing essentially wrong with Israel trying to influence the US government in regards to Israel's interests. Other countries also try to influence the US in regards to their interests. But what is in the interests of Israel may not be in America's interests in the same way that what might be in Canada's or Britain's or Australia's interests may not be in America's interests.


Jews as lost- they rejected Jesus and they rejected Father of Zionism Theodore Herschel and so are then punished by Hitler
John Hagee-- 'Hitler Was Fulfilling God's Will For Israel'
at The Young Turks -May 21, 2008




John Hagee sounds like Osama Bin Laden -The Young Turks



Here's a bit from CSPAN about the Middle East Iran and Israel

Re: AIPAC is pushing us to war with Iran for Israel

http://neoconzionistthreat.blogspot.c...
"There are pro-Israel groups, not just Jewish - many of them are Christian fundamentalists, that believe in supporting the Israeli government no matter what it does and no matter what it wants. These people are all upset and excited about Iran and are pushing hard for a confrontational stance." - Barbara Slavin



Israel's influence of US policy & the Israeli lobby
Scott Ritter Nov. 08, 2006



And also see the article:The Wrong Man for the Job by Scott Ritter TruthDig Jan. 24, 2009 (CommonDreams.org)
in which Scott Ritter argues that the selection of Richard Holbrooke as special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan is the wrong choice because he has a militaristic mindset and has shown himself more interested in a military solution as opposed to diplomacy and other measures to resolve problems.


Democracy Now! The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy-May 24,2006

In the recent study "The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy", the authors of the paper, Professor Stephen Walt of Harvard University and John Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago, charge that the United States has willingly set aside its own security and that of many of its allies in order to advance the interests of Israel. In addition the study accuses the pro-Israeli lobby, particularly AIPAC of manipulating the U.S. media, policing academia and silencing critics of Israel by labeling them as anti-Semitic.



And here's a bit more on Brigitte Gabriel and her organization Act For America.

Brigitte Gabriel's fears about Isalm is basically little different from the delusional thinking of anti-Semitism. The fantasies of anti-Semitism which claims Jews are at work trying to take over the world is replaced by her belief that Muslims are secretly preparing to take over America and the world. She claims that Muslims in America and elsewhere are acting as a fifth column to infiltrate all aspects of American Society in order to take over America and other Western countries.

The next clip is from Gabriel's website:

Act For America : Brigitte Gabriel



American Congress For truth Bigitte Gabriel

War has been declared on Christians, Jews, non-Muslims and secularists worldwide by Islamic extremists...simply because we are infidels according to their belief. As Islamic fundamentalism spreads its tentacles worldwide, it is crucial for the people of the Western world to understand the danger, know what to expect, and know what to do about it.

Threats and realities of forced conversions to Islam, beheadings, torture and murder are quickly becoming commonplace. They’re rarely mentioned in the news and when they are, it’s with a disclaimer…the word “insurgent” has replaced the truth of “terrorists.”

Political correctness is killing us.

And check out :
CUFI: Christians United For Israel
which includes John Hagee, Gary Bauer & pastor Rod Parsley

Christians United for Israel has held over 80 Nights to Honor Israel in cities across America since February 2006.

A Night to Honor Israel is an evening packed with outstanding speakers and music with all of the focus being on support for Israel and the Jewish people. In the Bible, God says, “I will bless those that bless you and curse those that curse you.”

Christians in America and around the world should support Israel and the Jewish People. Israel is the only nation on the face of the earth where God created the boundaries and gave it to His people, the Jews, for all time. The choice is very clear; Christians can either choose to be a friend and supporter of Israel and please the Lord or be an enemy of Israel and offend God. God has protected Israel in the past and will continue that protection forever. Join us for a life changing event that will open your eyes to Israel and the Jewish people.

also see:Political Research Associates: Right Web

and: American Values Gary L. Bauer, President

and : Center For Moral Clarity / World Harvest Church of Rod Parsley

and for instance article about Rod Parsley at Worldnetdaily WND Exclusive "U.S. founded to destroy Islam? Pastor's book calls America to be 'Silent No More' "June 23, 2005


and so it goes,
GORD.

Obama's Support For Israel is Damaging His Image As Israel Moves Further to the Right

UPDATE: Feb. 11, 2009 11:19 AM

Israeli election- more extremists in the government ?
Or maintaining the status quo of empty rhetoric and more broken promises and more dead Palestinians ?
Obama loses support among Arabs and Muslims because of his Unconditional support of Israel especially due to the Israeli invasion of Gaza !!!
Is Obama paying too much heed to AIPAC and the American Evangelical -Christian Zionists ?
Is this irrational Pro-Israeli policy part of some mental disorder on the part of Americans and their leaders or is it rooted in some sort of Magical thinking or Fanatical Religious Views ?



In his press conference on Monday when asked by the venerable journalist Helen Thomas about whether any Middle Eastern country had nuclear weapons Obama refused to answer even though everybody knows that Israel is the only nation in the Middle East with Nuclear weapons.This may have seemed a good move on his part for pragmatic reasons but to the Arab world it was just another cop-out and a betrayal as once again he kept to the Pro-Israel Pro-Zionist Party line. So Obama rhetoric about change does not apply so far to America's unwavering unconditional and toadying support of Israel. In his answer or non-answer Obama is signalling the Israelis that he will abide by their "Talking Points" ," Spin" and "Propaganda " as in Israel's Big Lie that they claim to not have nuclear weapons . In this little but important episode we see Obama forced into a corner by Helen Thomas who is known for asking tough questions. She also makes the point of using the terminology of " So Called Terrorists " thereby questioning the War on Terror and making a distinction between Real Terrorists and those people in these areas who are in fact justified in defending their own lands and countries from what they see as foreign invaders ie the US and NATO forces.

Obama does not give a direct answer to Helen Thomas on Israel's Nuclear Arms
Helen Thomas Questioning Obama at Press Conference



Why Did Obama Diss Helen Thomas?MJ Rosenberg Director of Policy for the Israel Policy Forum at Huffington Post February 10, 2009

Ms. Thomas' moment came when she asked the president about nuclear proliferation. Her question ended with the query: does he know of any Middle Eastern state with nukes?

Why did she ask that? She asked it to see if Obama would refuse to respond as previous presidents have. The answer is Israel, of course. And everyone knows it. In fact, the State Department has published reams of material about JFK's concern about the Israeli bomb. Israeli politicians talk about it. Every Arab in the world knows about it. And Israel's nukes are its number one deterrent against attack by Iran -- and everyone knows that too.

But Israel has a policy of not talking about its nukes in any official capacity because acknowledging them might lead to Israel having to sign the NPT and opening itself up to nuclear inspection.

