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TechnoratiObama: Declare an End To 'The War on Terror'
The Middle East looms large for Barack Obama, and in Washington it's clear that the seething arc of crises from Gaza and Lebanon through Iraq and Iran into Afghanistan and Pakistan won't let Obama ignore the region from Day One. Starting today, and continuing for the rest of this week, I'm presenting a series of pieces about Obama's Middle East. Today, we start with the so-called War on Terror. Tomorrow, I'll deal with Afghanistan and Pakistan. On Thursday, Iraq. On Friday, Gaza, Israel, and Lebanon. And over the weekend, Iran.
Perhaps the area where Barack Obama can make the quickest, and most effective, pivot from the administration of George W. Bush is with the so-called War on Terror.
For seven years and four months, the United States has been engaged in a monumentally flawed and destructive campaign that President Bush described as an all-out effort against terrorism and terrorist groups of "global reach." It includes two wars, in Afghanistan and Iraq, a lethal counterterrorism effort waged by the CIA and the Pentagon's Special Forces units, and a global effort to expand US military and intelligence ties to countries throughout Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia.
Unfortunately, from the start the United States conflated its lone real enemy, Al Qaeda, with a panoply of unrelated states and organizations, some Islamist and some secular, creating a mythical bloc of evil-doers under the heading of what John McCain called, redundantly, "radical Islamic extremism." In the mix, Bush rolled up Iran, Saddam's Iraq, Hamas, Hezbollah, Syria, Saudi Arabia's Wahhabis, the Muslim Brotherhood, the Taliban, various Pakistani Islamist groups, and others into one big terrorist ball of wax. Predictably, and aided by the anti-Muslim prejudices of the Christian right, it became a Crusade against Islam, at least in as seen through the lens of people living in the Middle East and South Asia. No wonder that anti-American sentiment throughout the region reached all-time highs.
There are three things that Obama can do in this regard.
First, Obama can declare victory against Al Qaeda. For the most part, Al Qaeda is dead and buried. Despite the hysterical warnings that continue to emanate from members of the US terrorism-industrial complex -- from people like Frances Townsend, who formerly advised Bush on terrorism, and from members of the hardy band of terrorism specialists who have an interest in sustaining an inordinate fear of Al Qaeda -- the organization is toothless. For the past three years, Al Qaeda has not launched a single attack against any Western target, including the United States and Europe.
Last week, no less an authority than Dell Dailey, the State Department's counterterrorism coordinator, said: "We see Al Qaeda, in a centralized role, (as being) totally controlled. Bin Laden can't get an operational effort off the ground without it being detected ahead of time and being thwarted. Their ability to reach is nonexistent." Predictably, Dailey's comments didn't get much attention, in part because the US media doesn't like to headline reports that don't set off fire alarms. But Dailey's right. Al Qaeda is pretty much finished, although vigilance and continued mopping up operations, especially in Waziristan, are required. It's been crushed in Afghanistan, it has been utterly destroyed in Iraq, it has been obliterated in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf, and its operations base in North Africa, which was mostly locally focused anyway, is under siege.
So Obama can declare victory over Al Qaeda. Using his supremely confident aura of cool, he can de-escalate the rhetoric. He can tell Americans that they have nothing to fear but fear itself. He can tell them that the threat of terrorism, for Americans, has been reduced to the level of a nuisance. He can assure Americans that they are safe and secure. He can emphasize that the chance that terrorists might get ahold of nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons of mass destruction is close to zero. And he can explain that, in the unlikely event of another attack -- say, a Mumbai-style explosion of guerrilla war or an Oklahoma City-style truck bombing -- the United States will undertake a patient and ruthless effort to track down the perpetrators.
Second, Obama can make it clear that the United States is, from now on, playing by the rules. No more torture. No more rendition to torture-prone nations. No more Guantanamo. No more Abu Ghraibs. Respect for the rule of law. In all of this, the United States will use its intelligence and law enforcement apparatus with utmost professionalism to protect Americans, preventing terrorist acts when we can and tracking down the terrorists when we can't.
And third, Obama should deliver a major speech, aimed at Americans, explaining the many and subtle differences among the opponents and adversaries of the United States in the Muslim world. On the one hand, he should say, there can be no reconciliation or truce with Al Qaeda. On the other hand, with nearly all of the other components of the Bush-McCain Terrorist Ball of Wax -- Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Taliban, especially -- we will talk, we will listen, we will negotiate, we will seek at least a truce, and we will try to establish a permanent, working accord.
In declaring an end to the War on Terror, Obama will have no choice but to provide Americans with a detailed, and rational, explanation of who the enemy is -- and who it is not. This cannot be a one-speech effort. Rather, it will require a sustained communications effort by Obama and his entire team. Seven years of mind-numbing propaganda from the Bush White House has convinced tens of millions of Americans that the threat of terrorism is both imminent and vast. Those tens of millions are convinced that an enormous, global terrorist movement that extends far beyond Al Qaeda is out to get us. It is Obama's urgent task to explain, calmly, that it isn't so. For seven years, Bush used the trauma of 9/11 to stoke Americans' fears, and in so doing he created an enemy that doesn't exist in the real world. Like the mythical Iraqi WMD, the worldwide terrorist threat isn't there. Obama can say so.
Will he do this? It's not impossible. During several interviews, John Brennan, one of Obama's top intelligence advisers who will lead the White House's counterterrorism policy efforts, told me that he is flatly opposed to the very notion of a "War on Terror." And, he told me, he favors the idea of a dialogue with organizations such as Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Muslim Brotherhood. And he suggested that Obama feels the same way.
Though Obama is inexperienced in international affairs, putting an end to the War on Terror once and for all is a step that will appeal to his instincts. He's pledged to deliver a major address on US relations with the Islamic world, and he's said that he would do so in an Arab or Muslim capital, perhaps Cairo. Stay tuned.
145 Comments so far
Show AllWhat "incidents of terrorism" have happened in the USA? Just the one - "9/11" - and it still has a lot of curiousities about it that, if answered, might render the entire "war on terrorism" unnecessary, and the "threat of terrorism" a mere fairy tale as far as Americans in the USA mainlands being at risk.