So Israeli Prime Ministers try (not always successfully) not to acknowledge that Israel has a nuclear arsenal while ensuring that everyone knows it does.

That may be a sensible policy...for Israel.

But why is it our policy? Why is the American president forbidden from being honest on such a critical subject. Answer: there is no reason, unless we are to believe that Israeli policy guidelines, by definition, apply here as well.

So why did Obama refuse to answer? Simple. Because if he did, the media would have reported it as a gaffe. Reporters either know nothing about the Middle East or, for the most part, have adopted Israel's perspective.

also see on Obama's Press conference "Obama and the press play wiffle ball while Americans strike out? " by Phil Bronstein at Bornstein at Large Blog Feb. 10, 2009


As I have discussed on other occasions there is a significant number of Americans who believe that Israel must be supported unconditionally. Any President who dares go against this policy of supporting Israel can expect to be attacked not just by various pro-Israeli groups but the Mass Media in America will also go on the attack . These attacks would be so vocal and vicious and continuous that it is believed that the president and his administration would be undermined and possibly brought to a stand-still.

There are various rationales which are argued to defend this extreme policy towards Israel. To be critical of Israel is seen as tantamount to being anti-Israel and further of being anti-Semitic.The American policies concerning Israel are not based in a realistic view of Israel or Israel's policies towards Arabs and Palestinians. It appears to be based upon some sort of proposition of faith.

The American Christian Zionists are a significant and influential group of mainly Protestant Evangelical Christians who demand that the US government support Israel unconditionally. They proclaim their love for Israel and for the Jewish People. But it is not as simple as that. These Evangelical Christians believing that they must support Israel because Israel and the Jewish People are at the focal point of God's plans as described in the Bible. These Evangelical Christians argue that the Israelites or the Jewish People are God's chosen people and God favors those who favor the Israelites and God will destroy those who do not support the Jewish People and Israel. So they believe that Israel should be permitted to do whatever is necessary to defend itself and do so with America's moral support and financial and military support. Israel is unlike any other country because it is the land given to the Jewish People not by the actions or laws of men but by God's Will and His promise to the Jewish People.Therefore , they argue that whatever Israel does is ordained by God and is a fulfillment of Providence. For instance Israel's recent invasion of Gaza was part of God's Will otherwise it would not have occurred. Because Israel is God's chosen nation it is not bound by the laws of man but is only answerable to God.

At this time I won't get into the whole end-times eschatology and the role Israel and the Jewish People play in the arrival of the Messiah according to Judaism or in Christian Evangelical terms the Second Coming of the Messiah or Jesus.Israel in either scenario plays a pivotal role. So Israel needs to exist in order to fulfill this role. But both Christian Zionists and Extremist Jewish Zionists believe that the original Temple in Jerusalem must be rebuilt and ritual sacrifices made in the ancient tradition and that the borders of Israel must be expanded to those of the original Israel or Judea ( Eretz Israel) as described in detail in the Bible and that all non-Jews must be expelled from the land of Israel. This would mean expanding Israel into Saudi Arabia , Jordan Lebanon etc.depending on which sources one refers to .

So those in Israel who hold to these views to a greater or lesser extent believe that Israel has the right to expel all Arabs from their land or that Arabs and others are to accept their role as second class citizens . They further believe that the Arabs and others who occupy the land which is part of Eretz Israel have no right to that land and are therefore illegally occupying that land against God's Will. Therefore driving these people off of these lands is justifiable and is part of God's command . So the Israelis are merely taking back land that was rightfully their but which was stolen from them over the past 2,000 or so years.

So let's look at what these various Evangelical Christian Zionist proclaim and how extreme their views are. So lets begin by looking at Pastor John Hagee as a representative of these Christian Zionists. In the clip below he argues that Israel has the right and possibly the duty to pre-emptively attack any country that might be a threat to Israel . So Pastor Hagee proclaims Israel should use nuclear weapons on Iran and possibly other countries in the Middle East to prevent any possible attacks on Israel.

This seems in some ways odd as Israel is depicted as weak and defenseless when in fact Israel has a formidable military one of the best equipped in the world.Israel also has some 150 or more nuclear war heads . No other country in the Middle East has nuclear weapons. Given Israel's nuclear capability and the fear that a more radical group might at some point be elected as the government of Israel who might think that a pre-emptive military or nuclear attack would be justifiable . Is it any wonder that Iran or some other country in the Middle East in its own attempt at self-defense may consider developing its own nuclear program.


BILL MOYERS JOURNAL | Christian Zionism | PBS-Oct. 3, 2007



also see at YOUTUBE (Embedding disabled) featuring John Hagee, John McCain and Newt Gingrich
Christian Zionists - USA Journeyman Pictures Sept. 17, 2007

There are those in the Israeli government who are sympathetic to the more extremist groups such as the Kahanist and "the ultra-right, anti-Arab nationalist and West Bank settler Avigdor Lieberman of the racist Yisrael Beitenu (Israel Our Home) Party"

Kahane v, Ehud Olmert



For more on the extremist Meir Kahane who wants all Arabs expelled from Israel. He was assassinated in 1999 but now it appears that there more amd more Israeli politicians who aresympathetic to Kahane's views.
Kahane.org

And in this video we are shown what it is believed to be the extent of Israel's borders as promised to the Israelites by Yahweh.

Exposed: Eretz Israel Land occupied by Muslims




The election being held in Israel will not bring about any substantive change or at least not in the direction of a peaceful solution. The issues involved are further complicated by the religious aspects which are at the root of the entire situation. These religious notions also get tied into various forms of racism .The Jewish People are the chosen of God and the Arabs are not. Gideon Levy of Haaretz argues maybe it would be better if the more extremists individuals and parties took control since their blatant racist anti-Arab anti-peace positions would be more clearly stated and then the world would see these extremists as the unreasonable bigots that they are. This is a rather cynical view of Israeli politics though it might be closer to the reality of Israel's situation and its politics.

" Let Netanyahu Win " By Gideon Levy Haaretz Feb. 09, 2009

Benjamin Netanyahu will apparently be Israel's next prime minister. There is, however, something encouraging about that fact. Netanyahu's election will free Israel from the burden of deception: If he can establish a right-wing government, the veil will be lifted and the nation's true face revealed to its citizens and the rest of the world, including Arab countries. Together with the world, we will see which direction we are facing and who we really are. The masquerade that has gone on for several years will finally come to an end.

Netanyahu's election is likely to bring the curtain down on the great fraud - the best show in town - the lie of "negotiations" and the injustice of the "peace process." Israel consistently claimed these acts proved the nation was focused on peace and the end of the occupation. All the while, it did everything it could to further entrench the occupation and distance any chance of a potential agreement.

...For 16 years, we have been enamored with the peace process. We talk and talk, babble and prattle, and generally feel great about ourselves; meanwhile the settlements expand endlessly and Israel turns to the use of force at every possible opportunity, aside from a unilateral disengagement which did nothing to advance the cause of peace.

He argues that if Tzipi Livni or Ehud Barak are elected they will not really offer any change and will continue with the status quo which means more phony Public Relations photo-ops and bold but empty rhetoric followed by more conflict and more dead Palestinians. On the other hand if Netanyahu wins the world will see the true face of the extremists who are in control of Israel.

Netanyahu would offer something else. First, he is a faithful representative of an authentic "Israeli" view - an almost complete distrust of Arabs and the chance of reaching peace with them, mixed with condescension and dehumanization. Second, he will finally arouse the world's rage towards us, including that of the new U.S. administration. Sadly, this may be the only chance for the kind of dramatic change that is needed.

And Glenn Greenwald of Salon.com argues that Israel is about to become even more aggressive towards Gaza and the West Bank and less amenible to its Arab neighbors.

" Israel's Elections and US Policy " by Glenn Greenwald at Salon.com, feb. 9, 2009

Israel is holding its national elections tomorrow. Not only is it virtually certain that the right-wing militarist Benjamin Netanyahu of the Likud Party will become the new Prime Minister, but it is highly likely that the ultra-right, anti-Arab nationalist and West Bank settler Avigdor Lieberman of the racist Yisrael Beitenu (Israel Our Home) Party will perform scandalously well. Polls show Lieberman's party winning between 15 to 20 of the 120 seats in the Knesset, perhaps even surpassing Israel's Labour Party for third place and even an outside change for second place. Lieberman's party will form a vital component of Netanyahu's ruling coalition and will secure a key Cabinet post for Lieberman himself.

So extreme and repugnant is Lieberman that even Marty Peretz's New Republic this week called his party "an extremist right-wing party" and said that Lieberman "has focused much of his campaign inciting public anger against Israel's Arab minority." In that article -- headlined: "The alarming rise of radical nationalism in Israel" -- former IDF soldier Arik Ben-Zvi described just some of the disgraceful lowlights:

Under the catchy slogan "No citizenship without loyalty" ... Yisrael Beiteinu is pushing for a new law requiring all citizens to swear an "oath of loyalty" to the state. Israeli-Arab citizens or others who refuse could have their citizenship stripped from them. . . .

He accuses Israeli-Arab lawmakers of harboring Hamas sympathies, and has called for the parties to be banned from running in the election. His campaign ads show Israeli-Arab students demonstrating against the Gaza war as a narrator ominously intones, "We won't forget that, during the Gaza conflict, there were those among us who stood with Hamas." As for the Gaza operation itself, Lieberman has denounced the cease-fire as a sell-out of the military. His preferred strategy is total war against the Gazan population: "We must continue to fight Hamas just like the United States did with the Japanese in World War II." The message is clearly finding its audience. Of particular concern is evidence suggesting Lieberman's appeal is growing among young voters.

and further as he points out it appears that Israel is viewed unfavorably by most countries except for the US and Russia :

A new BBC poll of worldwide opinion ... conducted by the Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA), surveyed 21 countries from six continents and asked whether the influence exerted by various nations in the world was positive or negative. The three countries most viewed as having a negative influence in the world -- essentially tied with one another -- were Iran, Pakistan and Israel, all of whom finished just behind North Korea -- and this poll was conducted before Israel's attack on Gaza. Even before the war on Gaza, Israel was viewed overwhelmingly negatively in every country except two -- the U.S., where citizens view Israel favorably by a not very large 13-point margin (47-34%), and Russia, where public opinion is split. In every other country, the view of Israel's influence on the world is significantly negative -- in most cases, overwhelmingly so.

U.S. support for Israel has been particularly costly over the last several years, as Israel bombed Lebanon and demolished chunks of Gaza (using American weapons to do so), and continued its policy of settlement expansion in the West Bank - all with various means of American support playing a critical role. Yet now Israel appears poised to install as Prime Minister someone whose criticisms have been that Israel hasn't gone far enough and who vows even more severe aggression. Worse still, the Israeli Government is likely to have as a prominent component a political party that is blatantly racist, anti-democratic and bloodthirsty.

If, as it appears, the face Israel is now choosing for itself is that of Benjamin Netanyahu and Avigdor Lieberman, then the cost to the United States of ongoing, one-sided support for Israel is going to skyrocket, and the need for serious change in U.S. policy towards Israel will be even more acute. It's worth recalling that Barack Obama, when still seeking the Democratic nomination in February, 2008, said:

"I think there is a strain within the pro-Israel community that says unless you adopt an unwavering pro-Likud approach to Israel, then you're anti-Israel, and that can't be the measure of our friendship with Israel."

and he concludes :

But the statement Israel is making to the world about what it wants to be and how it perceives itself will be unmistakably clear. This is a country that has waged two brutal wars against largely defenseless neighbors in the past three years, that just banned certain Arab political parties from existing (a ban reversed by its Supreme Court), and that continues expansions on land that does not belong to it despite those expansions being universally condemned and declared illegal in numerous international tribunals. And now, it is turning to political leaders who believe that these measures have been insufficiently aggressive and who vow far more aggression and, in the case of Lieberman, even more internal repression of its own ethnic and religious minorities.

Israel, like all countries, has the right to choose what leaders it wants. But as is also always true, other countries have the right -- and, in the case of the U.S. as the enabler of virtually everything Israel does, the responsibility -- to react appropriately. It's bad enough that we have tied ourselves so blindly and inextricably to Israel as it has existed over the past several years. But an Israel led by Benjamin Netanyahu and Avigdor Lieberman produces whole new responsibilities for the U.S. not to continue on this path of uncritical support for a government like that.

also see:

Israeli Elections: Is Avigdor Lieberman Satan?Julian Kossoff at Telegraph.co.uk, Feb 10, 2009

The emergence of Avigdor Lieberman and his Yisrael Beiteinu party on the Israeli political landscape has been the most distinctive and disturbing feature of the recent general election campaign.

His ultra-nationalistic politics and his controversial policy of demand that everyone in Israel takes a loyalty oath has cast him as anti-Arab, and a first step in the outright persecution of the one million strong Israeli-Arab minority as a "fifth column".

Whether Jews in the Diaspora, particularly the all-important US community, will be able to stomach his rabble-rousing with its fascistic undertones and start to question their rock solid Israel loyalism is about to be tested.