Obama can go ahead and declare the "war on terrorism" over. It was just a Bush/PNAC thing anyhow, and hopefully their influence is now limited.
'What "incidents of terrorism" have happened in the USA? Just the one - "9/11"'
Uninformed statements such as this can only provide war-mongering right-wingnuts ammunition for calling progressives and liberals on the mat. If you don't know, do the research or STFU.
Here is a list (curiously abbreviated at 2003) from the State Dept of significant terrorist attacks throughout the world: http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ho/pubs/fs/5902.htm
A brief read show the following attacks on the USA or its designated possessions (i.e. embassy's, military bases, etc):
- U.S. Installation Bombing, August 31, 1981: The Red Army exploded a bomb at the U.S. Air Force Base at Ramstein, West Germany.
- Bombing of U.S. Embassy in Beirut, April 18, 1983: Sixty-three people, including the CIA’s Middle East director, were killed and 120 were injured in a 400-pound suicide truck-bomb attack on the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon. The Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility.
- Bombing of Marine Barracks, Beirut, October 23, 1983: Simultaneous suicide truck-bomb attacks were made on American and French compounds in Beirut, Lebanon. A 12,000-pound bomb destroyed the U.S. compound, killing 242 Americans, while 58 French troops were killed when a 400-pound device destroyed a French base. Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility.
- U.S. Embassy Bombed in Peru, January 15, 1990: The Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement bombed the U.S. Embassy in Lima, Peru.
- World Trade Center Bombing, February 26, 1993: The World Trade Center in New York City was badly damaged when a car bomb planted by Islamic terrorists exploded in an underground garage. The bomb left 6 people dead and 1,000 injured. The men carrying out the attack were followers of Umar Abd al-Rahman, an Egyptian cleric who preached in the New York City area.
- Bombing of the Federal Building in Oklahoma City, April 19, 1995: Right-wing extremists Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols destroyed the Federal Building in Oklahoma City with a massive truck bomb that killed 166 and injured hundreds more in what was up to then the largest terrorist attack on American soil.
- Attack on U.S. Embassy in Moscow, September 13, 1995: A rocket-propelled grenade was fired through the window of the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, ostensibly in retaliation for U.S. strikes on Serb positions in Bosnia.
- Empire State Building Sniper Attack, February 23, 1997: A Palestinian gunman opened fire on tourists at an observation deck atop the Empire State Building in New York City, killing a Danish national and wounding visitors from the United States, Argentina, Switzerland, and France before turning the gun on himself. A handwritten note carried by the gunman claimed this was a punishment attack against the "enemies of Palestine."
- Attack on U.S.S. Cole, October 12, 2000: In Aden, Yemen, a small dingy carrying explosives rammed the destroyer U.S.S. Cole, killing 17 sailors and injuring 39 others. Supporters of Usama Bin Laden were suspected.
- Terrorist Attacks on U.S. Homeland, September 11, 2001: Two hijacked airliners crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center. Soon thereafter, the Pentagon was struck by a third hijacked plane. A fourth hijacked plane, suspected to be bound for a high-profile target in Washington, crashed into a field in southern Pennsylvania. The attacks killed 3,025 U.S. citizens and other nationals. President Bush and Cabinet officials indicated that Usama Bin Laden was the prime suspect and that they considered the United States in a state of war with international terrorism. In the aftermath of the attacks, the United States formed the Global Coalition Against Terrorism.
- Anthrax Attacks, October-November 2001: On October 7 the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that investigators had detected evidence that the deadly anthrax bacterium was present in the building where a Florida man who died of anthrax on October 5 had worked. Discovery of a second anthrax case triggered a major investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The two anthrax cases were the first to appear in the United States in 25 years. Anthrax subsequently appeared in mail received by television networks in New York and by the offices in Washington of Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle and other members of Congress. Attorney General John Ashcroft said in a briefing on October 16, "When people send anthrax through the mail to hurt people and invoke terror, it’s a terrorist act."
I am giving you the benefit of the doubt and not including attacks on Americans outside of the US or it's legal possessions (which there are plenty). This list (curiously) also does NOT include any of the attacks by Ted Kaczynski, Eric Rudolph, John Muhammad/Lee Boyd Malvoor, or ALF and ELF (declared "terrorist organizations").
Or the Jewish Defense League (JDL) that has committed 15 attacks on U.S. soil leading to 7 deaths (do a google search).
Thanks for that, I had forgotten about the JDL.
I also forgot the Weathermen and Black Panthers.
First, you explain that there are legitimate reasons why people hate the US. Next, you explain actions trigger reactions. I believe it's called blowback, suffering consequences brought on by your own actions. That is what you tell the war-mongering right-wingnuts.
Declaring an end to the war on terror would only increase incidents of terrorism as we abandon those who fought the war and leave them to their own devices, especially in the face of an economic downturn. At the inception of the war on terror, George Galloway warned that it would create 10,000 bin Ladens. I'm not sure whether he meant the war on terror would turn 10,000 billionaires into terrorists, or turn 10,000 existing terrorists into billionaires, or cause 10,000 terrorists to suffer liver failure, but I've always felt the warning to be absurd. The greater threat is that the war on terror will create 10,000 McVeighs.
Do you mean 10,000 like McVeigh who will also be patsies?
The US and the unfair, aggressive, militaristic and capricious manner that it treats any state that doesn't bow down to it are the biggest creators of terrorism in the world.
The US is King of the double standard. One standard for Israel's WMD and nuclear weapons and another for Iran's nuclear research which is perfectly legal. Imagine the US response to Iran doing to Israel what Israel is doing to Gaza.
The US manufactures the disease so they can peddle the solution, in other words the US breeds terrorism for MIC profits. Like a pharmaceutical company selling drugs they know don't work but produce 19 different side effects in order to be able to sell you 20 different medications and enrich themselves.
The US is the biggest arms merchant in the world. The chances of Obama changing that is less than the chances of Obama opposing immediate, gargantuan, no strings attached, wealth transfers for Wall Street Fat Cats while making "noises" about Main Street.
Sioux Rose
RIC A: Very well stated, my hat is off to you.