--
and :

" The man who would be kingmaker " by PATRICK MARTIN Globe and Mail Feb. 9, 2009

And "Yvette" Lieberman, as he's popularly known, certainly has his share of enemies. There are Arab Israelis who resent his labelling them as a fifth column in Israel. There are ultraorthodox Jews who strongly oppose his push for more secular policies. There are many on the left who worry about a man who's antagonized both Egypt and Syria being allowed too close to the Ministry of Defence. And there are those Israelis who simply worry that if this election ends up making this man a power broker in the next government it will confirm the view of anti-Semites everywhere, and turn the world against Israel.

And from Al Jazeera on the Israeli election results:

Israel moves to the right
By Alex Sehmer , Al Jazeera, Feb. 11, 2009

It was the right-wing bloc that won the most seats and Avigdor Lieberman, the leader of Yisrael Beiteinu, made the biggest gains though not as big as had been expected.

Despite Livni's projected win, supporters in the election headquarters of the opposition Likud party erupted into cheers of "Bibi! Bibi!" believing that their leader, Benyamin Netanyahu, will be the next prime minister.

Under the Israeli electoral system, once the results are in, Shimon Peres, the president, will ask the person deemed most likely to be able to cobble together a coalition, to form a government.

That could be Netanyahu.

"Lieberman, Shas and the religious parties, with them we've got the makings of a coalition," Danny Danon, a Likud Knesset candidate, told Al Jazeera.

...In terms of peace, Livni has said she wants to continue with the struggling Annapolis talks, initiated by the former US administration under George Bush.

Netanyahu's Likud party, on the other hand, has portrayed itself as deeply concerned about Israel's security and unwilling to concede more land to the Palestinians for peace.

But this election was never really fought on the issue of peace, it was fought on the issue of security, an issue brought into sharp focus by Israel's 22-day war on Gaza, in which more than 1,300 Palestinians were killed.

"Even before the war, the elections, the candidates weren't talking about healthcare, economic or social issues. I think that's the case with Israeli elections," Gill Hoffman, the chief correspondent for the Jerusalem Post newspaper, told Al Jazeera.

"The fact is Israelis vote on war and peace."

How Obama's Support for Israel Is Hurting him in the Arab Street and I believe justifiably so unless he decides to stand up to Israel but this will be even more difficult as Israel in the election moves further to the right:

As Alaa Al Aswany an Egyptian writes that many people in Arab and Islamic countries were very hopeful and exited when Obama won the election in November believing he would be more even handed in dealing with Israel and the Palestinians and the situation in the Middle East in general. But their attitude changed as Obama remained silent during Israel's military invasion of Gaza and when he finally spoke out he like former President Bush expressed his support for Israel and said little about the War Crimes committed by Israel during that invasion which killed over 1300 Palestinians.

" Why the Muslim World Can’t Hear Obama " By ALAA AL ASWANY The New York Times Feb. 7, 2009

We saw Mr. Obama as a symbol of this justice. We welcomed him with almost total enthusiasm until he underwent his first real test: Gaza. Even before he officially took office, we expected him to take a stand against Israel’s war on Gaza. We still hope that he will condemn, if only with simple words, this massacre that killed more than 1,300 Palestinians, many of them civilians. (I don’t know what you call it in other languages, but in Egypt we call this a massacre.) We expected him to address the reports that the Israeli military illegally used white phosphorus against the people of Gaza. We also wanted Mr. Obama, who studied law and political science at the greatest American universities, to recognize what we see as a simple, essential truth: the right of people in an occupied territory to resist military occupation.

But Mr. Obama has been silent. So his brilliantly written Inaugural Speech did not leave a big impression on Egyptians. We had already begun to tune out. We were beginning to recognize how far the distance is between the great American values that Mr. Obama embodies, and what can actually be accomplished in a country where support for Israel seems to transcend human rights and international law.

Mr. Obama’s interview with Al Arabiya on Jan. 27 was an event that was widely portrayed in the Western news media as an olive branch to the Muslim world. But while most of my Egyptian friends knew about the interview, by then they were so frustrated by Mr. Obama’s silence that they weren’t particularly interested in watching it. I didn’t see it myself, but I went back and read the transcript. Again, his elegant words did not challenge America’s support of Israel, right or wrong, or its alliances with Arab dictators in the interest of pragmatism.

and so it goes,
GORD.

Israeli Settlers & Colonization & the Expulsion & Marginalization of the Palestinians

Anyway today the Israelis go to the polls but it will probably not lead to an improvement in finding a peaceful solution to the Israeli Palestinian situation. As long as the Israelis believe they have the right to total control over Gaza and the West Bank what hope can there be. The Israelis are running a Apartheid style state where Palestinians and Arab Israelis are not treated as equals . Nor are they treated humanely or fairly or justly. The Israelis have a formidable army which they use to set policies and to enforce unjust laws . Once again the Israelis will claim something is moral or just because it is the " Law" which they make and then impose on the Palestinians. These so called laws are made in order to make the lives of the Palestinians complicated and eventually impossible as the Afrikans did to the Blacks of South Africa or the White Citizens Councils did in Southern United States to Black Americans.

In this clip below we see what is actually a common occurrence involving the Israeli Army and Palestinians. They used explosives to knock down the family's front door then tear the place apart claiming they are looking for weapons and then blow a hole through one side of the house. The husband begs the soldiers to call an ambulance but as is usual when it comes to Palestinians the IDF and Israeli citizens have little interest in trying to save the life of a Palestinian. As one of the soldiers says " we are here for purification" that sounds like Genocide to me.

Video Israel Doesn't Want You to See- CBC



Children of Settlers who are supposed to be paragons of Israeli virtues throw stones at an elderly women while they attack several Arab children on their way home from school. Note the that the soldiers have no interest in stopping the Jewish children . We know that Arab children on their way to and from schools if they are near a " Settlement" are often stoned by the Adult Settlers or are shot at by the Settlers. Also note the language of these children "fucking bitch " . If there were no camera or other witnesses one wonders if the children and their parents and the soldiers would have killed these human rights activists.

If these had been Arab children assaulting Jewish children we know the soldiers would not hesitate to use rubber bullets or tear gas. You can find lots of examples of IDF firing on children throwing stones even when there is no chance of a soldier being injured.