You always make my day! Thanks for your insights too.
The War on Terror was invented by immoral/corrupt people to justify their grab for more territory and political power. If they were really interested in stopping terrorism they would have went after the people who were responsible. But, they didn't! Osama bin Laden is still walking around. Bush and Company tried all the gimmicks and tricks available to aid the spread of terrorism. What needs to happen is to go back to the old way of dealing with terrorism. It was a more affective and efficient way. Through paid informants, surveillance, intelligence and a patient watchful eye on possible threats. Have the FBI and Law Enforcement go after them. After all isn't that what they are paid to do to defend this country from another terrorist attack????? Didn't they find the ones who bombed the WTC in 93? Didn't they find and deal with Timothy McVeigh? This nonsense of starting unnecessary expensive wars to solve terrorism only shows how much the Bush Administration actually understands terrorism. Which is literally nothing.
Bush made the War on Terror seem absurd. It's true.
But that doesn't mean there still aren't people out there who want to murder as many Americans as possible.
In fact, the incompetency of Bush 's policies has increased the number of terrorists seeking to harm America.
We are more at risk now than we were before 911.
Remember, there were two main reasons Bin Laden attacked the USA. 1) Our support for Israel, and 2) US troops in Saudi Arabia.
Well, how do you think Bin Laden and his buddies feel about the Afghanistan/Iraq war, or Israel's invasions of Lebanon or Gaza? Do you think they've decided to stop their Jihad and sing "Kumbaya"?
Did Bush ever catch Bin Laden? Remember him? Remember 911?
We need to defeat the terrorists at home and abroad, or else, they will defeat us. If another 911 happened tomorrow, do think our economy could handle it?
That's one reason why I watch "24". Because it reminds me that another attack is possible and that in the real world there is no Jack Bauer to protect us. It's a great fantasy to just sit back and think there is some superhero out there keeping us safe from terrorism. But life is much more complicated. It's so easy to just forget about 911 or pretend it didn't happen.
But it did happen and it could happen again. On 9/11/02 I made a promise to myself, I said "I will never forget", and to make sure I wouldn't, I got a tattoo. It has a red, white and blue 9-1-1, it says "I will never forget" in Gothic lettering, and at the bottom there's a NYC policeman's badge and a NYC fireman's badge. It's pretty cool. I also have a tattoo of a crucifix, my wife's name (in cursive), and a dragon. I was thinking of getting some kind of Obama tattoo (like a portrait or maybe just '08), but my wife is opposed to the idea. We have a rule that I get to pick out my tattoos, but she has veto power.
If we ever live through another attack, the day after the next 911, everyone in this forum will be screaming at Obama for failing to prevent it. Let's not get in his way (on this issue). I trust him to do the right thing. I trust him to fight the War on Terror in a responsible and ethically manner.
We must be ever vigilant. We could learn a thing or two from the Israelis. People ask "would you trade liberty for security"? But the question itself presumes a choice we shouldn't have to make. We can have both liberty and security. Call it a "War on Terror" or call it something else, but we must always defend America.
Um, so far, there is no evidence linking Bin Laden with 9/11. The FBI has no warrant for OBL with respect 9/11.
"I don't know where bin Laden is. I have no idea and really don't care. It's not that important. It's not our priority." - G.W. Bush, 3/13/02
"I am truly not that concerned about him." - G.W. Bush, responding to a question about bin Laden's whereabouts, 3/13/02 (The New American, 4/8/02)
Sorry, you are trumped by the more knowledgeable and prescient Founding Fathers:
"Those Who Sacrifice Liberty For Security Deserve Neither." - Uncle Ben Franklin.
Never criticize a man until you've walked a mile in their moccasins - Native American proverb.
JoeHope is the portrait of brainwashed American. T.V.=worse than crack, 24=Reich propaganda with the goal of producing hatred for Muslims and "good Germans," who think torture is cool.
hootowl,
Come on, Janeane Garofalo is now on 24. She used to be on Air America.
Usually the plot revolves around a government conspiracy. Like right-wing hawks trying to start a war to push through their own fascist agenda. How you ever even watched 24? I would say that, if anything, it's a left-wing show.
Anyhow, I think it's a good show and I don't think "torture is cool".
.I watched it once, at a friend's house where I had no control over the TV ( Id have turned it off). After about fifteen minutes I understood it to be a paeon to torture and illegal actions by law enforcers and propaganda piece for right wing ideology. I went into the garden and looked up at the stars for the next forty five minutes. Time well spent.
.
We see things, not as they are, but as we are.
Anais Nin
Good decision I have walked out on t.v. watching friends as well.
.
"That's one reason why I watch "24". Because it reminds me that another attack is possible and that in the real world there is no Jack Bauer to protect us. It's a great fantasy to just sit back and think there is some superhero out there keeping us safe from terrorism. But life is much more complicated. It's so easy to just forget about 911 or pretend it didn't happen."
Somehow I envision a Saturday Night Live show with Belushi in his Animal House character mouthing those words of JoeHope....But Belushi would have seen the irony and comedic value of it.
I've never seen Animal House, but I love the Belushi brothers. What's the ironic joke? Or are you just insulting me again?
.Now you cannot fathom an insult? I would hate to discover that you are a special ed student, Joe. I was seeing you as an imbecile but not as medically challenged.
bin Laden, by the by, has always taken credit for the actions of AlQaeda, yet he never once said that he assisted in the events of 9/11, odd that. I think he helped with logistics and financing myself, but, unlike you, I try to remain rooted in reality while you choose faith over reason.
.
We see things, not as they are, but as we are.
Anais Nin
I'd like to mention that as far as we know, Bin Laden had nothing to do with 9/11 unless I misunderstood you.
You statement is so outrageous, I'm not even sure how to reply.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/01/14/international/i032855S26.DTL
Dude, here is your evidence that OBL played no role in 9/11:
http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/topten/fugitives/laden.htm
The FBI has no warrant for OBL in relation to 9/11. If OBL was ever arrested, he could NOT be tried for 9/11. That would hardly assuage American 9/11 angst, and more likley, raise even more questions about 9/11.
Besides, Bush has stated that he is not interested in OBL, though muslim xenophobes insist that he is the leader of all evil.
"I don't know where bin Laden is. I have no idea and really don't care. It's not that important. It's not our priority." - G.W. Bush, 3/13/02
"I am truly not that concerned about him." - G.W. Bush, responding to a question about bin Laden's whereabouts, 3/13/02 (The New American, 4/8/02)
Never criticize a man until you've walked a mile in their moccasins Native American proverb.
Joe, show me one shred of evidence that Bin Laden was responsible for the 9/11 attacks.
joehope
I read the SFC article but don't see how it relates to 9/11 at all? Outrageous? I have never seen one shred of evidence or frankly any legitimate claim that Bin Laden was connected with planning or carrying out 9/11.
Terroists are not one vast organization directed by some master spider in any case. Its a loosely connected group of like minded folks that are mostly nuts. In the case of the Muslim extremists, their religion gives them more reason to be closer knit, but you still have differences.
Look at Bin Laden's FBI wanted poster it does NOT list 911 as there isn't enough evidence to tie him the crime. Now I am by no means a "truther" but it is an interesting factoid none the less, eh?
hootowl,
You say you're not a "truther", but if you're saying Bin Laden didn't attack us...
Well, that's just crazy talk. Right?
Please don't tell me you think the planes were holograms, aliens were involved, or explosives collapsed the towers.
Did JFK conspiracies become passe?
I am 911 agnostic, I don't think either the official conspiracy or the "truthers "have provided enough evidence to make a legal case for example. And no I don;t think it was "hologram" that is just the worst sort of red herring, but I do think it's entirely possible they "let it happen on purpose," and that Israelis "art students" knew it was going to happen in advance and either told Bush and he did nothing, or didn't even tell Bush. Anyone who believes everything out of Darth Cheney's mouth about anything including 911 is a damn fool.
Joe your last phrase "we must always defend America" reminds me of something from the Karl Rove school of twisted and perverse political sloganeering. It begs the following questions: Exactly what is the ":America" that you think needs defending? Is it geography? Is it population? Is it economy?
Or, Is it all of those plus the less tangible but even more important concept of freedom? If we become "like the Israelis" or "bad to the bone" enforcers of the kind of security that many totalitarian states use to keep order, have we really defended "America"? Nobody in his right (or left) mind would suggest tolerating the intolerable and terroristsa are intolerable.
What is more important though is that in our defense of liberty we don't lose it for ourselves in the name of "security". Because then we prove our advarsaries correct when they say that our way of freedom is decadent and inferior to their own since imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
Poet
"Exactly what is the ":America" that you think needs defending? Is it geography? Is it population? Is it economy? "
Yes. All of the above.
Do you actually think America has no enemies and doesn't need to be defended?
What about 911? How does that fit into your equation?
What I meant about Israel was actually the opposite of what you claimed I meant. I feel we should look to the Israelis as a model for how to preserve our liberty without sacrificing our freedom, so that we don't become a "totalitarian state". Have you forgotten that Israel is the only real (or at least the oldest) functioning democracy in the Middle East?
"I feel we should look to the Israelis as a model for how to preserve our liberty without sacrificing our freedom,"
Israelis have no freedom Joe, they have rather one of the worst human rights records of ANY western ally country to the U.S.:
"Justice system
Detentions
Thousands of Palestinians, including scores of children, were detained by Israeli forces in the OPT. The majority of those arrested were later released without charge, but hundreds were accused of security offences. Some 9,000, including more than 300 children and Palestinians arrested in previous years, remained imprisoned at the end of 2007. More than 900 were held in administrative detention without charge or trial, including some held since 2002. Among those detained were dozens of former ministers in the Hamas-led PA government and Hamas parliamentarians and mayors who were seemingly held to exert pressure on Hamas to release Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier captured in 2006 who continued to be held in Gaza by the armed wings of Hamas and the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC).
Almost all the Palestinian detainees continued to be held in jails inside Israel, in violation of international humanitarian law, which bars the removal of detainees to the territory of the occupying power.
In October, following a habeas corpus petition filed by a human rights organization, the Supreme Court ordered the army and the prison administration to explain why the transfers of Palestinian detainees from one place of detention to another were often not recorded. The case remained pending at the end of the year.
********
Impunity for attacks on Palestinians
Israeli soldiers and other members of the security forces as well as Israeli settlers continued to enjoy impunity for human rights abuses committed against Palestinians, including unlawful killings, torture and other ill-treatment, physical assaults and attacks on their property.
Investigations and prosecutions relating to such abuses were rare and usually limited to cases publicized by human rights organizations and the media. Few investigations were known to have been initiated into such abuses and most were closed for “lack of evidence”. In rare cases where soldiers or settlers were convicted of abusing Palestinians they received relatively lenient treatment, while no members of the General Security Service (GSS) were known to have been prosecuted for torturing Palestinians.
Torture and other ill-treatment
Detainees were often held in prolonged incommunicado detention under interrogation and denied access to their lawyers for up to several weeks. There were frequent reports of torture and other ill-treatment during this period. Methods reported included beating, tying in painful positions for prolonged periods, denial of access to toilets and threats to harm the detainees’ relatives. In some cases, detainees’ parents, wives or siblings were summoned and forced to appear before detainees while dressed in prison uniform to make the detainees believe that they too were being held and ill-treated.
In October, following a petition from a human rights organization, the Supreme Court issued an interim decision ordering the authorities to notify Palestinians held in a detention centre in the West Bank that new regulations allowed them free access to toilets. In March, following a petition from a human rights organization, the Supreme Court ordered the GSS to inform Mohammed Sweiti, a detainee who had been held incommunicado for five weeks, that his wife was not being detained. Mohammed Sweiti had begun a hunger strike and attempted suicide after he was shown his wife and his father dressed in prison uniform and was led to believe that they were being ill-treated.
Blockades and other restrictions
More than 550 Israeli military checkpoints and blockades restricted or prevented the movement of Palestinians between towns and villages in the West Bank. The Israeli authorities continued to expand illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank and to build a 700-km fence/wall, 80 per cent of which runs inside the West Bank. For this purpose, large areas of Palestinian land were seized or rendered inaccessible to Palestinians, depriving them of their source of livelihood and restricting their access to their workplaces, education and health facilities and other necessary services. Palestinians were barred from or had restricted access to more than 300km of roads in the West Bank, which were mostly used by Israeli settlers.