Crazy Settlers Stoning An Old Woman




The Israeli Settlers are in reality colonizing Palestinian land with the support of the Israeli Government and its military the IDF. This of course goes counter to International Law which forbids Israelis from setting up colonies within " the occupied territories " Once settlers move into these lands stolen from the Palestinians they arm themselves and harass the local Palestinians while the IDF joins in to further harass the Palestinians. If the Palestinians dare to to spek out about their treatment they can be arrested or shot or have their homes bulldozed .The settlers or colonizers have complete freedom of movement but the Palestinians do not. As other colonial powers have taken over foreign lands in a similar fashion so do the Israelis as they try to extend the borders of Israel. So who are the true aggressors . The Europeans for instance in America slowly took over what is now the United States by pushing further into the continent displacing large number of Native Americans. Millions of Native Americans were not just displaced but were massacred over a period of centuries til now there are is but a small remnant of the original Native Americans left.The Afrikaners in South Africa did the same thing to Black South Africans finally creating bantustans lands or reservations for the Black South African to live on. White South Africans had complete rights as citizens of South Africa but Black South Africans did not have the same rights as the White Afrikaners. Another comparison can be made to the African slaves in America who once they were freed from slavery were not given the same rights as white Americans. They did not receive equal rights at least on paper until the mid 1960s. Too bad Americans can not see the parallels between the Israeli-Palestinian situation and that of South Africa or Southern United States. But history keeps repeating itself in one way or another. These situations are analagous but that does not mean they are exactly the same in every detail.

But change some the phrases from Palestinians to Black South Africans or Black Americans , Imagine highways and roads that are for Whites only or Jews only or White Americans only.

Israel's "Colonies" - Anna Baltzer

October 21, 2008


Extracts of A Witness in Palestine, written by Anna Baltzer. Anna Baltzer, a young Jewish American, went to the West Bank to discover the realities of daily life for Palestinians under the occupation. What she found would change her outlook on the conflict forever. She wrote this book to give voice to the stories of the people who welcomed her with open arms as their lives crumbled around them. For five months, Baltzer lived and worked with farmers, Palestinian and Israeli activists, and the families of political prisoners, traveling with them across endless checkpoints and roadblocks to reach hospitals, universities, and olive groves. Baltzer witnessed firsthand the environmental devastation brought on by expanding settlements and outposts and the destruction wrought by Israels Security Fence, which separates many families from each other, their communities, their land, and basic human services.




and another ship attempting to bring Humanitarian Aid to Gaza is boarded , the aid workers are beaten arrested and deported etc. God forbid the people of Gaza get medical aid or enough food. After all they are in their Ghetto plotting to take over Israel with their rifles and poorly made rockets while the Israelis have one of the best equipped armies in the world.

Passengers of freighter seized by Israel return home with tales of abuse/Soldiers kicked and beat activists, journalists before setting them free
By Andrew Wander Daily Star staff Feb. 07, 2009


" What We Found in Gaza
Strong Indications of Violations of the Laws of War, U.S. Law, and War Crimes Found in the Gaza Strip NLG Delegation " by CommonDreams.org Feb. 8, 2009

GAZA CITY - We are a delegation of 8 American lawyers, members of the National Lawyers Guild in the United States, who have come here to the Gaza Strip to assess the effects of the recent attacks on the people, and to determine what, if any, violations of international law occurred and whether U.S. domestic law has been violated as a consequence. We have spent the last five days interviewing communities particularly impacted by the recent Israeli offensive, including medical personnel, humanitarian aid workers and United Nations representatives. In particular, the delegation examined three issues: 1) targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure; 2) illegal use of weapons and 3) blocking of medical and humanitarian assistance to civilians.

and they conclude that they found evidence of War Crimes:

This delegation is seriously concerned by our initial findings. We have found strong indications of violations of the laws of war and possible war crimes committed by Israel in the Gaza Strip. We are particularly concerned that most of the weapons that were found used in the December 27 assualt on Gaza are US-made and supplied. We believe that Israel's use of these weapons may constitute a violation of US law, and particularly the Foreign Assistance Act and the US Arms Export Control Act.

A report of our initial findings will be compiled and submitted to, among others, members of the United States Congress. We intend to push for an investigation by the United States government into possible violations by Israel of US law. We also hope to contribute our finding and efforts to other efforts by local and international lawyers to push for accountability against those found responsible for the egregious crimes that we have documented.

Another bad habit the Israelis have developed over the last 60 years is that of assassinating leaders of groups they do not approve of.
So the question also becomes if the MOSSAD are willing to kill this or that leader why not also kill someone who is too outspoken in their criticisms of the Israeli state . We know the Israelis do target and kill journalists every now and again and then come out with some sort of lame excuse.

Israel and assasinations of enemies:

" Hezbollah Commander Assassinated by Mossad " By Nazer Majli Asharq Al-Awsat- Feb. 7, 2009

...Israeli sources have revealed that Hezbollah Commander Imad Mughniyeh was assassinated by Israeli Mossad agents and aided by information gathered by the Central Intelligence Agency from Hezbollah commander Ali Moussa Daqduq, who was arrested in Iraq in January 2007.

...News of Mughniyeh's assassination was met with condemnation and anger in some parts of the Arab world, with the Israelis fearing an immediate retaliation that did not materialized. With the first anniversary of Mughniyeh's death fast approaching, Israeli fears are re-surfacing.

Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah vowed to avenge the killing of top commander Imad Mughniyeh on 29 January 2009 during a rare news conference where he said via video link "The Israelis live in fear of our revenge" adding "The decision to respond to the killing is still on. We decide the time and place."

Israeli Elections May Bring Extremist to Power

"Avnery on Israel Election: Dirty Socks " by Uri Avnery at Media With Conscience Feb. 8, 2009

...FOR ME, the greatest evil is Binyamin (“Bibi”) Netanyahu.

If he gets one vote more than his rivals, the President will entrust him with the task of setting up the next government. Netanyahu has already committed himself to inviting Avigdor Liberman, the pupil of the fascist Meir Kahane, as his first partner, as well as Shas, which has now become an extreme right-wing party. Perhaps he will also take in the “National Union”, which is even more extreme, and the remnants of the National Religious party, together with the Orthodox.

If this is to be the core of the next coalition, we shall have an extreme nationalist-racist government, a government that will reject outright any possibility of ending the occupation, setting up a Palestinian state and evacuating the settlements.

After that, Netanyahu could invite Kadima and Labor, but that would not matter anymore. Since he will be able to set up a government without them, he will get them for next to nothing. In such a government, their only function will be to serve as fig leaves, camouflage for the Americans.

and as for Ehud Barak Uri Avnery explains :

I CANNOT vote for Ehud Barak. Even if my head wanted to, my hand would not obey.

The inhuman Gaza War was a reflection of Barak’s own inhuman character. He waged the war as a part of his election campaign. When the anti-war demonstrators marched through the streets of Tel-Aviv and shouted: “Don’t buy votes / with the blood of babies” they were not so far off the mark.

Like Netanyahu, Barak is a documented failure. I was among the masses who celebrated his triumph in Rabin Square in 1999 when he was elected Prime Minister, and, hardly a year later, I sighed with relief when his government collapsed. In his short term of office he convened the Camp David conference and sabotaged it, spread the poisonous and mendacious mantra “We have no partner for peace”, provoked the second intifada and destroyed the peace camp from within.