In June the Israeli authorities further strengthened the blockade previously imposed on the Gaza Strip to an unprecedented level. They closed the border with Egypt, the only point of entry/exit for Gaza’s inhabitants, and the Karni merchandise crossing. Thousands of Palestinians were left stranded on the Egyptian side of the border for months. Most were allowed to return to Gaza in August but scores remained stranded at the end of the year and thousands of students and workers could not leave Gaza to return to their studies and jobs abroad. Except in some urgent cases, even patients in need of medical care not available in Gaza were prevented from leaving the area and more than 40 died as a result.
The blockade caused a sharp deterioration in the already dire humanitarian situation in Gaza. The few factories that had continued to function despite restrictions imposed in previous years were forced to close because they could not import raw materials or export finished products. Vast amounts of flowers and other agricultural produce were wasted because they could not be exported. There were shortages of meat, dairy products and other basic foodstuffs, and of most other goods, including paper, pencils, clothes, spare parts for hospital equipment and medicine. Extreme poverty, malnutrition and other health problems increased. Eighty per cent of the population was forced to rely on international assistance, but UN aid agencies and humanitarian organizations were also negatively affected by restrictions and the increased operational costs these caused.
http://thereport.amnesty.org/eng/regions/middle-east-and-north-africa/israel-and-the-occupied-palestin...
The US could learn from the Israelis how to bombard schools and universities? How to kill lots of civilians? Have all the Israelis done earned them peace and security? Has Israel become a normal nation? Or have the Israelis become even more hated?
I kind of agree with GwNorth just above (or just below, depending).
Obama was the first to advocate US attacks inside of Pakistan. Actual attacks came after that. He wants to escalate the war in Afghanistan. An al Qaeda attack originating from Pakistan would be a most convenient excuse for a major escalation into Pakistan, whose government is unstable at best, and which just happens to possess nuclear weapons.
-- ekaton aka d.k.shaw
Al Qaeda is hardly "dead and buried" or no longer a threat. When the Government of the United States of America needs another attack against itself or an ally ,
Al Qaeda will comply.
It not deemed necessary yet.
Ah but, "Osama bin Laden" just made a video yesterday, calling for a "jihad" against Israel.
Right on cue!
He's such a good little CIA asset, isn't he?
Yes he is...and from the grave even.
Indeed. : )
Sioux Rose
SEVENTH SON: Good insight in the way of "timing is everything."
The enemy is within. Research the Zionist/Neo-Conservative connection. I will always believe that Al Qaeda only provdided us with the rope. The rest we have done ourselves.
An excellent analysis! I agree completely, but I don't see it happening. If Obama were to do that, he would meet the same fate as JFK.
The last sentence sounds like nothing more than a conspiracy theory excuse.
Understand I am not advocating that Obama continue the GWOT, quite the contrary.
But the fact remains that JFK was assassinated for a reason, and Oswald was but a patsy.
Paul Siemering
excellent suggestion. the "war on terror" was a farce from the start, except for all the bombing and killing. that and the fact that his royal awfulness then announced "I'm a war president".
Also it really messed up our judiciary. not they ever had a whole lot of sense to begin with, but many rulings came down that since we are now at war and mister nothing is a war president, us judges dare not stand in his way. this is wartime you know.
thanks seventhson for the Terry Jones link- i never saw it before. it's perfect. also from a monty python dude- what more could be better?
All of his editorials from that time period were put together into a book, entitled "Terry Jones' War on the War on Terror: Observations and Denunciations from a Founding Member of Monty Python". It is quite good, though not all of the articles are as good as this one. Still, he is very intelligent and eloquent (if I'm not mistaken, he has a master's degree in history), and his writing is very engaging. His other published history books are the same way. This would be a good one to check out if your local library has it.
Obama declares an end to the w.o.t. and tells the nation Al Qada is toast.
The neo-cons stage (another?) attack and blame it on Bin Laden.
Obama is run out of office in 08' and Jeb Bush takes the reins.
You can almost see it happening.
Excuses, excuses..wtf makews you think that they wont "do an attack" anyway? Maybe it would be worth being one-term, to bring little dignity back to the uS..
Dreyfuss is correct. We must declare an end to the "War on Terror" and slowly dismantle the Stazi police.
I will put it simply as I understand it, if Obama does not do it, and restore the constitution the dream that was America will be gone forever.
The constitution will be replaced by the patriot act, and every time a bomb goes off somewhere in the world the US military industrial complex and the treasonous main stream media will be there to cry Terrorist.
And we will have a new war, and we will be in a perpetual state of war for ever.
Short of a revolution, if Obama can't correct the 7 years of Bush/elite hijacking of our country, put a fork in us, we are done.
By the way , they will take all freedoms from us, no organized religions, free speech , guns, you name it , they will take it.
How?
They will call us unpatriotic terrorists for not complying to the new rules.
We have reached the crossroads America, fight , or sell your soul to the stazi fear mongering devils. You are either with them or against them.
If our intellectual community does not rise up and use whats left of our legal system and the new Presidency to correct the brain washing of America, there will be no America in 10 years.
Bornfreemen
Stazi police torture victim Bradenton fl, 2 years and counting.
Perestroika Pie
Share your plunder black Don, to be
time for new Mc glasnost wonder
Genghis ....
he would be so proud
but could he turn that oil to water?
or just spew new
lust to lust or dust to dust chants
in the fertile black water valley
where
terra not so firma any more...
so fleshy
it jiggles in rapacity
like a Dubai sexless city
and black lust and more fertile dust
can better ponder profit
while prophets ponder
new hope hummer harvest songs
and fresh new tones of change
Share your plunder black Don
time for new Mc glasnost wonder
time for perestroika pie
End of the War on Terror? Ridiculous! What excuse will America use to justify its pathological warmongering then?
Get real! America, economically and politically and psychologically, is geared up for endless war. It makes money from war. It get land and access to scarce resources from war. It can fulfill its imperial ambitions via war. And it just loves being the world bully!