And here's an odd tid-bit from Global Research which claims settlers were removed from parts of Gaza so that the IDF could use massive bombing raids on Gaza.

" Gaza Massacre Foretold in 2005: What May Come After the Evacuation of Jewish Settlers from the Gaza Strip :A Warning from Israel"by Uri Davis and Ilan Pappe and Tamar Yaron Global Research Feb. 8, 2009

and like the Bush Regime the Israelis believe they have a right to detain people for as long as they like and treat those detainees anyway they wish since they are in Perpetual War With The Palestinians .


Israel holding 42 Palestinians in administrative detention for over two years B'Tselem Press release Feb. 5, 2009


and so it goes,
GORD.

Torture And Mass Murder And Other American and Western Values

UPDATE: 1:28 PM Feb. 9, 2009.

American Values v their values?
Clash of Civilizations or Just another Christian Crusade
Closing Gitmo merely a symbolic gesture or will Obama free the tens of thousands imprisoned by the US in Iraq and Afghanistan and elsewhere ?
Time for Obama or the The World Court to arrest, indict and imprison Bush & Co. !!!
Will America get away once again for its War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity as it did for its crimes committed in Vietnam and elsewhere ?
Is America above The Rule of Law ?

Onward Christian Soldiers
take up the Cross
there are millions more to kill
for it is God's Will
to crush all unbelievers
echoing through the centuries
shouting God Wills It
and our God is better than your God-
By GORD.

This has been the Christian message for 2,000 years.

Bush Admits Torture Feb 6 2008 - America Turns A Blind Eye?



Will Obama bring these murderous thugs of the former Bush Administration to justice or sweep it all under the carpet. Too many times throughout the history Western Civilization those who have abused their power to oppress and kill and torture others have gone unpunished. According to the Conservative perspective America and the West has been a society dedicated to the principles of justice and freedom . History does not support this view.

The Republicans and their minions are hard at work with their revisionist history of the Bush Era. Bush they claim protected America by going to war in Iraq and killing a million Iraqis and torturing thousands all in the name of American superiority and Christian Values. Christians have been long involved in terrorizing the world From the hunting down of Pagans and heretics by the Christian Church to the unnecessary so called Holy Crusades in which tens of thousands of Jews were murdered followed by the mass murder of Muslims to the Inquisitions to the Witch Hunts to the mass murdering of Native Americans and other Aboriginal peoples elsewhere to slavery and the hundred years of Lynchings in the US to Vietnam to Death Squads roaming Latin America to the shameful brutality and abuses at Abu Ghraib and Gitmo and a hundred other prisons . Yet Christians claim that their values and Western values or Judeo-Christian values are superior to non-Christian religions and non-Westerners such as Islam and Arabs etc.

One can only conclude that either Americans and America's allies are not aware of the numbers of people being held as prisoners or they just don't care since those being held are non-Americans and the majority are Muslims and Arabs whom these Christians see not deserving of fair and just treatment. There is also the Evangelical Christian view that Islam is in fact the enemy who are attempting to destroy Western Civilization and Christianity.

To many American Evangelicals Muslims are in fact the minions of Satan or the Anti-Christ.There is little knew about this since Americans and Europeans characterized various Native people in America or Africa or Asia etc. as brutal savages who were the personification of evil and agents of the devil. It of course is easier to slaughter and wipe out millions of human beings if they are seen as mere savages and being without souls who are more like savage beasts than human beings.

Is the shutting down of Guantanamo a mere symbolic gesture. There are less than 300 prisoners in Guantanamo but there are over 27,000 prisoners being held in other secret and not so secret prisons . So the statement we are still waiting for from Obama is that he will shut down all of these prisons. Many of these prisoners were denied their basic rights and were abused and tortured.Many have been held without charges for years. Will Obama do the right thing or just sweep the whole issue under the rug while he makes a few symbolic gesture.

President Obama has state he will shut down Quantanamo prison over the next year. He also claims there will be no more torture or abuse of prisoners.

US holding 27 thousand in secret prisons-2/2 -May 20, 2008
DemocracyNow!


Clive Stafford Smith: US Holding 27,000 in Secret Overseas Prisons; Transporting Prisoners to Iraqi Jails to Avoid Media & Legal Scrutiny

"There is a huge number of [secret prisoners] being held in Iraq, and one of the intriguing aspects of this that doesn't get much reporting is that the US is bringing people into Iraq from elsewhere to hold them there, simply because that keeps [the media and lawyers] away from the prisoners so they can't get any sort of legal rights," reports British attorney Clive Stafford Smith.



In this next clip Alberto Gonzales refuse to give the interviewer a straight forward reply to his questions on torture. Even now Gonzales claims that it is really a matter for attorneys and bureaucrats to decide what constitutes torture. He also argues that the Geneva Conventions and other International Agreements are out of date and therefore quaint . The Rules of Engagement in his view needed to be changed after 9/11. Note how often he refers to 9/11 as justification for America's wantonly inhumane treatment of suspected terrorists and insurgents in Iraq or at Gitmo or elsewhere. As he argue we see that he believes that America does not have to answer to any other country or International body for its alleged crimes. If these people are not held accountable then we in the West and those outside the West can conclude that these Western notions about " human rights " and " Justice " are just a lot of rhetorical nonsense .

Gonzales Geneva Conventions as quaint after 9/11. The US has used 9/11 to excuse and rationalize the use of torture on POWS and to invade Iraq and Afghanistan.
No one is permitted to question American policies in its so called War on Terror after the 9/11 attack.
Alberto Gonzales still can't recall. BBC Newsnight interview, 4th Feb. 2009



And the British government is so fearful of the US that it refuses to release information it has on prisoners being tortured.

As we see in this clip Shami Chakabarti gets emotional about the issue of torture. Supposedly we are not to get upset at the idea that our governments in our name are abusing and torturing people. Those who defend such immoral and criminal acts tend to see it as a merely a philosophical issue or something to be discussed in a cold calculating manner by lawyers and bureaucrats but this issue isn't just some intellectual problem being discussed in a university classroom. The issue is not merely theoretical but rather is about flesh and blood human beings who's suffering and screams are quite real.

"Yes I am emotional about torture SIR!" Shami Chakrabarti SAVAGES UK Minister Geoff "Buff" Hoon over the US attempts to BLACKMAIL Britain into silence over evidence of Torture. February 07, 2009

Binyam Mohamed, a British resident held at the American base, has launched a legal challenge in the High Court in London for documents detailing his treatment to be made public.