We would need an entirely new species of Americans to achieve a peaceful America!
www.dangerouscreation.com
The likes of Rudolf Steiner, Jean Houston and Caroline Myss have prophesied the emergence of a new human species and have helped culture and set us in that direction. Before Bush/Cheney Houston was a advisor to H. Clinton and had a $56,000,000 budget with the UN to seed the deep human recognition of diverse cultures...so remember Ralph Nadar's prophecy when before the 2000 election people yelled at him that he may help Bush get elected, Ralph said if so things would get terrible worse, but that the pendulum would swing mightily in the other direction as a consequence. Well the pendulum is swinging, the likes of Steiner, Houston and Myss will become vogue. So hang onto your pantaloons old man, cause change is going to happen faster then you can imagine - Steiner's bio-dynamics is replacing Monsanto's hideous experiment in India, go into any major retailer and the theme is green with peace symbols, today's Detroit Free Press had feature articles about Stone fly surveys and the University of Michigan about to harness the power of the currents of the Detroit river, and, though the F-150 and Ram Charger remain the flagship vehicles in the football hoo-ah world, the stars of the Detroit auto show are hybrids, electric batteries and high performance high mileage eco-boosters, today's youth are growing up with a world wide communications network as the norm, and the field of human development is differentiating between feelings and emotions and zeroing in on the missing link in the environment that leads to the cold hearted non-caring sociopath - the mythological construct of "terror" is a house of cards that carries no value in comparison to the pleasure and intrigue of deep human recognition, it's time for collapse is upon us. Sure, we could decide to blow up another planet, but homey don't play that game.
David . . . as a regular reader and commenter of your articles on your own page, I always enjoy seeing your comments here as well.
I would add to your comment thusly:
This is certainly nothing new, as you know. America was BORN out of war, and it has conducted it ever since. Once we Americans finally achieved "Manifest Destiny" by slaughtering millions of the indigenous people here (far more than Hitler did with the Jews, might I add) and owning the whole continent, we pushed elsewhere, overthrowing governments, establishing businesses and military bases there, and building Empire. This has been a CONTINUOUS PROCESS from day 1.
I do what I can, Seventhson, to try to bring a bit of sanity to this crazy world but I fear I'm merely another lone voice crying in the wilderness.
It's interesting to think about how America can be turned around, how it can shrug off its terrible legacy of violence and killing and bullying.
Changing Hollywood would be a good start. And closing all armament manufacturers down and make them produce shovels and mattocks for the third world might also help!
Cheers!
Great minds really DO think alike, David! : )
I have been working on that same question.
Blessings!
Obama has backtracked on just about everything he has promised so far. How many times is the left gonna fall for the same promises from the Democratic Party? You guys had your chance to vote 3rd party but voted for GOP-lite. Obama is not gonna change much on the war on terror. And Obama supports Israel as does the US Congress which is Democratic majority. Obama has said he wants to send 30,000 troops to Afghanistan. Will there be marches in the streets? I won't hold my breath. Obama can do whatever he wants and the Media will not call him on anything or demand of Obama what they had previously demanded of GW Bush. You guys again bought an empty bag. The 2006 Congress promised to end the war and punish Bush for spying. Instead you got FISA which Obama voted yes on and war funding 4 times. Of course the Congress always had an excuse and the left was cool with it. Wake up, nothing is going to change.
But there was no other choice, say the Democratic Party apologists. Yes. There was. We told you so.
While he's at it, he could scale back the "War on Air Travel". Thousands of TSA employees should be reassigned to doing almost anything else besides scaring air travelers. The entire TSA MO is to give Shrubya credibility by exaggerating the the terrorist threat. The threat level has been orange for how many thousand days in a row? The "War on Terra" has been tiresome for at least the last 5 years. Give it a rest Shrubya!!! Get back in your coffin with your soul mate Darth Vader and sleep off the next 500 years.
I never believed that we could have a "WAR" on terrorism without sending all of our officials to prison. How in the world can you have a war on a tactic? It just goes to show you how stupid our high adminnistration officials are.
Kitty Lady
If I may add another question to the one you eloquently brought up, allow me to direct your attention to this wonderful piece by former Python member Terry Jones from back in 2002. Enjoy.
http://www.commondreams.org/views02/0112-02.htm
How in the world can you have a war on a tactic? And as I've always said, how can you bomb a belief?
"Oh, we just got an intellegence report that a prayer meeting is going on in this house at this location - HURRY UP AND DROP A COUPLE OF THOSE 5,000 POUND BOMBS ON THAT HOUSE!"
We like war. How many movies have been made about peace? If it bleeds it leads.
"For seven years, Bush used the trauma of 9/11 to stoke Americans' fears, and in so doing he created an enemy that doesn't exist in the real world"
You'll notice that the trauma of the hurricane season of 2005 (that used up the alphabetical naming system and had to carry over to the Greek alphabet) didn't even cause anyone to consider a 'war against warming'. No, that would have been thought silly. Instead we'll just hope it was an aberration and hope for the best.
Why? Because that would actually involve ALL of us to actually do something about it. And, god forbid, that 'I' might have to be involved in the solution. It's so much easier to send the military to shoot the problem. And since we can't 'shoot' the ocean cooler...
Besides watching bombs explode is SO much more fun that watching someone replace their light bulbs with a more efficient one.
Why is it that everything that the USA does is a WAR on something? The war on poverty. The war of drugs. The war on obesity. The war on smoking. The war on terror. Ah. Wait. I know. The USA IS synonymous with war. Without war what would happen to our self-identity? I think we all know. We are war. War is us. To wage peace on anything is anathema to who we are.
Sadly this seems to be the truth.
It is always easier to destroy than it is to build.
It is always easier to hate than it is to love.
-- ekaton aka d.k.shaw
Welcome to AmeriKKKa!!!
Sioux Rose
BINBAN: I've noticed this too. Plus none of these wars work! I've related this before but the I ching, a spiritual document put together by thinkers of Ancient China, those whose minds were free to really contemplate the surrounding world since no 24/7 media led by advertisers polluted their thought streams... examines the nature of evil and concludes it can never be fought by direct means. The answer is to turn from the negative thing and put one's energy into actions that support a different goal, model, approach, ideal, alternative, etc.
It's that way with medicine I believe, as well. So much of the Western approach to "healing" is based on poisoning (chemo) or cutting (surgery) out the offensive tissue, so much so that the approach in my view simulates war. The Eastern healers have long understood that there are herbal & energetic ways to assist the body in its inborn capacity TO heal. One knotty problem however is the detritus of toxic substances that have found their way into our tissues as a result of the flagrant use and abuse of so many noxious substances. The body is therefore up against a formidable threat, perhaps even war, of its own; but this, too, is a product of the mindset that sees everything as something to attack. It's a long-programmed sort of conditioning that I attribute to "Mars rules." Eleven counter-balancing equally viable cosmic (as above, so below) style principles exist... all worth exploring, or better yet, taken in unison. There are no sides to the circle!
Sioux,
herbs are chemicals too. Yes, contemporary "Western" medicine has its flaws and weaknesses. But let's not pretend Chinese medicine doesn't have (many) weaknesses too. If you talk to someone trained in "Western" medicine reasonably and politely, without tossing around claims of the approach simulating war or "Mars rules", you'll find that many of them are perfectly willing to acknowledge that "Western" medicine is nowhere close to perfect.
And it isn't necessarily true that those trained in "Western" medicine advocate poisoning or cutting as a first recourse. In many cases poisoning or cutting is chosen because they can't come up with a better solution. For example, if you injure yourself physically, maybe you hurt your knee skiing / running / jumping, unless you are an athlete, someone serious about sport, most doctors aren't going to recommend surgery. They will recommend rehab and physical therapy instead.
And poisoning, chemotherapy, is used as an alternative to surgery.
Furthermore, "Western" medicine is working towards becoming less invasive. For the poisoning to become less toxic. And for the cutting not to do as much damage.
Sioux Rose
RFLOH: You raise some worthy points, but the profit-motive is a problem, as is expedience, as is the antithetical relationship with the natural world. There is a penchant for designing diseases to cure these days. This is seen in the way TV is always advertising drugs for pretty banal "disorders." Restless leg syndrome? How about taking a walk?
Doug Graham, a doctor of natural medicine who resided in the Florida Keys ingeniously turned the sandy soil around his property into an effective jungle-like peat moss. He grew tons of fruits and vegetables and had "terminally ill" cancer patients live there until they very very slowly got well. There are some hospitals that now allow nurse-midwives and allow for more natural births, but by in large the approach to birth (as disease) has also been violent.
You talk about chemo as an alternative to surgery, but there are 2 points missing here. The first is that of the wisest route of all: prevention, and a large part of that comes down to diet. The American diet is pathetic. It's full of carcinogens, fat, sugar and LITTLE in the way of vibrant nutrition. Secondly, people want an easy fix without changing their lifestyles, and many in the medical field cater to that narcissism. I don't especially like the Western model, but would agree, no system is perfect and possibly some elements from each integrated makes the most sense if one is confronting a life threatening situation that has gone beyond what prevention can master.
Sioux Rose,
Yes, I agree entirely that the best route is prevention. That diet AND exercise is HUGELY important. Yes, the American diet is full of fat and sugar. One nitpick, fat is NOT bad. It is sugar that is poison. I repeat dietary fat is NOT bad. Dietary fat is necessary for human survival. A mistake that the medical community made for years was to treat dietary fat as if it is poison. A stance that really wasn't supported by any real world empirical evidence. I already pointed out the flaws with the medical view of diet downthread. And yes, people want an easy fix. Yes, ideally, people should be exercising regularly, eating lots of veg, enough amounts of protein, drinking moderate, amounts of alcohol, but not binging, etc. And many doctors say this too. But, like it or not humans aren't perfect. You can't change human nature. And it isn't just "western" human nature . Diet and bodyweight related health issues are becoming an increasing problem in many of the increasingly affluent countries of Asia.
As for your comment about Restless Leg Syndrome, you are basically doing what binban is doing. Dismissing what is not understood as "woo woo", as "quackery".
As for childbirth, to me it comes down to what the mother, the woman wants. It is her body. If she prefers a more natural method of childbirth, her choice should be accepted. OTOH, if she prefers a more violent method of childbirth, for whatever reason, that choice should also be equally respected.
Multiple excellent posts! Well done!
Woo woo needs to prove itself. And at that, it fails. Claims made require verification. Anecdotal evidence is useless. I'm not dismissing "what isn't understood". Quite the contrary, I'm advocating further knowledge acquisition and that comes through the scientific method. Any other means is relabeling placebo as ____________ (fill in the blank), a form of woo woo (no explanation at all).
You guys keep saying "woo woo".
What are you, choo choo trains?
Hurray more rational voices on CD, bring back the old school secular working class left with a 21st century twist FTW, IMO.
Please explain, "antithetical relationship with the natural world." You know nuclear fusion of hydrogen into helium on the sun IS the "natural world". And uranium exists on earth IN the "natural world" as does background ionizing radiation. And what is "natural medicine"? A vitamin C molecule is a vitamin C molecule whether it comes from a lemon or a laboratory. If the western model of medicine is so deficient then why are people all over the planet emulating it? I hope you never have a heart attack. But, if you do, avoid calling your chiropractor and/or naturopath. Oh. By the way, the alt-med practitioners, products and snake oil I see being pilfered about ARE quackery FOR the "profit motive". As for nurse-midwifes. Our daughter was born at home naturally with one in attendance. I caught her (1985). Our son, however, with immediate complications was saved by the western medical establishment -- not once, but a dozen times or more. And one of the miracle "unnatural" drugs that saved his life was the synthetically produced hormone erythropoetin. Sorry, no herbs would do the trick. Show me where any hospital policy treats birth as a disease. Document it please.