However, two judges ruling on the case said that David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, had advised that releasing the documents could lead to America withdrawing intelligence co-operation.

This, it was warned, could lead to Britons facing a very considerable increase in the dangers they face from terrorism.

The judges reveal that the secret documents at the centre of the case give rise to an arguable case of torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. It is also disclosed that a British intelligence official may have been present when Mr Mohamed alleges he was tortured. The judgment raises the prospect of criminal charges being brought against British officials.



UK judges accuse US of suppressing torture claim and undermining democracy-Feb. 4, 2009



Britain Colludes with Pakistan to Torture British Muslims

Report (15 July 2008) reveals claims that Britain is colluding with the Pakistani authorities in the detention and torture of British citizens in Pakistan. Both British and American officials have been involved in the interrogation sessions following torture.

Ian Cobain of The Guardian, gives details of the claims that British intelligence agencies colluded with the Pakistani authorities in the detention and torture of British Muslims.



and so it goes,
GORD.

Obama Needs to Rethink American & NATO Presence in Afghanistan

Obama & Afghanistan
Clash of Civilizations

Anyway will President Obama continue Bush's War on Terror using massive military force in pursuit of a few thousand criminals or will he bring a new perspective and approach to dealing with terrorism. On 9/11 no country declared war on the US. It was the US that declared war on terrorism as if it represented a country. Bush unfortunately claimed it was a crusade against all those who hated America. By putting the problem in hyped up religious terminology he made it seem that this was a fight between Christianity and Islam. The actual fight was between the US and a group of fanatics who happened to be Muslims. If the terrorists had been Hindu extremists would Bush have declared war on India and all Hindus around the globe.

Or when domestic terrorist Tomothy McVeigh blew up the federal building in Oklahoma City the US government didn't go out and arrests thousands of other Americans who were sympathetic to his cause nor did the US military carpet bomb the area from which Timothy McVeigh had come from. Nor did the US government go after every media outlet which allowed ultraconservative talk-radio hosts to spew their irrational propaganda which may have influenced Timothy McVeigh or others who held similar extremists beliefs.

Or consider the problem the British government had with dealing with their domestic terrorists the IRA. If they followed the Bush doctrine the British could have justified carpet bombing of Northern Ireland or even of the Republic of Ireland -Eire- since some money and arms were coming through the Republic and into Belfast. It is also well known that much of the funding for the IRA came from American donors. If that was the case should Britain have set up a blockade to prevent American ships or planes from entering Northern Ireland or even the United Kingdom or should Britain have declared war on the United States . Should America agreed to mass arrests of Irish Americans especially those in New York City.

But of course Bush and Cheney and company had an agenda they wished to pursue. Part of this agenda was to bring down once and for all Saddam. But Saddam had nothing to do with 9/11 . So they cooked up some intel about non-existent WMDs so they could justify an invasion of Iraq. Six years later over one million Iraqis have been killed and over four thousand American soldiers have died all based on lies and propaganda.It was supposed to be a cake-walk but it didn't turn out that way.


Now Obama wants to put more troops into Afghanistan as if more soldiers will solve all the problems now facing Afghanistan. As we see in the articles below there is a real need to rethink the strategy and tactics to be used in Afghanistan. There needs to be more dialogue with all the parties concerned in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Reasonable goals need to be developed and spelled out. The peoples of Afghanistan need to be reassured that the aim of the US and NATO is not to occupy and conquer Afghanistan as part of America's or the West's desire to make Afghanistan into a colony with some sort of puppet regime in power.

As Deepak Chopra argues:

" ...The United Nations and NATO must rally to carry out the humanitarian goals that need to be pursued. But that's not the same as deluding ourselves into believing that we are defeating terrorism. Bush's war on terror was a horrendous mistake, an ideological delusion and a failed tactic. It alienated most of the world and created as many extremists as it defeated. Obama knows all this. Now it's time for him to lead us out of a self-created quagmire. The United States can't have it both ways, talking peace but maintaining a hostile military presence in the region, neither Pakistan, nor Afghanistan has a government seen as legitimate by its population. Neither has the ability, or the national will to police its borders, or seriously confront extremism, or foreign fighters. History has already taught us how these endeavors end, and they do not end well. No matter how just our cause, we are seen as aggressors, and may just as likely suffer the death of a thousand cuts, just like Genghis Khan, Alexander the Great, the British Empire and the Soviet Union. Without establishing a foundation of legitimacy, and hope, or any semblance of the rule of law, a purely military strategy will likely be defeated in the end... "


see: Why Military Responses to Terror Attacks Are Always Doomed to Fail By Deepak Chopra and Ken Robinson, AlterNet. Feb. 6, 2009.

Many of the European nations as members of NATO are not convinced that sending more troops into Afghanistan is the right way to proceed. They would in fact prefer to pull out of Afghanistan altogether. They are also in disagreement with some of the tactics and goals which the Obama administration is in favor of as we see in the article below:

Afghanistan Appeal May Temper European Allies' Ardor for Obama By Craig Whitlock Washington Post , Feb. 6, 2009

...The Obama administration is expected to announce plans to send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan, where the United States and its allies fear they are losing ground in the war against the Taliban. Although European leaders say they are eager to curry favor with the new U.S. president, they are proving just as reluctant to contribute more soldiers or money to the NATO-led operation as they were during President George W. Bush's last years in the White House.

French Defense Minister Hervé Morin said last month that "there is no question, for now, of considering extra reinforcements" from Paris. Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende said his country would start drawing down its 1,770 troops in Afghanistan next year. German officials have also ruled out sending more soldiers beyond a parliamentary decision last year to expand the force to 4,500.


...U.S. and European military officials are deeply divided on some key issues. For example, the Pentagon wants to take a harder line against opium growers and drug kingpins in Afghanistan, a major source of cash for the Taliban.

Many European countries advocate a softer approach, with some officials calling for a temporary legalization of opium production to avoid alienating Afghan farmers who grow poppies.

The conflict turned into a public spat last week when German news media reported on a leaked memo from U.S. Army Gen. John Craddock, the supreme allied commander in Europe, in which he urged NATO soldiers to attack drug producers and labs throughout Afghanistan, regardless of whether they support the Taliban.

European lawmakers and military officials reacted angrily, saying that Craddock was overstepping NATO's rules of engagement. In a statement, NATO characterized Craddock's memo as "general guidance," adding: "He has not, and never has, issued illegal orders."

Although many European countries are calling for a greater focus on humanitarian aid, training and reconstruction in Afghanistan, progress on those fronts has been plagued by inefficiency and a lack of coordination, according to many U.S. and European officials.