Sioux Rose
BINBAN: I read up on natural childbirth: Immaculate Deception by Suzanne Arms and the book on Natural Childbirth by the midwives at "The Farm" in Tenn. (I can't recall the name at the moment.) Hospitals are Petri dishes OF disease and when birth was taken out of the home and the care of women healer/midwive and instead transferred to (at the time) male doctors, what Dr. Robert Mendelsohn* terms the "MDeity," a condition known as "hospital bed disease" arose. It was based on the physician (they tend to be an arrogant lot) NOT bothering to wash his hands, so that in going from patient to patient, pretty heavy bacteria and viral agents were directly introduced into birthing womens' wombs.
(Mendelson authored 2 books I've read: Confessions of a Medical Heretic and Mal(e)Practice.)
I am glad your experience worked out and certainly there IS a place for modern medicine, it's just not THE place it's claimed to be. The US is ranked 37th in the world in medical care and according to Public Citizen (Nader's original founded group) medical problems, some caused by people taking 5 or more drugs (no tests ever done on how they interact) is the 4th cause of death in America.
The film Lorenzo's Oil is interesting in showing that medical research goes for the big bucks and tends to avoid those infirmities that only impact a relative few. I am trying to avoid that heart attack by getting daily exercise, fresh air, not smoking, drinking a glass of red wine here and there, and where possible NOT feeling stress, although this forum and the daily list of so much BAD news is a bit hard in that regard. So far I have done fine with herbs and massage and dietary changes. And I wear the same clothes I wore in my 20's as a gymnast... however, I have a very slim sister who does smoke and has managed to create heart disease.
Some conditions are karmic. But that's another subject and I'm not up for long discussions tonight. Peace.
Just because capitalism distorts research agendas, and some doctors are sloppy about washing their hands it does not follow that science is wrong about our knowledge of the human body down to the atomic level. We DO need to change research priorities so it benefits ALL people, so that there are more studies of women's unique health issues, and so that there is more hands on care and less arrogance from doctors, and so that herbal medicines that work CAN be tested using correct double blind methodologies as they do in Europe for example, and for more eating of healthy organic food. None of this implies throwing out the scientific method and throwing out proven medical techniques in favor of reiki, acupuncture, homeopathy and other fraudulent endeavors that cause sick people to unnecessarily die.
More socialized medicine for all, less woo, woo, please.
Interesting posts! Thank you all.
I won't get into the so-called spiritual component. I know many people who are still walking the earth because of chemo, etc. And my left kidney is in my son. I gave it to him in 1991 when he was 5. He is now 23 and on dialysis. The invasive procedure gave him 16 years of good life. I'm not about to dump the western model of medicine for woo woo. It doesn't work, but may feel good, or supply anecdotal evidence to support one's delusions. My kid is here because of modern medicine and science. Eastern healers have nothing to offer him. They can go fish. Most of the East is using modern medical techniques. By the way, a circle is a polygon with an infinite number of equal sides.
Thanks for being a voice of sanity for rationality binban, something the left is going to need far more of if we are to defeat the corporate bankster class war mongers and earth rapers.
More Sweden + Green thought, less woo, woo, please.
What the fuck is woo woo?
Sioux Rose
BINBAN: I'm glad it worked for you, and may work for others; yet other approaches are less invasive and have also been known to work.
Look at the facts, not the anecdotes. There are no "less invasive" techniques for end stage renal failure. None.
Our lefty New Agers are the lefts burden to shake off, just like fundamentalist monotheists are the rights burden to shake off.
Sioux Rose
HOOTOWL: You are an authoritarian who thinks that there is only a linear right or wrong way of seeing things. ALL perspectives are valid! Why you think spirituality is the enemy to the left is YOUR issue and a PROBLEM of a very personal nature for YOU. In any senate, a variety of perspectives are needed to arrive at organic solutions. Your mighty man macho get out on the front lines and take action is YOUR way, and fine. I have no problem with it, I've done some activism, too. But your way is no way decreases the need for the philosophical component, the type of minds that reshape destiny because they can see outside the box, outside the paradigm. You're still stuck in the left-right winners/losers fight syndrome, as in ruled by Mars. And I am tired of your slights... and your incapacity to recognize what I am saying. Calling me a racist? Wondering why I can sting back if I get fed up with being stung? You need your consciousness raised. If you had been born with money you'd be one of the flaming assholes you so despise and rile against.
All perspectives are NOT valid. Quackery is not a valid perspective.
Yes. Exactly, And the Nuagers question authority except for those alternative authorities of their own that they substitute in place of state-of-the-art principles and therapies, and science they cannot or are unwilling to understand.
Here's one for you. At the well respected Dana Farber cancer health clinic on Boston, they have people using rubber mallets pounding on small dolls marked up for the locations of various symptoms in order to cure them. WTF? This is more about how they can increase profits in the ever-increasing woo woo marketplace than it is about curing anything. The scions of profit at Dana Farber know full well the effects of placebO and how to market it. I suggest they down some Good and Plenty candy that looks like pills. It's much cheaper, or perhaps, chant, "Om". It's free. Problem is those predisposed to woo woo walk away with the dangerous belief that the techniques work. Many years ago, Steve Allen, wrote the book, "Dumbth". It is about how dumb US folk are. It has only gotten far worse. Take the test:
http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/richard_carrier/SciLit.html Enlightenment does not come through meditation nor prayer.
Then where does enlightenment come from? Sounds as if bitter rules and we are to listen to you?
Excuse me. There is knowledge. That's what we have to get to move out of the darkness. Enlightenment and the quest for it, like the quest for happiness, is what causes distress. It is a vain and selfish pursuit, and it is all about the self and being self-centered. And those mystics, yogis, and self-professed enlightenment gurus are peddling to the delusional.
Sioux Rose
Your narrow prejudice blinds you. Those you call delusional often follow The Buddha and learn to live peace. Can that be said of all the cold scientists who are often the ones who devise the mechanical systems behind weaponry, or learn how to break the human mind through torture? The intellect is a BARREN DESERT if it is not watered by the heart, or lit by the luminosity of the soul.
Sioux Rose: Excellent reply and post to the unfortunate individual known as binban for he has never met a Buddha and would be in tears if he did…
And why do you pursue knowledge then? Knowledge for the sake of knowledge? Why is that not a selfish and self centered pursuit?
Who gets to determine what is selfish and self centered? You?