As Tom Engelhardt points out Afghanistan has historically been the bane and a dead end for previous empires including the Soviet Union and the British Empire.
But when it comes to Afghanistan American Hubris knows no bounds-

" Tomgram: The Empire v. The Graveyard Whistling Past the Afghan Graveyard Where Empires Go to Die "
By Tom Engelhardt Tomdispatch.com. Feb. 5, 2009.

...It's here, of course, that things get eerie. I mean, not just a graveyard, but the same two superpowers and the very same graveyard. In November 2001, knowing intimately what had happened to the USSR in Afghanistan, the Bush administration invaded anyway -- and with a clear intent to build bases, occupy the country, and install a government of its choice.

When it comes to the neocon architects of global Bushism, hubris remains a weak word. Breathless at the thought of the supposed power of the U.S. military to crush anything in its path, they were blind to other power realities and to history. They equated power with the power to destroy.

Believing that the military force at their bidding was nothing short of invincible, and that whatever had happened to the Soviets couldn't possibly happen to them, they launched their invasion. They came, they saw, they conquered, they celebrated, they settled in, and then they invaded again -- this time in Iraq. A trillion dollars in wasted taxpayer funds later, we look a lot more like the Russians.

as for Obama:

For all their differences with Bush's first-term neocons, here's what the Obama team still has in common with them -- and it's no small thing: they still think the U.S. won the Cold War. They still haven't accepted that they can't, even if in a subtler fashion than the Busheviks, control how this world spins; they still can't imagine that the United States of America, as an imperial power, could possibly be heading for the exits.

and:

After all, more than a trillion dollars later, with essentially nothing to show except an unbroken record of destruction, corruption, and an inability to build anything of value, the U.S. is only slowly drawing down its 140,000-plus troops in Iraq to a "mere" 40,000 or so, while surging yet more troops into Afghanistan to fight a counterinsurgency war, possibly for years to come. At the same time, the U.S. continues to expand its armed forces and to garrison the globe, even as it attempts to bail out an economy and banking system evidently at the edge of collapse. This is a sure-fire formula for further disaster -- unless the new administration took the unlikely decision to downsize the U.S. global mission in a major way.

Paul Craig Roberts argues that the War On Terror is more a matter of propaganda than an actual threat to the US:

The War on Terror is a Hoax By Paul Craig Roberts Information Clearing House Feb. 4, 2009

-- - According to US government propaganda, terrorist cells are spread throughout America, making it necessary for the government to spy on all Americans and violate most other constitutional protections. Among President Bush’s last words as he left office was the warning that America would soon be struck again by Muslim terrorists.

If America were infected with terrorists, we would not need the government to tell us. We would know it from events. As there are no events, the US government substitutes warnings in order to keep alive the fear that causes the public to accept pointless wars, the infringement of civil liberty, national ID cards, and inconveniences and harassments when they fly.

The most obvious indication that there are no terrorist cells is that not a single neocon has been assassinated.

The unsupported assertion that Iran supplies sophisticated arms to the Palestinians is like the unsupported assertion that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. These assertions are propagandistic justifications for killing Arab civilians and destroying civilian infrastructure in order to secure US and Israeli hegemony in the Middle East.

And William Blum fears that with Obama in charge the American Empire will march onward believing it has the right and the power to control much of the globe :

" Change (In Rhetoric) We Can Believe In " By William Blum Feb. 4, 2009

-- - The Obama administration will not produce any significantly worthwhile change in US foreign policy; little done in this area will reduce the level of misery that the American Empire regularly brings down upon humanity. And to the extent that Barack Obama is willing to clearly reveal what he believes about anything controversial, he appears to believe in the empire.

The Obamania bubble should already have begun to lose some air with the multiple US bombings of Pakistan within the first few days following the inauguration. The Pentagon briefed the White House of its plans, and the White House had no objection. So bombs away — Barack Obama's first war crime. The dozens of victims were, of course, all bad people, including all the women and children. As with all these bombings, we'll never know the names of all the victims — It's doubtful that even Pakistan knows — or what crimes they had committed to deserve the death penalty. Some poor Pakistani probably earned a nice fee for telling the authorities that so-and-so bad guy lived in that house over there; too bad for all the others who happened to live with the bad guy, assuming of course that the bad guy himself actually lived in that house over there.

The new White House press secretary, Robert Gibbs, declined to answer questions about the first airstrikes, saying "I'm not going to get into these matters."1 Where have we heard that before?

After many of these bombings in recent years, a spokesperson for the United States or NATO has solemnly declared: “We regret the loss of life.” These are the same words used by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) on a number of occasions, but their actions were typically called “terrorist”.

And Jim Lobe argues that if Obama continues with the Bush approach and doctrine Afghanistan will become a quagmire for the Americans and NATO. What is needed is a drawing down of troops and more of emphasis on humanitarian aid and helping rebuild parts of Afghanistan with the cooperation of the various peoples and groups in Afghanistan and Pakistan such as the Pashtun . The Pashtun number some forty million people who live on both sides of the border and who do not recognize the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan. They are a nation made up of hundreds of tribes whose belief in honor makes them resistant to a military force which they see as an occupying force of a foreign empire.

" More Troops, More Worries, Less Consensus on Afghanistan " by Jim Lobe Inter Press Service Feb. 2009

Even as U.S. President Barack Obama prepares to deploy more military forces to Afghanistan - what he has called "the central front" in former President George W. Bush's "global war on terror" - a consensus on overall U.S. strategy there remains elusive.

Even Washington's precise war aims in Afghanistan more than seven years after U.S.-backed forces chased the Taliban out of the country appear subject to continuing debate, as, in the face of what virtually all analysts and officials concede is a deteriorating situation, the Pentagon is actively downgrading the Bush administration's hopes of ushering in a thriving democracy to something far less ambitious.

... fears that Afghanistan could become a "new Vietnam", a deadly quagmire in which already overstretched U.S. forces could become bogged down in an unwinnable war, have gained sudden new currency in the mass media.

And

...In a new report released Tuesday by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Gilles Dorronsoro, a French expert on South Asia, argued that adding troops would actually be counter-productive because the mere presence of foreign soldiers in Pashtun areas has fueled the Taliban's resurgence and that the best way to weaken it is to reduce military confrontations. In that respect, "the only meaningful way to halt the insurgency's momentum is to start withdrawing troops."

Indeed, Dorronsoro argues, as do other critics, that most effective way to ensure that Afghan territory is not used as a base to attack the U.S. is to "de-link" the Taliban from al Qaeda, "which is based mostly in Pakistan."

"We will be in a much better position to fight al Qaeda if we don't have to fight the Afghans," he said. "We have to stop fighting the Taliban because it is the wrong enemy."

and so it goes,
GORD.